dailyO
Art & Culture

Meet Monk Murphy, the first deaf character in The Simpsons

Advertisement
Ishita Srivastava
Ishita SrivastavaApr 11, 2022 | 19:13

Meet Monk Murphy, the first deaf character in The Simpsons

In a surprising first and not inspired by CODA (the Oscar winning movie starring deaf actors), The Simpsons, in an episode of Season 33 on April 10, featured a deaf voice actor and the use of American Sign Language (ASL) for the first time since its premiere in 1989. 

Confirming that the episode was indeed not thought of after CODA's win, Writer and showrunner of The Simpsons, Al Jean took to Twitter and wrote, "@TheSimpsons And no we did not produce this episode from scratch in two weeks after Coda won best picture."

Advertisement

THE SYNOPSIS: Titled The Sound of Bleeding Gums and available to watch on Disney+Hotstar in India, viewers see Lisa meet Monk Murphy, the son of her late musical idol "Bleeding Gums" Murphy, who died in Season 6.

As the episode progresses, Lisa finds out that Murphy was born deaf and originally wanted to have a cochlear implant. While in the beginning viewers see Lisa eager to help Monk, ultimately Lisa is humbled when she realises that Monk's life doesn’t need changing.

While it would have been a difficulty to show the use of ASL on screen, as the characters are known to only have four fingers, makers of the show were committed to using ASL in the show and consulted two ASL specialists regarding the signs that the characters were going to use in the episode. 

STARRING AS MONK: The episode features actor John Autry II, who is a deaf person, voicing the role of Monk and also features other deaf performers, including comedian Kathy Buckley. 

Advertisement
John has previously apprared in Glee and told CNN that the role of Monk is life-changing for him. "It's about hard of hearing and hearing characters coming together. It's a part of history," said the actor. 
 
The Sound of Bleeding Gums also features three children from No Limits, a nonprofit for deaf children: Ian Mayorga, Kaylee Arellano and Hazel Lopez. No Limits wrote on its website, "The show will use the name "Sky's the Limit Theater Group" to represent the groundbreaking "No Limits Theater Group"."
 
These three kids sang the song, Happy Talk, from the musical South Pacific. Viewers can hear the song at the end of the episode. 
 
INSPIRATION: The Sound of Bleeding Gums' storyline is loosely based on the life of Loni Steele Sosthand, the episode's main writer. Writer and showrunner of The Simpsons, Al Jean told CNN, "Loni pitched making the son of Bleeding Gums Murphy a man who was born deaf and could never hear his father's music."
 
Check out this snippet from the episode when Monk hears his father's music for the first time: 
The inspiration for this episode came from Loni's father, who loves jazz, and her brother, who is a year older than her and is deaf. Loni told CNN, "Having a brother, who is just a year older, who was born deaf, really shaped who I am as a person. So it is a story not just close to my heart, but to my identity."
 
She added, "There are many autobiographical themes in the episode regarding the tension between a love of music and loved ones who are deaf -- themes also present in CODA, but very much from my own life."
 
Here is how we are feeling after knowing about this episode: 

via GIPHY

Last updated: April 11, 2022 | 19:13
IN THIS STORY
Please log in
I agree with DailyO's privacy policy