Lisa Simpson

Template:Simpsons character Lisa Marie Simpson is a character in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Yeardley Smith; Lisa is the only character Smith voices on a regular basis. Matt Groening, the creator of the series, named her after his sister.

Lisa is an extremely intelligent girl, one of the brightest characters on the show, with an I.Q. of 159. She plays the baritone saxophone. Lisa is also a Buddhist and often serves as a mouthpiece for the show's writers, many of whom are postgraduates, to voice their knowledge of philosophy, science and history. Both Lisa and Bart ranked #11 in TV Guide's "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time."

Personality

Lisa is quite eclectic in her knowledge and is notably more concerned with world affairs than her cohorts. Critics have also pointed out that Lisa's situation alludes to the plight of real children, who are often underestimated by adults. Lisa shares her intellect and overachieving personality traits with other female members of the Simpson family ("Lisa the Simpson" revealed that Simpson males inherit a gene on the Y chromosome that prevents them from channeling their intellect). Lisa also possesses a lot of integrity, as demonstrated when she cheats on a test on The Wind in the Willows to attain her highest grade of A+++, but later admits her dishonesty to an unreceptive Principal Skinner. (She later re-grades the test as an F.) Despite her intellect, Lisa has received detention, like her brother Bart, quite a number of times, often because of her rebellious and sometimes bitter attitude and anti-social behaviour.

File:LisaSimpson Saxophone.png

Lisa with her saxophone.

Although her rebellion against social norms is often constructive, Lisa can be whiny, cruel and self-righteous at times. Notably, in "Lisa the Vegetarian", her increasing sense of moral righteousness regarding her vegetarianism leads her to proselytize, culminating in her spiteful disruption of a "meat-based" barbecue prepared by Homer (an act she comes to rue). At times, Lisa appears to resist certain situations merely for the sake of resisting them, not because of any genuine ideological opposition. She appears to enjoy breaking the norm for its own sake; in Bart Star, she triumphantly declares that she, a girl, would like to join the football team. When it is revealed that there are already girls on the team, she declares her distaste for a sport that would use a pig's skin to make its ball. When it is revealed that the ball is actually synthetic, she is at a loss for words and runs off visibly upset.

Despite her high IQ, Lisa does have typical childhood issues, sometimes requiring adult intervention. In "Lost Our Lisa", she tricks Homer into allowing her to ride the bus alone, only to become hopelessly lost. After his coworkers Lenny and Carl point out that he allowed his 8 year old daughter to ride a bus by herself, Homer comes to her rescue. In one episode, Lisa has a Jewish imaginary friend named Rachel Cohen who "just got into Brandeis." In the earlier seasons, Lisa displayed more personality traits of an eight-year old, including obsessing over getting a pony, being addicted to TV, and fighting with Bart.

In Japan, the broadcasters of the series found they were able to turn the apparent viewer dislike of the series around by focusing marketing attention 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 her city struck a chord with the Japanese.

Intelligence

In Homer's Enemy, it is mentioned that Lisa has an IQ of 167. She is a high-ranking member of Mensa Springfield. Lisa demonstrates an early intelligence by changing her own diaper as an infant. When unable to attend school due to a teachers' strike (in "The PTA Disbands!"), she suffered a sort of "school withdrawal" and invents a perpetual motion machine that Homer describes as going "faster and faster". He goes on to chastise her, saying "In this house, we obey the laws of thermodynamics!"

Beliefs

Lisa's political convictions are generally leftist. She is a vegetarian, and a supporter of the Free Tibet movement.

While still supportive of the Christian church she was raised in, Lisa is now a practicing Buddhist following her decision to follow the Noble Eightfold Path. Though apparently not an adherent, she mentions in one episode that she considers Wicca "very empowering".

Activities

File:Happiness-intelligence-lisasimpson.jpg

"As intelligence goes up, happiness goes down. See, I made a graph. I make a lot of graphs."

---

Lisa charts intelligence vs. happiness

Music

Her musical abilities are extensive: she sings with a powerful voice, and has been seen playing the acoustic six-string (in "Last Exit to Springfield"), electric bass guitar, accordion and piano proficiently. She also taught herself to play the oboe in one Simpsons Comic. But her great love is playing jazz on her baritone saxophone (which sometimes sounds like a tenor saxophone). Her musical inclinations were nurtured by her relationship with the late jazz musician Bleeding Gums Murphy.

Independent learning

She is fluent in Italian (learned from Milhouse Van Houten before going to Italy), as well as some French and German verbs (with the help of a German verbwheel in "The Canine Mutiny"). She seems to understand Chinese when Yao Ming speaks to her in the language (though she cannot read it), as well as Spanish. In "Treehouse of Horror XIV", she seems fluent in Swedish (with questionable pronunciation), but this may be considered non-canon.

See also

• Lisa's sax solo gags on The Simpsons
• List of characters from The Simpsons

External links

• Lisa Simpson Biography at The Simpsons.com
• Lisa Simpson's Fan Club