Lisa Marie Simpson[1] is a fictional character in the animated television sitcom series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa was born as a character in The Tracey Ullman Showshort "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening created and designed her while waiting to meet James L. Brooks. Groening had been invited to pitch a series of shorts based on his comic Life in Hell, but instead decided to create a new set of characters. He named the older Simpson daughter after his younger sister Lisa Groening Bartlett. After appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for three years, the Simpson family were moved to their own series on Fox, which debuted on December 17, 1989.
Intelligent, kind, and passionate about the planet and all living things, Lisa Simpson is the second child of Homer and Marge. Born Mother's Day, May 9, 1981, she is the younger sister of Bart, and the older sister of Maggie, at age 8. Lisa's high intellect and left-wing political stance creates a barrier between her and other children her age; therefore she is a bit of a loner and social outcast with few friends. Lisa is a vegetarian, a strong environmentalist, a feminist, and a Buddhist. Lisa's character develops many times over the course of the show: most notably, she becomes a vegetarian in season 7 and converts to Buddhism in season 13. A strong liberal and activist for peace, equality, and the environment, Lisa advocates for a variety of political causes (e.g. standing against apartheid in South Africa and supporting the Tibetan independence movement) which sets her against most of the people in Springfield. However, she can also be somewhat intolerant of opinions that differ from her own, often refusing to consider alternative perspectives and showing a feeling of self-righteousness. In her free time, Lisa enjoys many hobbies such as reading and playing the baritone saxophone and guitar. She has appeared in other media relating to The Simpsons– including video games, The Simpsons Movie, The Simpsons Ride, commercials and comic books– and inspired a line of merchandise.
Yeardley Smith originally tried out for the role of Bart, while Nancy Cartwright (who was later cast as the voice for Bart) tried out for Lisa. Producers considered Smith's voice too high for a boy, so she was given the role of Lisa. In the Tracey Ullman Show shorts, Lisa was something of a "female Bart" who mirrored her brother's mischief, but as the series progressed she became a liberal voice of reason which has drawn both praise and criticism from fans of the show. Because of her unusual pointed hairstyle, many animators consider Lisa the most difficult Simpsons character to draw.
Originally conceived and described as simply the "middle child", without much other personality shown in her earliest appearances, Lisa has since undergone significant character expansion to the point where she is now commonly considered by critics, scholars and many fans to be one of the best-developed and most enduring female characters in television history. TV Guide ranked her 11th (tied with Bart) on their list of the "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time". Her environmentalism has been especially well-received; several episodes featuring her have won Genesis and Environmental Media Awards, including a special "board of directors Ongoing Commitment Award" in 2001. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) included Lisa on their list of the "Most Animal-Friendly TV Characters of All Time". Yeardley Smith won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 1992, and Lisa and her family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2000.
Role in The Simpsons
The Simpsons uses a floating timeline in which the characters do not physically age. The show itself is perpetually set in the year of broadcast (except for occasional flashbacks and flashforwards). In several episodes, events have been linked to specific time periods, although this timeline has been contradicted in subsequent episodes.[2] Lisa's date of birth was given in one episode, "Lisa's First Word" (season 4, 1992), as May 4, 1984, during the Summer Olympics.[3] The episode "That '90s Show" (season 19, 2008), however, contradicts much of the established backstory; for example, it presents Homer and Marge as being childless in the late 1990s.[4][5] Despite this, Lisa is always portrayed as being 8 years old,[6] making, for example, one potential year of birth 1981 based on the show's premiere having been in 1989. The series' canon would furthermore eventually settle on her true month and day of birth as being May 9, on account of "My Sister, My Sitter" (season eight, 1997) establishing her to be "two years and 38 days" younger than Bart.[7][8] In the season 11 finale "Behind the Laughter" (2000), Lisa tells the show's viewers about having unwillingly been given "anti-growth hormones" by Homer and the producers to have her physical age permanently kept the same;[9] however, that episode is considered non-canon due to its mockumentary and alternate history style.[10]
Lisa has had a few brief relationships with boys, including Ralph Wiggum in "I Love Lisa" (season 4, 1993),[15]Nelson Muntz in "Lisa's Date with Density" (season 8, 1996)[16] and Colin in The Simpsons Movie (2007).[17] Bart's best friend Milhouse Van Houten has a crush on her, but despite dropping unsubtle hints about his feelings, he has been unsuccessful in winning her affection.[16] Her voice actor Yeardley Smith said Muntz would make a good match for Lisa.[18] In 2019, Simpsons showrunner Al Jean said he saw Lisa as being "possibly polyamorous" in the future.[19] In the Season 23 episode "Holidays of Future Passed", Lisa is shown holding hands with an unnamed dark-haired woman in a photo, and then shown in a second photo where she is holding hands with two different women at once, suggesting polyamory; she later ends up with Milhouse. However, this episode is non-canon.[19][20][21][22]
Lisa is the most intellectual member of the Simpson family (she has an IQ of 159), and many episodes of the series focus on her fighting for various causes.[23] Lisa is often the focus of episodes with "a real moral or philosophical point", which according to former writer David S. Cohen is because "you really buy her as caring about it."[24] Lisa's political convictions are generally left-wing and liberal, and she often contests others' views. She is a vegetarian, feminist, environmentalist and a supporter of gay rights, universal healthcare, and the Free Tibet movement;[25][26] she also supports animal rights, though, likely due to her age, often typically sides more with cuter-looking animals generally considered harmless and innocent, such as rabbits or dolphins. In a special Christmas message for the UK in 2004, Lisa showed her support for Cornish nationalism, even speaking the Cornish language to get her message across.[27] While she still continues to remain supportive of the general ideals of the Christian church in which she was raised, Lisa becomes a practicing Buddhist in the episode "She of Little Faith" (season 13, 2001) after she learns about the Noble Eightfold Path.[28] An "End Apartheid Now" poster can be seen on her bedroom door during earlier seasons. She is extremely controlled by her ideals and noble, and she undergoes drastic changes when she or anyone else is immoral, such as renouncing Homer's last name and taking Marge's maiden name when she discovers that Homer bet against her in a crossword puzzle competition– namely, becoming "Lisa Bouvier"– in "Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words" (season 20, 2008).[29]
Despite being a girl, Lisa is a skilled soccer player and ice hockey goaltender, a good fighter, and an excellent gymnast due to her remarkably large head giving her perfect balance; however, she has limited dancing talent, a problem that she has usually been shown to rectify only with the help of unconventional aids, such as undersole electronics in "Last Tap Dance in Springfield" (season 11, 2000) or second-hand smoke in "Smoke on the Daughter" (season 19, 2008).[30] She also displays a surprising amount of skill in driving, especially for a child her age, sometimes even taking the wheel whenever either of her parents end up distracted from driving themselves, as shown, for example, in the season nine episode "Bart Star" (1997), and, despite being too young to actually hold a driving license, having her own electric car as first seen in the video game The Simpsons: Road Rage (2001),[31] in addition to her bicycle that she is shown riding at certain other times (such as, most frequently, in the show's opening sequence).
Character
Creation
Matt Groening conceived Lisa and the rest of the Simpson family in 1986 in the lobby of producer James L. Brooks's office. Groening had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show and had intended to present an adaptation of his Life in Hell comic strip. When he realized that animating Life in Hell would require him to rescind publication rights, Groening went in another direction,[32] hurriedly sketching his version of a dysfunctional family, named after members of his own family. Lisa was named after Groening's younger sister, but little else was based on her.[33] In The Tracey Ullman Show shorts, Lisa displayed none of the intelligence for which she later became known. She was more of a "female Bart"[34] and was originally described as simply the "middle child", without much personality.[35]
Lisa made her brief debut with the rest of the Simpson family on April 19, 1987, in The Tracey Ullman Showshort "Good Night".[36] On December 17, 1989, the shorts were adapted into The Simpsons, a half-hour series on the Fox Broadcasting Company.[32]
Design
This image illustrates how to draw Lisa's head and hairline using the three-three-two arrangement
The entire Simpson family was designed to be easily recognized in silhouette.[37] The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings.[32] Lisa's physical features are generally unique. In some early episodes, minor background characters occasionally had a similar hairline. However, in the later seasons, no character other than Maggie shares her hairline.[38] While designing Lisa, Groening "couldn't be bothered to even think about girls' hairstyles".[39] At the time, Groening was primarily drawing in black and white; when designing Lisa and Maggie, he "just gave them this kind of spiky starfish hair style, not thinking that they would eventually be drawn in color".[40]
To draw Lisa's head and hair, most of the show's animators use what they call the "three-three-two arrangement". It begins with a circle, with two curving lines (one vertical, one horizontal) intersecting in the middle to indicate her eyeline. The vertical line continues outside of the circle to create one hair point, with two more added towards the back of her head. Three more points are then added in front (in the direction Lisa is facing), with two more behind it.[41] Several Simpsons animators, including Pete Michels and David Silverman, consider Lisa the most difficult Simpsons character to draw.[42] Silverman explains that "her head is so abstract" due to her hairstyle,[39] which is usually shown to be approximately chin- or occasionally shoulder-length. Due to her design, her hairline, as with Bart's and Maggie's, has the appearance of being fused directly to her head,[40] and in "The Blue and the Gray" (season 22, 2011), she and Bart question why their hair has no visible border to separate it from the rest of their heads.[43]
Some episodes depict Lisa's hair being styled out of its usual star shape, including: "22 Short Films About Springfield" (season seven, 1996), where it is folded over her scalp following a botched haircut that arose from the need to remove chewing gum that had become stuck to her head;[44] "The President Wore Pearls" (season 15, 2003), where she is given an Eva Perón–esque makeover by the school faculty following her election as school student body president;[45][46] "Teenage Mutant Milk-Caused Hurdles" (season 27, 2016), where Marge applies makeup to her to hide a temporary acne problem that had been caused by an allergic reaction to cheap hormone-rich milk;[47] "The Last Traction Hero" (season 28, 2016), following her appointment as school bus monitor by Principal Skinner after filming an incident on the bus with her smartphone;[48] and "Sorry Not Sorry" (season 32, 2020), where she flattens her hair into the style of "The Rachel".[49] On the commentary for "The President Wore Pearls" particularly, director Mike B. Anderson recalls that Lisa's makeover hairstyle in that episode was even more difficult to draw than her usual style, and that the animators drew it with a "wackier" appearance.[45] In most flashforward episodes showing Lisa as an adult or a teenager, such as "Lisa's Wedding" (season six, 1995), "Bart to the Future" (season 11, 2000), "Holidays of Future Passed" (season 23, 2011), "Days of Future Future" (season 25, 2014) and "Mr. Lisa's Opus" (season 29, 2017), her hair points are generally depicted in a frilled, "wavy" style, primarily to emphasize more of her maturity and self-esteem.[50][51]
Appearance
Lisa is four feet and two inches tall,[52][53][54] and usually wears the same all-purpose regular outfit, the latter being a trait typical of most The Simpsons characters. Her outfit consists of a straplessred-orange dress with a zigzag hem (resembling, and occasionally compared by herself and other characters to, a lampshade[55]), matching Mary Janes and a white beaded pearl necklace (a gift from Marge for precociously achieving the ability to read at a 12th-grade level while still only in her infancy[56][57]), and is sometimes completed with a red hair bow for certain special occasions; together with her hairstyle, this uniquely makes her the only Simpson family member not to include the color blue as part of her standard appearance.[32][58]
For other, more formal, occasions such as church and family outings, she usually (but not always) wears one of two different outfits: originally, this was usually a magenta long-sleeved dress with a ruffled collar and magenta pumps, later switching to the more commonly shown baby pink short-sleeved tutu dress with darker pink belt, dark pink collar, white socks, pink Mary Janes and occasionally a matching wide-brimmed hat.[59] In addition, she has also occasionally been shown wearing a third formal outfit consisting of a tall long-sleeved white dress with ruffled ankle-height hem trim, two white beaded pearl necklaces, a white flower in her hair and white pumps, beginning at the school talent show in the first act of "Lisa's Pony" (season three, 1991).[60] At bedtime, she usually dresses in a short-sleeved turquoise nightgown with a frilly white collar and matching cuffs, as well as turquoise slippers (although she is sometimes seen going to bed barefoot instead);[61] "Podcast News" (season 32, 2020), however, shows her wearing lilac footie pajamas with gray pads on the bottom of the feet. When swimming, she wears a magenta or red swimsuit.[62]
While the roles of Homer and Marge were given to Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner because they were already a part of the Tracey Ullman Show cast,[65] the producers decided to hold casting for the roles of Bart and Lisa. Nancy Cartwright intended to audition for the role of Lisa, but disliked the character's bland description—Lisa was described simply as the "middle child"—and read for the role of Bart instead.[35][66] Casting director Bonita Pietila brought Yeardley Smith in for an audition after seeing her performing in the play Living on Salvation Street.[67][68] Smith was hesitant to audition for an animated series, but her agent had persuaded her to give it a try.[69] Smith originally auditioned for the role of Bart but Pietila believed her voice was too high. Smith later recalled: "I always sounded too much like a girl, I read two lines as Bart and they said, 'Thanks for coming!'"[68][70] Pietila offered Smith the role of Lisa instead.[69]
Smith and the show's writers worked to give Lisa a more defined personality, and she has developed greatly during the series. In her 2000 memoir My Life as a 10-Year-Old Boy, Cartwright wrote: "with the brilliant wit of the writers and the wry, in-your-eye, honest-to-a-fault interpretation, Yeardley Smith has made Lisa a bright light of leadership, full of compassion and competence beyond her years. Lisa Simpson is the kind of child we not only want our children to be but also the kind of child we want all children to be. But, at the time, on The Tracey Ullman Show, she was just an animated eight-year-old kid who had no personality."[35]
Lisa is the only regular character voiced by Smith, who raises the pitch of her voice slightly for the role.[68] In some earlier episodes she provided some of Maggie's squeaks and occasional speaking parts, and has voiced other characters on very rare occasions.[71] Usually they are derivative of Lisa, such as Lisa Bella in "Last Tap Dance in Springfield" (season 11, 2000) and Lisa Jr. (Oovilu-Eeoo-Kitana-Wanjay) in "Missionary: Impossible" (season 11, 2000).[72]
It's a happy fluke. When she was cast back in 1987, I just liked the sound of her voice. She's also a great actress. In general, people who make their living doing voices on cartoons aren't always great for us. Most cartoons want things peppy and cartoony. Yeardley can go through moments of great emotion and wring it for all she's worth.
Despite Lisa's fame, Smith is rarely recognized in public, which she does not mind. She said, "it's wonderful to be in the midst of all this hype about the show, and people enjoying the show so much, and to be totally a fly on the wall; people never recognize me solely from my voice."[74] In a 2009 interview with The Guardian she commented that "It's the best job ever. I have nothing but gratitude for the amount of freedom The Simpsons has bought me in my life."[75] Although Smith received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 1992, she considers it unimportant, saying "there's part of me that feels it wasn't even a real Emmy." The award is a Creative Arts prize not awarded during the primetime telecast and, at the time, a juried award without nominations.[69] Still, Smith considers her work on the show a success. "If I had to be associated with one character in fiction," she said, "I will always be thrilled that it was Lisa Simpson."[69] Matt Groening has described Smith as being very similar to Lisa: "Yeardley has strong moral views about her character. Some lines are written for Lisa that Yeardley reads and says, 'No, I wouldn't say that.'"[73] Former Simpsons writer Jay Kogen praised her performance on the show, particularly in the episode "Lisa's Substitute" (season two, 1991), as able "to move past comedy to something really strong and serious and dramatic."[73]
Until 1998, Smith was paid $30,000 per episode. A pay dispute erupted in 1998, during which Fox threatened to replace the six main voice actors with new actors, going as far as preparing for casting of new voices.[76] The dispute was soon resolved, and Smith received $125,000 per episode until 2004 when the voice actors sought an increase to $360,000 per episode.[76] The issue was resolved a month later,[77] and Smith earned $250,000 per episode.[74] New salary negotiations took place in 2008, with the voice actors subsequently receiving approximately $400,000 per episode.[78] Three years later, with Fox threatening to cancel the series unless production costs were cut, Smith and the other cast members accepted a 30 percent pay cut, down to just over $300,000 per episode.[79]
Development
Lisa in her first televised appearance in "Good Night", while designers who worked on Lisa, Groening, who was primarily drawing in black and white, "just gave [her] this kind of spiky starfish hair style, not thinking that [she] would eventually be drawn in color"; Lisa's hair points would eventually be made less spiky
In The Tracey Ullman Show shorts, Lisa was something of a "female Bart": equally mischievous but lacking unique traits.[34] As the series progressed, Lisa began to develop into a more intelligent and more emotional character.[80] She demonstrates her intellect in the 1990 episode "Krusty Gets Busted" (season one), by helping Bart reveal Sideshow Bob's plot to frame Krusty the Clown for armed robbery.[81] Many episodes focusing on Lisa have an emotional nature, such as "Moaning Lisa" (season one, 1990). The idea for the episode was pitched by James L. Brooks, who wanted to do an emotional episode involving Lisa's sadness, to complement the many "jokey episodes" in the first season.[82]
The sixth-season episode "Lisa's Wedding" (1995) was the first to introduce Lisa's adoption of vegetarianism, albeit in a future context.[50][83] In the seventh-season episode "Lisa the Vegetarian" (1995), she decides to permanently become a vegetarian in the then-present day as well, distinguishing her as one of the first primetime television characters to make such a choice.[84] The latter episode was written by David S. Cohen (in his first solo writing credit), who jotted down the idea one day while eating lunch. Then-executive producer David Mirkin, who had recently become a vegetarian himself, quickly approved the idea. Several of Lisa's experiences in the episode are based on Mirkin's own experiences. The episode guest stars musician Paul McCartney, a committed vegetarian and animal rights activist. McCartney's condition for appearing was that Lisa would remain a vegetarian and would not revert the next week (as is common on situation comedies). The trait has, for the most part, stayed and is generally one of the few permanent character changes made in the show;[85][86][87] in keeping with this, most subsequent episodes appearing to feature Lisa still eating meat usually include dialogue handwaving that as actually being plant- or tofu-based– such as the Thanksgiving turkey served at Moe's by rock band R.E.M. at the end of "Homer the Moe" (season 13, 2001)[88]– with the exception of appearances in flashback episodes such as "Fland Canyon" (season 27, 2016), where she unambiguously eats bacon in a flashback,[89] or on deliberately accidental occasions such as those in "Lisa Gets an 'A'" (season ten, 1998), "Mommie Beerest" (season 16, 2005), "Papa Don't Leech" (season 19, 2008), and "The Food Wife" (season 23, 2011), where she is served oven-roasted cud, a pancake-wrapped sausage, barbecued chicken, and "pork chops 100 ways", respectively, by Marge, Bart, Lurleen Lumpkin and El Chemistri.[90][91][92][93] Even in episodes after she becomes a vegetarian, however, there are still non-accidental instances where her dinner plate has meat, which she is usually seen to leave.
In the season 13 episode "She of Little Faith" (2001), Lisa underwent another major character change by converting to Buddhism,[94] this time at the insistence of both then-returning showrunner Al Jean and that episode's guest star, actor Richard Gere, the latter himself a practicing Buddhist. At the time, Buddhism was considered the "hippy religion" of many liberal-minded Millennials practicing vegetarianism (or even veganism), and Jean pitched the idea in order to further expand Lisa's personality. The series' writing staff became concerned about the episode's originality, arguing that the series had already explored religious themes in earlier episodes, but Jean assured them that the episode, written by Bill Freiberger (in his only writing credit for the series), would be about Lisa first-and-foremost, rather than Buddhism. Gere's main conditions for appearing also included that Buddhism should be portrayed accurately and that Lisa should also become a supporter of the Free Tibet movement like himself. Although the line "Free Tibet" itself as to have been spoken by her ultimately did not appear in the episode, Lisa has since subsequently agreed with Gere's sentiments in that episode in some of the series' later ones, and, since then, Lisa has officially remained a Buddhist, despite simultaneously still continuing to support Christianity and its ideals by agreement with Marge thanks to Gere's words of encouragement near the end of that episode.[28][95]
Lisa plays the baritone saxophone, and some episodes use that as a plot device. According to Matt Groening, the baritone saxophone was chosen because he found the thought of an eight-year-old girl playing it amusing. He added, "But she doesn't always play a baritone sax because the animators don't know what it looks like, so it changes shape and color from show to show."[96] One of the hallmarks of the show's opening sequence is usually a brief solo Lisa plays on her saxophone after being thrown out of music class. The Simpsons composer Alf Clausen said that the session musicians who perform her solos do not try to play at the second-grade level and instead "think of Lisa as a really good player."[80] On her "Lifelong List of Things to Do" in The Lisa Book (2006), two of Lisa's stated goals are to "execute a pure glissando from second octave A upwards that causes people to weep at the sheer beauty of its sound" and "play a sax solo at the Playboy Jazz Festival while protesting the fact that [she is] there".[8]
Lisa also has other extensive musical abilities: she has a powerful singing voice that she often uses (and with which she even enters a singing competition in "A Star Is Torn" and wins), and is a skilled multi-instrumentalist, besides saxophone, as she can also play bass (as shown in "Whacking Day"), guitar (as shown most notably in "Last Exit to Springfield" and "Million Dollar Abie"), and piano (as shown in "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace"). In addition, some more recent variations of the opening sequence depict her playing both those instruments (except the piano) and others including (but not limited to) a harp, violin, tuba, and French horn. Lisa's singing voice, first heard briefly at the end of the show's first aired episode, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" (1989), and then more prominently in "Moaning Lisa",[12] is provided by Smith herself, and is generally similar to Smith's in real life, which Jean has described as being "very good".[97] According to Smith, Lisa's normal speaking voice provides difficulty in allowing Smith to sing as her, leaving Smith theoretically only able to sing in "about four notes".[98] There are several songs in some episodes, including "A Star Is Torn", which Smith has claimed were pitched too high for her real-life singing voice, which is generally a lower pitch; a later example would be "Super Star" in the season 23 finale "Lisa Goes Gaga" (2012). As a result of this, she usually alternates between Lisa's voice and her own real-life singing voice to provide Lisa with a more versatile singing range than Lisa's normal speaking voice is capable of.[97][98] While Lisa's singing was already a relatively common occurrence prior to "The President Wore Pearls" (season 15, 2003), it has become increasingly more frequent since that episode at the insistence of Jean.[97][99]
Personality
[Lisa is] a good soul. I love that she is so compassionate. She is wise beyond her years. She has remarkable optimism, despite the fact that she's disappointed so often.
Lisa is generally characterized as a charismatic, innovative, insightful, gifted, confident, free-spirited, smart, witty, independent, idealistic, musically inclined, cute, sweet, naïve, kind, caring, mature, usually well-behaved, often rebellious, sometimes narcissistic, sometimes envious, sometimes sassy, sometimes girly, precocious, highly self-esteemed, sociable, and extremely intelligent girl who far exceeds the standard achievement level of children of her age range, steadfastly focusing on her goals and always striving to reach her potential.[8] She is also regularly depicted as the moral center of both the Simpson family specifically and the show at large generally, and often acts as the voice of reason for both, often being, despite her young age, a good girl with a surprisingly strong sense of right, wrong and morality.[24][73][80][82][100] She has a generally independent upbringing, with parental involvement from neither Homer nor Marge (who both tend to focus more on Bart and Maggie), leading to hobbies such as reading and research, music, equestrianism and horse management, and an interest in advanced studies. In many flashbacks to her infancy, she is depicted as already displaying advanced intellectual independence that ranges from changing her own diapers to solving complicated mathematical questions, and in the present day is generally portrayed as having the most promising future not only of the Simpson children but also of virtually all the students of Springfield Elementary School (with the possible exception of Martin Prince),[8][67][101][102][103][104][105] with Harvard University regularly being depicted as her main future higher education institution of choice (most recently, for example, in the season 29 episode "Mr. Lisa's Opus", where she is accepted into the university's college,[104] and again in the season 32 episode "Mother and Child Reunion", as part of her eclectic series of higher education enrollments[105]), despite a lack of encouragement from her family and a lack of resources on the school's behalf to fully cater to her needs, both of which she has often expressed disappointment with.[67]
However, despite being a child prodigy, she often sees herself as a misfit within the Simpson family and other children precisely due to possessing an unusually high level of intelligence, and her popularity in school in particular is regularly influenced by some of the other students (including Bart), who regard her as a proud overachiever,[52] leaving her with only a relatively small group of friends that consists mainly of other girls (such as her best friend, Janey Powell, and Allison Taylor) and sometimes also some nerdy boys nicknamed "The Superfriends".[106] Her school yearbook, first seen in the seventh-season finale "Summer of 4 Ft. 2" (1996), features photographs of her accepting such accolades as being "Miss Perfect Attendance", the school's "Grammar Rodeo Head Buckaroo", a lover of international culture and cuisine, and a teacher's pet.[52] She also keeps a personal diary in which she records her thoughts.[107] She shows characteristics rarely seen in Springfield, including spirituality and commitment to peaceful ways,[108] and is notably more concerned with world affairs than her life in Springfield,[109] with her rebellion against social norms being depicted as constructive and heroic, yet she can be self-righteous at times.[110] In "Lisa the Vegetarian", an increasing sense of moral righteousness leads her to disrupt her father's roast-pig barbecue, an act for which she later apologizes. Like most children her age, she thinks in images rather than words.[111] Episodes often take shots at Lisa's idealism.[112] In "Bart Star" (season nine, 1997), Lisa, who is departing from her typically more genuine nature and apparently looking for a new cause to crusade over,[113] defiantly declares that she, a girl, would like to join the football team. In the 1990s, it was considered odd to allow a girl to play football. However, when coach Ned Flanders reveals that several girls already play for the team, she hesitates and claims football is "not really [her] thing". She then expresses distaste about a ball made of pig's skin, but one of the girls informs her that their footballs are synthetic and that proceeds are donated to Amnesty International. Upset by being unable to gain moral superiority, Lisa runs off.[114] Her comment about the ball's material also foreshadows the future experimentation with veganism that she decides to take up in season 32, though that has subsequently usually been shown to be more of an occasional feature rather than another permanent character change.[115] Lisa's sense of faith is complex, as she can be very spiritual despite her skepticism of the supernatural,[24][116] and her spiritual wariness contrasts juxtaposed with her more conformist mother.[108] In "She of Little Faith", she decides to become a Buddhist after being appalled at how the First Church of Springfield allowed Mr. Burns to rebuild the church, which burned after being hit with Bart and Homer's rockets, with commercialism.[28] Despite no longer actively following the Christian faith, she still is seen attending church in later episodes, and continues to support its ideals in response to initial words of encouragement by Richard Gere. She is, despite her skepticism, also interested in Wicca, mentioning in The Simpsons Movie (2007) that, despite apparently not being an adherent of that movement, she considers it to be "very empowering",[17] hinting at a plurispiritualistic belief that does not just incorporate aspects of Buddhism and Christianity, and therefore suggesting a non-traditional, more introspective approach to spirituality, while others often have more traditional beliefs;[24][108] she later befriends three actual Wiccans in "Rednecks and Broomsticks" (season 21, 2009), although their friendship ultimately remains temporary at Marge's insistence.[117] "The Girl Who Slept Too Little" (season 17, 2005) revisits her skepticism and establishes her to also be a major believer in science, with her mentioning in that episode that, during her fear of the new cemetery temporarily established next to the Simpson house, she believed only in science,[118] a stance soon briefly returned to in "The Monkey Suit" (season 17, 2006) in response to Springfield's controversial but ultimately short-lived ban on the teaching of science, which had been spearheaded by Flanders and Reverend Lovejoy, in that episode.[119]
Despite Lisa's usual embrace of vegetarianism (and sometimes later of veganism, as aforementioned), her favorite food is fried shrimp[8][120][121] (and previously also bacon[89]), suggesting flexible vegetarianism, and she is said to also occasionally eat Krusty Burgers while seeking to "invent a meatless hamburger that tastes as darn good" as part of her "Lifelong List of Things to Do".[8][122] She also demonstrates, on occasion, and in a subversion of her usual support for animal rights, her fondness of at least the smell of cooked lobsters, as shown, for example, in the scene from "Homer's Enemy" (season eight, 1997) where Frank Grimes visits the Simpson house on Homer's invitation to see what the Simpson family are like, and further re-affirmed by herself in dialogue in a scene from "Lisa Gets an 'A'" (season ten, 1998) after witnessing Bart express dissatisfaction at being served with a vegetarian dinner instead of lobster due to Homer's newfound affection for a homegrown lobster named "Mr. Pinchy".[90][123]
Lisa is said to have an IQ of 159,[123][124] and in "They Saved Lisa's Brain" (season ten, 1999) she becomes a member of the Springfield chapter of Mensa.[125] Even prior to becoming a Buddhist, Lisa at times is seen meditating.[126] When unable to attend school due to a teachers' strike in "The PTA Disbands" (season six, 1995), she suffers withdrawal symptoms because of the sudden lack of praise.[127] She even demands that her mother grade her for no obvious reason.[128] In Planet Simpson, Chris Turner writes that these traits, and certain others as aforementioned, make Lisa more realistic because "No character can aspire to realism without a few all-too-human flaws."[127]
Although she is wise beyond her years, Lisa has typical childhood issues, sometimes requiring adult intervention. One episode to show this is "See Homer Run" (season seventeen, 2005) where she goes through a developmental condition which causes her to get into trouble at school.[129][130] In "Lost Our Lisa" (season nine, 1998), she tricks Homer into allowing her to ride the bus alone, only to become hopelessly lost and in need of aid from her father.[131] Chris Turner writes in Planet Simpson that incidents like this illustrate that "Even when Lisa's lecturing like a college professor or mounting yet another protest, she never becomes a full-grown adult trapped in a child's body."[130] In The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer, Aeon J. Skoble states that although Lisa is an intellectual, she is still portrayed as a character who enjoys normal childhood and girl activities, plays with Malibu Stacy dolls, loves ponies, obsesses over teenage heartthrobs such as Corey Masterson, and watches The Itchy & Scratchy Show along with Bart. He writes, "One might argue that this is typical childhood behavior, but since in so many cases Lisa is presented not simply as a prodigy but as preternaturally wise, the fondness for Itchy & Scratchy and Corey seem to be highlighted, taking on greater significance. Lisa is portrayed as the avatar of logic and wisdom, but then she also worships Corey so she's 'no better [than the rest of us]'."[132] When she becomes depressed over being unable to pursue her dream as a musician due to inheriting her father's fingers and having to spend her time with Marge in being a homemaker, Lisa gives up on school and becomes a juvenile delinquent in "Separate Vocations" (season three, 1992). She is stopped by Bart who encourages her to keep proving people wrong and pursue her dreams as a musician.[133]
Lisa has demonstrated an acute sense of emotion and sensitivity, both positive and negative, the latter in particular often involving bursting into tears whenever emotionally overwhelmed.[73] First shown in the Season 1 episode, "Moaning Lisa", when Homer hurts his daughter's feelings midway in the episode, there has been a sizable portion of episodes featuring Lisa sobbing, to the point where it remains her most well-known, and continuously used, trait, alongside her vegetarianism and Buddhism. Later in that episode, she is depicted singing song lyrics containing the words "I'm the saddest kid in grade number two" and "My dad acts like he belongs in a zoo".[12] It is not uncommon for each and every season to feature an episode where Lisa cries at some point, even silently.[82] More positively, and also surprisingly common, is for her to at least giggle, grin or do both, even ever so slightly, when amused by something, demonstrating her sweetness and naïvety in an upbeat but subtle way.[71][73]
Her laugh and "beautiful smile",[63] the latter in both toothy and fully closed forms, are also major traits of her personality, and, like the aforementioned sobbing, are also extensively used, the former in a wide variety of comedic moments for which she is present and the latter whenever she is very happy, excited or posing for certain photographs.[68][69][71][73][134] The former's contextual placement even reaches its most extreme in a scene from "Go Big or Go Homer" (season 31, 2019), where she is the only Simpson family member to find Springfield Nuclear Power Plant intern Mike Wegman's offensive comments about Bart's appearance funny, and ends up laughing uncontrollably– a sharp contrast to Bart's own emotional breakdown in that same scene, Marge's anger towards Mike, Homer's mild but horrified disdain, and Maggie's stoic ambivalence.[135] An earlier example of an episode featuring scenes where Lisa laughs, but nobody else (not even Bart), is "Bart Sells His Soul" (season seven, 1995), where she remains upbeat even after finding out Bart "sold" his soul to Milhouse Van Houten and himself gradually became depressed, resentful and angry over it.[136]
Despite her charisma, intelligence and mostly confident personality, Lisa occasionally worries that her family's dull habits will rub off on her, such as in "Lisa the Simpson" (season nine, 1998) she worries that the "Simpson Gene" will make her a dimwit later finding out the gene only goes through the male side.[137][138] She is often embarrassed and disapproving of her eccentric family: of her father's parenting skills and buffoonish personality; her mother's stereotypical image and social ineptitude; and her brother's delinquent and low-brow nature. Despite this, she has good relationships with all of her immediate family members. Although they have many differences, Homer and Lisa maintain an affectionate relationship, with episodes like "Lisa the Greek" (season three, 1992) and "Bart on the Road" (season seven, 1996) depicting the bond between them often being cited as fan favorites. Homer is often oblivious to her talents but clearly respects her intelligence, such as when he supports her controversial research about Jebediah Springfield in "Lisa the Iconoclast" (season seven, 1996) because she's "always right about this kind of stuff."[139] She is also concerned that Maggie may grow up to be like the rest of the family and tries to teach her complex ideas. Chris Turner writes in Planet Simpson that "Lisa embarks on quests to find solace for her yearning spirit ... but the most reliable source of truth she finds is the one she always believed in: her family. It is from the other Simpsons that Lisa draws stability, meaning, contentment."[140] Her loyalty to her family is most clearly seen in the flashforward "Lisa's Wedding" (season six, 1995), in which she must reconcile her love for them with the distaste of her cultured fiancé.[83] In the episode "Mother Simpson" (season seven, 1995) she meets her paternal grandmother Mona Simpson for the first time.[141] Mona is also well-read and articulate, and the writers used the character as a way to explain the origins of Lisa's intelligence.[142]
Lisa's sense of right, wrong and morality often also leads her to contradict Homer, Bart and, on some occasions, Marge whenever they act reckless or idiotic, or do something illegal, forcing them back to righteousness out of fear for, in particular, her father and brother's own morality.[143] In an argument, Lisa's ethical and logical viewpoints almost always give her the moral high ground,[24][73] with her family also usually realizing Lisa to usually be in the right after they do something immoral, but, due to Homer's tendency to ignore her, sometimes using the excuse of age to send her to her room upon realizing that they are in the wrong.[85] Lisa also shares a sibling rivalry with Bart, however, and some episodes in earlier seasons even depicted Lisa herself with her usual intelligence but not yet as much maturity due to being more commonly shown feuding with him, such as, most prominently, in "Bart vs. Thanksgiving" (season two, 1990), where they fight at the dinner table over Bart's seemingly unintentional destruction of Lisa's centerpiece.[107] She has, however, developed into a more practical being, yet her young age also makes her sense of right and wrong slightly malleable at times as she has herself been shown to engage in childish and reckless behavior,[111][129][133][144][145] proving herself to be like any other Simpson, but more grounded and mature, and thereby still retaining her original "female Bart" traits albeit in a much-nuanced form.[130] Similarly to Bart with regard to Lisa and sometimes Maggie, and typical of most siblings in families, Lisa herself has also been shown throughout the series to sometimes tease Bart– including about his various crushes, sassing him for attention, attempting to scare him into doing things that she would like him to, and, in "Bart the Lover" (season three, 1992), over his writing of secret love letters to his then-teacher, Edna Krabappel– but the two are often very close,[3] with Lisa even outright helping Bart on many occasions, or at least consoling him in his times of need.[81][133] In "The Girl on the Bus" (season 30, 2019), in one of the most prominent displays of her free spirit to date, she even subverts her usual loyalty to her family by seeking out another family to which she can relate more, at least culturally and intellectually, before eventually being caught trying to leave her home one night by a furious Marge.[146]
Lisa is usually rational and thinks things through,[147] but an occasional running theme in some episodes centered on her involves her displaying narcissism or envy that in turn sometimes leads to extreme jealousy of rivals or lack of attention from either her parents or the school faculty.[148][149] Other areas she becomes jealous of are school generally and music.[148] Lisa is extremely proud of being the best when it comes to her intelligence, her schoolwork and playing the saxophone,[8][106][150] with recurring "straight A's" being another one of her strong points,[52] but has been shown to become incredibly competitive and angry should a rival be able to match or try to surpass her in areas that she excels in despite many claims of needing a challenge or someone to relate to with the same issues.[151] She is not used to being anything other than the best, and her resulting jealousy can at times make her act out in troublesome ways. One episode to show this is "Lisa's Rival" (season six, 1994), where she becomes jealous of then-newcomer Allison Taylor's skills and achievements to the point of trying to sabotage her in a diorama contest with help from Bart, although by the end of that episode the two girls finally make amends and decide to become close friends after discovering that they have more positive characteristics in common than they had thought.[148][152] A later, more notable example of jealousy occurs in "Smart & Smarter" (season 15, 2004), where Lisa deliberately starts trying to teach Maggie incorrect answers after Maggie is erroneously claimed as being more intelligent than her (which also causes Lisa to have a dream of her and Maggie as adults where she ends up killing the latter out of an even more extreme form of jealousy than even she is really capable of), then chooses to run away from home, fearing that there is no benefit to not being the smartest Simpson; by the end of the episode, however, it is revealed that Lisa was only helping Maggie pass the tests she was given by telling her the answers from the sidelines, and the sisters are able to rekindle their close relationship without any long-lasting damage to it.[124][153] A notable case of Lisa's envy occurs in "Jazzy and the Pussycats" (season 18, 2006), where Bart– whom one of the family's psychiatrists, Dr. Brentano, has had take up the drums as a way to channel his usually negative habits into something constructive following an incident with a paddleball at the funeral for Homer's "Vegas wife", Amber– upstages her and becomes a celebrity at a jazz brunch, leaving her feel cheated and of the belief that Bart should not be famous and popular simply because of his newfound drumming skills; she then resorts to freeing animals to console herself.[154] Similar to her academics, Lisa sees herself as the top musician in the school: despite her best efforts in persistently trying to get others interested in jazz music, she is often turned down, and while she is often welcoming of new saxophone players to the school band, she will become jealous should they demonstrate apparently better playing than hers.[148] In "Girl's in the Band" (season 30, 2019), she is specifically singled out by Victor Kleskow, the musical director of the Capital City Philharmonic, for her talents, and, on Kleskow's initiative, becomes privileged as the only member of the school band to be enrolled in that orchestra, initially enthusiastically but with which she herself eventually becomes uneasy with.[155]
Outside of her school studies, Lisa is shown on occasion to demonstrate her own independent learning,[8] such as becoming fluent in the Italian language with help from Milhouse before going to Italy as part of a summer opportunity,[156] and also showing a good understanding of French, German and Spanish (the second with the additional help of a verb wheel[157]). Additionally, in "The Great Simpsina" (season 22, 2011), she studies under The Great Raymondo (played by guest star Martin Landau) to become a skilled magician in her own right, the titular personality of that episode.[158]
Sexuality
Lisa's sexuality has become the subject of speculation amongst viewers of the show.
Although Lisa's sexuality has never been confirmed on screen, showrunner Al Jean said in a 2019 interview with The Metro that he had always envisaged for Lisa to grow up to become bisexual and polyamorous.[161][162] In a 2020 interview with The Stryker & Klein Show on KROQ Radio, Yeardley Smith said that she believed that Lisa was "still exploring her sexuality". Smith also asked fans to stop speculating on Lisa's sexuality, as she was "ultimately an eight-year old girl".[163]
Reception
Commendations
In 2000, Lisa, along with the rest of the Simpson family, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Lisa has been a popular character since the show's inception. She was listed at number 11 (tied with Bart) in TV Guide's "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time."[164] She appeared in Comcast's list of TV's Most Intriguing Characters[165] and was also included in AfterEllen.com's Top 50 Favorite Female TV Characters.[166] On a less positive note, she was ranked third in AskMen's top 10 of the most irritating '90s cartoon characters.[167] Yeardley Smith has won several awards for voicing Lisa, including a Primetime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Voice-Over Performance" in 1992 for "Lisa the Greek".[168] Various episodes in which Lisa stars have won Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program, including "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment" in 1991, "Lisa's Wedding" in 1995 and "HOMR" in 2001.[168] In 2000, Lisa and the rest of the Simpson family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.[169]
Lisa's environmentalism has been especially well-received. In 2001, Lisa received a special "board of directors Ongoing Commitment Award" at the Environmental Media Awards.[170] "Lisa the Vegetarian" won both an Environmental Media Award for "Best Television Episodic Comedy"[171] and a Genesis Award for "Best Television Comedy Series, Ongoing Commitment".[172] Several other episodes that feature Lisa speaking out in favor of animal rights have won Genesis Awards, including "Whacking Day" in 1994,[173][174] "Bart Gets an Elephant" in 1995,[85][175][176] "Million Dollar Abie" in 2007,[177] and "Apocalypse Cow" in 2009.[178]
According to Smith, executive producer James L. Brooks chose Lisa as one of his two favorite Simpsons characters (the other being Marge), both with whom he could reportedly identify the most.[179] Chris Turner writes in Planet Simpson that Lisa and Marge are more popular than Homer and Bart in Japan, France, Quebec and many French-speaking countries.[180] Creator Matt Groening, showrunner Al Jean and former showrunner Mike Scully all also identify Lisa as their favorite Simpsons character, with Groening foreseeing her as "the only character who is going to grow up and escape from Springfield", Jean praising her intellectualism, and Scully's favoritism being based on having several daughters of his own.[181] According to Brooks and Groening, on a slightly less positive note, series co-developer Sam Simon had apparently deemed Lisa and Marge to be "too goody two-shoes for his tastes", preferring Homer and Bart more for their eccentric personalities.[134]
Cultural influence
Jonathan Gray, author of the book Watching The Simpsons, feels that Lisa "is probably the best and certainly longest-running feminist character that television has had. She's the heart of the show and she quite often questions gender politics."[100] Christopher Borrelli of The Toledo Blade wrote, "Has there ever been a female TV character as complex, intelligent, and, ahem, as emotionally well-drawn as Lisa Simpson? Meet her once and she comes off priggish and one-note– a know-it-all. Get to know her and Lisa is as well-rounded as anyone you may ever meet in the real world."[182]
According to PETA, Lisa was one of the first vegetarian characters on primetime television. In 2004, the organization included Lisa on its list of the "Most Animal-Friendly TV Characters of All Time".[84] In 2008, environmentalist website The Daily Green honored Lisa's role in The Simpsons Movie with one of its inaugural "Heart of Green" awards, which "recognize those who have helped green go mainstream." They wrote that "young Lisa Simpson has inspired a generation to wear their hearts on their sleeves and get educated, and involved, about global issues, from justice to feminism and the environment."[183] Japanese broadcasters reversed viewer dislike of the series by focusing marketing of the show on Lisa. Lisa's well-intended but ill-fated struggles to be a voice of reason and a force of good in her family and community struck a chord with Japanese audiences.[184] Mario D'Amato, a specialist in Buddhist studies at Rollins College in Florida, described Lisa as "open-minded, reflective, ethical, and interested in improving herself in various ways, while still preserving a childlike sense of innocence. These are all excellent qualities, ones which are espoused by many Buddhist traditions."[185]
Lisa and the rest of the Simpsons have had a significant influence on English-language idioms. The dismissive term "meh", used by Lisa and popularized by the show,[186] entered the Collins English Dictionary in 2008.[187] In 1996, The New York Times published an article saying that Lisa was inspiring children, especially young girls, to learn to play the saxophone.[96]
"Lisa the Skeptic" (season nine, 1997) and "The Monkey Suit" (season 17, 2006) are episodes of The Simpsons that delve, from Lisa's perspective, into themes of skepticism, religion, and science. These episodes demonstrate the show's commitment to encouraging critical thinking and questioning of established beliefs, while also acknowledging the complexities and challenges that arise in such discussions. Despite occasional missteps, The Simpsons, through Lisa, has provided a platform for exploring these important topics in an entertaining and thought-provoking manner.[189]
Merchandising
Lisa has been included in many The Simpsons publications, toys, and other merchandise. The Lisa Book, describing Lisa's personality and attributes, was released in 2006,[8] followed by Lisa Simpson's Guide to Geek Chic, expanding on her interests and friendships, in 2015.[106] Other merchandise includes dolls, posters, figurines, bobblehead dolls, mugs, and clothing such as slippers, T-shirts, baseball caps, and boxer shorts.[190] Lisa has appeared in commercials for Burger King,[191]C.C. Lemon, Church's Chicken, Domino's Pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Ramada Inn, Ritz Crackers, Subway and Butterfinger.[192]
On April 9, 2009, the United States Postal Service unveiled a series of five 44-cent stamps featuring Lisa and the four other members of the Simpson family. They are the first characters from a television series, other than Sesame Street characters, to receive this recognition while still in production.[193] The stamps, designed by Matt Groening, went on sale in May 2009.[194][195]
Lisa has also appeared in other media relating to The Simpsons. She has appeared in each Simpsons video game, including The Simpsons Game, released in 2007.[196] In addition to the television series, Lisa regularly appeared in issues of Simpsons Comics, which were published from 1993 until 2018. The comics focus on the sweeter, more naïve incarnation from the early seasons.[197][198] Lisa also plays a role in The Simpsons Ride, launched in 2008, at Universal Studios Florida and Hollywood.[199]
Related Research Articles
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The third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons originally aired on the Fox network between September 19, 1991, and August 27, 1992. The showrunners for the third production season were Al Jean and Mike Reiss who executive produced 22 episodes for the season, while two other episodes were produced by James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, and Sam Simon, with it being produced by Gracie Films and 20th Century Fox Television. An additional episode, "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?", aired on August 27, 1992, after the official end of the third season and is included on the Season 3 DVD set. Season three won six Primetime Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Voice-Over Performance" and also received a nomination for "Outstanding Animated Program" for the episode "Radio Bart". The complete season was released on DVD in Region 1 on August 26, 2003, Region 2 on October 6, 2003, and in Region 4 on October 22, 2003.
↑ Long, Tim; Schofield, Matthew (May 20, 2012). "Lisa Goes Gaga". The Simpsons. Season 23. Episode 22. Event occurs at 19:51. Fox. I love NPR and jazz guitars / Someday, I'll design a solar car / That's right, I'm Lisa Simpson Superstar.
1 2 3 Groening, Matt (2006). ""A Bit From the Animators", Illustrated Commentary for "All Singing, All Dancing"". The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
↑ Michels, Pete (2006). ""A Bit From the Animators", Illustrated Commentary for "All Singing, All Dancing"". The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
↑ Walk, Gary Eng (November 5, 2007). "Work of Bart". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on November 11, 2014. Retrieved September 7, 2008.
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![Lisa in her first televised appearance in "Good Night", while designers who worked on Lisa, Groening, who was primarily drawing in black and white, "just gave [her] this kind of spiky starfish hair style, not thinking that [she] would eventually be drawn in color"; Lisa's hair points would eventually be made less spiky Lisa - Good Night.png](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/27/Lisa_-_Good_Night.png/200px-Lisa_-_Good_Night.png)
