The Teachers' Animation Toolkit

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The Teachers’ Animation Toolkit
WORKSHEET: GENRE AND CHARACTER DESIGN
Teachers’ note:
This exercise looks at the relationships between genre and 
character in the context of one of the best-known animation series 
on television: 
The Simpsons.
Screen an episode of 
The Simpsons
. Look at the genre handout 
and consider how many of these genres the series as a whole falls 
within. Consider how the main characters support these genre 
defi nitions through their personalities and actions.
Next look at each of the main characters in turn.
Homer–father, lazy, overweight but likeable nuclear plant 
worker
Marge–mother, housewife and community do-gooder
Bart–10-year-old anarchist and vandal with a good heart
Lisa–8-year-old super achiever, feminist, vegetarian and 
social activist
Baby Maggie–quietly sucking her pacifi er
Discuss the visible attributes of each character and what each tells 
us about them. Why do you think Marge has blue hair? What objects 
do Bart and Lisa own and what do they say about them?
Invite each student to select one of these characters and devise 
a character sheet for him or her. (They can use the Handout: 
Character Sheet 3, or start from scratch in a sketchbook.)
You might like to download and print the Handouts: Character 
Design Sheets 4 and 5
 
to provide an example from the fi nished fi lm, 
A Decent Excuse, also available as a downloadable clip.
Offer the following tips and advice:
When designing characters you need to fully understand their 
personalities and imagine how they will behave in a range of 
situations. The more things you know about the character the more 

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convincing it will be for the audience and the greater the bond they’ll 
have with the character and the story.
Discuss the character sheets with the class.