Milhouse Van Houten

"Milhouse" redirects here. For other uses, see Milhous.

Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Pamela Hayden. He is Bart Simpson's best friend in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth grade class at Springfield Elementary School.

The most distinctive physical traits of the only child of Kirk and Luann Van Houten are his extreme nearsightedness (depicted by very small eyes), requiring thick glasses to correct, and a huge nose about the size of a softball.

Despite being considered a nerd, Milhouse is of average intelligence and has poor social skills. He is also very gullible, thus he is constantly led into trouble by the mischievous Bart, who is not shy about taking advantage of his naive and trusting friend. Milhouse is one of the few residents in Springfield with eyebrows. Homer is often heard calling him "Bart's weird friend", "that little wiener" or "the sad weird kid".

Profile

Milhouse is constantly victimized in some form or another such as frequently being the target of the bullies Jimbo Jones, Dolph and Kearney. They often inflict extreme acts of physical violence upon Milhouse. They do this because he is a nerd or a geek as some may call him. One instance had the bullies wrapping Milhouse in bumper stickers and placing him in a shopping cart. After Jimbo claimed that "the mummy's ready for his mystical journey!", the bullies pushed the cart with Milhouse down a very steep hill. He is harmed frequently, and on some occasions he is injured by dangerous hazards, including being run over by a train, falling down a waterfall, being electrically shocked, having his head polished to bone, etc. He frequently visited a female psychiatrist called Dr. Waxler until she got fed up by his frequent callings and blocked his number so he couldn't bother her again. Milhouse is also the subject of Nelson's cruelty: "stop (hitting, zapping, etc.) yourself."

On one occasion, Bart got Milhouse placed on the FBI's Most Wanted list, even though they are friends, and he once tried to lure Milhouse into a cactus. This kind of torture is used in many episodes, where Bart tries either to get Milhouse in trouble or to hurt him for no reason, making Milhouse's and Bart's relationship even more questionable. On one occasion, Bart introduces Milhouse and attempts to explain why they are friends. He cannot come up with a real answer and admits that it is due to geographical reasons. However, Bart admits in "Little Orphan Millie" that he really loves Milhouse. Homer also seems to like joining in on his son's torment of Milhouse (constantly referring to him as "that little wiener Milhouse"). Sometimes Homer even seems to despise Milhouse and Bart's friendship. In the episode "Burns, Baby Burns" Larry, Mr. Burns' son brings Homer to eat at his house. Mr. Burns then asks Homer if his son "brings home nitwits and make you talk to them" to which Homer answers "Oh, all the time! Have you ever heard of this kid Milhouse? He's a little wiener..." before being interrupted by Burns.

The writers frequently make Milhouse the butt of a variety of jokes, ranging from being beat up by Nelson for delivering a love note from Lisa (that Nelson thought was from Milhouse himself), to having the door slammed in his face while playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey, to having his possible budding homosexuality given away by his school counselor, to making him a wanted fugitive (see above), to inadvertently inheriting Bart's dismal permanent record at school through a side deal arranged between Bart and Edna Krabappel and Principal Skinner, which will disqualify Milhouse from "all but the hottest and noisiest jobs".

In the episode, "Little Orphan Millie", it is revealed that Milhouse is part Dutch and Danish and in the episode "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas" that he is part Italian.

Romance and sexuality

Milhouse harbors a hopeless crush on Bart's younger sister, Lisa, and he is usually clumsy around females. However, in a flashback in "Lisa's Sax" (during the time that Bart and Milhouse were in kindergarten), a school counselor accidentally revealed that he had assessed Milhouse to be gay, and indeed, the show often implies Milhouse may be homosexual or bisexual . Although he and Lisa do not have a full relationship together, they are very close friends, as shown in "Lisa's Date With Density" when she admits she liked Nelson. In the end, Milhouse asks Lisa if she will ever have a crush on someone and Lisa answers that it could be anybody and Milhouse rejoices. It was revealed in "Lisa's Wedding" that Lisa lost her virginity to him, but Marge said it was alright to wear a white dress because "Milhouse doesn't count."

Milhouse's first girlfriend was Samantha Stanky, a new student who had moved to Springfield from Phoenix, Arizona in the episode "Bart's Friend Falls in Love". After her father caught her and Milhouse kissing, he sent her to a French Canadian Catholic girls' school. She hasn't been heard from since; however, she is seen in the background in some episodes. While Milhouse's official first kiss was with Samantha Stanky in the aforementioned episode, it was contradicted in the episode "The Way We Weren't", where Milhouse claims his first kiss was with Homer Simpson during a game of spin the bottle that Homer interrupted.

Skills and talents

Milhouse is fluent in Italian due to visiting his English-language-hating grandmother Sofia in Tuscany for two weeks every year. Because of his grandmother's beatings, Milhouse learned Italian and started to wet his bed.

Milhouse is allergic to honey, wheat, dairy, non-dairy and even his own tears. He drinks Soy milk and says that real milk can kill him (though when Homer hands him rat's milk, which Milhouse believes to be cow's milk, he drinks it).

He has also demonstrated that he is a skilled Vespa rider, although he is obviously not legally entitled to operate a scooter on public roads. It is also in this episode that Milhouse had come closest to wooing Lisa, as she even kept a picture of Milhouse in her room while practicing Italian. It is implied that she is captivated by his impressive command of the language during a rather romantic outing to the local Italian immigrant establishment. However, he once again reaches a roadblock due to his ongoing fatal flaw when it comes to girls.

Creation

Milhouse was named after US President Richard Nixon, whose middle name was Milhous. The name was the most "unfortunate name Matt Groening could think of for a kid". Milhouse is a favorite among the staff as Al Jean noted "most of the writers are more like Milhouse than Bart". It is also possible that Milhouse's character was taken from Paul Pfeiffer in the Wonder Years.

References

External links

• The Milhouse File