Maude Flanders
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Simpsons character | |
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| Age | died at the age of 36 |
|---|---|
| Gender | Female |
| Hair Colour | Ginger |
| Job | Housewife |
| Relatives | Sons Rod and Todd and husband Ned |
| First appearance | Dead Putting Society |
| Voice actor | Maggie Roswell |
Maude Flanders (1963 – 2000) was a fictional character on The Simpsons. She is the late wife of Ned Flanders, and the mother of Rod and Todd. Maude was voiced by Maggie Roswell and also by Marcia Mitzman Gaven while Roswell was involved in a pay dispute.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Life
Maude was a woman with many gifts: faith, chastity, charity and the most come-hither eyelashes in the town of Springfield. Happily married to Ned Flanders, she was the proud mother of Rod and Todd, in whom she had instilled her unwavering piety. She died on February 13, 2000 after being knocked from the top of a stadium by a cannonade of t-shirts aimed at Homer J. Simpson.
Busty yet guarded, Maude Flanders was a devout Christian who once attended a Bible camp to learn how to be "more judgmental." She campaigned strongly against Itchy and Scratchy with Marge.
While she did not work outside the home (aside perhaps from occasional stints at her husband's small business, the Leftorium), Maude was a busy homemaker and a tireless advocate for the children of Springfield, whose innocence is so often soiled by the evils of cartoon violence, liberal education and the insidious influences of popular culture.
Even though she spent much of her free time in prayer and reading the Bible, Maude was known to let her hair (and her neckline) down for the occasional dinner party at the home of her neighbors, the Simpsons. Homer often made statements insinuating his attraction to Maude, thereby literally coveting his neighbor's wife.
She held a deep love for ficus plants, unflavored ice milk and Newsweek magazine.
Quoting Reverend Lovejoy, "In many ways, Maude Flanders was a supporting player in our lives. She didn't grab our attention with memorable catchphrases, or comical accents. But, whether you noticed her or not, Maude was always there ... and we thought she always would be."
[edit] Untimely Death
In "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily", Maude died after being knocked off a grandstand at the Springfield Speedway (if Homer had not been distracted from catching the t-shirts launched in her direction by an air-bazooka, it is likely that the senseless tragedy could have been averted. But, as he did find a bobby pin, he cannot really be blamed). Homer had also parked in the ambulance zone, preventing any quick resuscitation.
Her death crushed the surviving Flanderses, who, though used to some measure of hardship (house-destroying hurricanes and car crashes among them), assumed that they would always be together. Maude's death is considered the most show-changing death.
[edit] Praiseland
In "I'm Goin' to Praiseland", after Maude's death, the grieving Ned saw in her sketchbook a series of drawings that outlined a plan for a Christian-themed amusement park named "Praiseland". Realizing this park to be her final dream, Ned acquired the defunct amusement park "Storytime Village" (from Lisa the Vegetarian) from Colonel Antoine "Tex" O'Hara ("The Rich Texan") and, with the assistance of Homer and other townspeople, built and opened Praiseland. He memorialized Maude there with a statue bearing her likeness, on whose base there was a plaque bearing the phrase "She taught us the joy of shame and the shame of joy". Praiseland gained popularity among the residents of Springfield when they erroneously attributed to the statue of Maude the performance of miracles providing religious experiences (it was, in fact, a gas leak, and possibly the attendant hallucinations, that produced the illusion of these events).
[edit] Reasons for Discontinuation of Character
It was rumored that the character was killed off because Roswell demanded more money. This rumor was initially denied, but the fact remains that the actress was tired of multi-state commutes traveling for what was only occasional work, and a salary that did not cover the airfare costs. This fall-out with the producers led to Maude being written out of the series by dying. Matt Groening has confirmed this in interviews, stating that he regretted having to kill off yet another character (the others being Bleeding Gums Murphy and Dr. Marvin Monroe) Despite this, Roswell is still doing guest appearances on the show voicing other characters.
[edit] Posthumous Appearances
- At the start of Treehouse of Horror XIII, originally broadcast November 3, 2002, The Simpsons and Ned Flanders held a seance and summon Maude's ghost, who proceeds to tell them three horror stories.
- The regular episode "Bart Has Two Mommies", which aired March 19, 2006 showed her looking down on her sons from heaven, saying 'My little boy is growing up". Maggie Roswell voiced her, but was uncredited in the premiere airing. When it reaired, the credits were amended to include her name.
- Maude is also shown to be alive in Season 6 in the episode Lisa's Wedding which was set in the future after the Simpson children had grown up, but written before Season 11 when Maude was killed. However, it should be noted that this was a vision by a possibly illegitimate psychic, and might not be considered canonical. The most logical explanation is that Maude wasn't meant to be killed at all in future episodes by the writers, although standard parallel timeline technobabble readily resolves this prosaic time-travel paradox.
