Lisa Simpson


 * For others named Lisa, see: Lisa (disambiguation).

Lisa Marie Simpson is a charismatic 8-year-old girl, who exceeds the standard achievement level of children her age. Not to everyone's surprise she is also the moral center of her family. In her upbringing, Lisa lacks parental involvement of Homer and Marge, which leads to hobbies such as a playing saxophone and guitar, riding and caring for horses, and interest in advanced studies. In school Lisa's popularity is affected by those who view her as a geeky overachiever, which leaves her with only a few friends. Lisa Simpson is a smart, witty, independent girl who focuses on her goals and strives to reach her potential, and at age 8 she is already a member of MENSA with an IQ of 159.

Personality
Lisa is voiced by Yeardley Smith, Brigitte Lecordier in French and Lisette Dufour in Canadian French. In the Tracy Ullman shorts and early full length episodes, Lisa had interests equally as childish as Bart's, including comic books and burping contests. As the show continued however, she became more stereotypically intellectual and began to regard such activities juvenile, engaging in more mature pursuits. 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 deeply values her 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 that is capable of deeply embarrassing authority figures. Although her rebellion against social norms is usually 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 University." 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.

Intelligence
In "Homer's Enemy", it is mentioned that Lisa has an IQ of 156. 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 and rather liberal. She is a vegetarian, and a supporter of the Free Tibet movement. Lisa yells "Free Tibet!" after winning the school spelling bee.

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 (She of Little Faith). Though apparently not an adherent, she mentions in one episode that she considers Wicca "very empowering" In The Simpsons Game, her special object is the Hand of Buddha which can pick up other objects.

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. 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 due to the "Treehouse of Horror" connection, which episodes are generally considered to be non-canonical.

Boys
Romantic interests in Lisa's life are unpredictable. Her dream crush is a heartthrob from local teen magazines, Corey. But Lisa's first boyfriend is a less-than-stellar schoolmate, Nelson Muntz. He is far from a perfect gentleman - a school bully, a failing student, a prankster with two cohorts, and Lisa finds herself strangely attracted to his grungy lifestyle enough to ask him out. After Nelson lies to Lisa about something, she decides to break up with him. In the simpsons movie she falls in love with an environmental Irish boy named Colin, but since he is never seen again it is sugested that maybe she broke up with him, she also has a short lived romance with Thelonius, a boy she meets at West Springfield Elementary School (Trilogy of Error).

Meanwhile, Lisa manages to catch the eye of a couple boys from school: Milhouse Van Houten and Ralph Wiggum. Although she has absolutely no attraction to either one of them, there have been references on the show about Lisa's future relationships with Milhouse. There have also been references of a future engagement to a charming British student Hugh (which she breaks off right before the wedding.) So overall, Lisa Simpson isn't a hopeless romantic!

Creation
Matt Groening first conceived the Simpson family in the lobby of James L. Brooks' office. He had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts, and had intended to present his Life in Hell series. When he realized that animating Life in Hell would require him to rescind publication rights for his life's work, Groening decided to go in another direction. He hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family, and named the characters after various members of his own family, and Lisa is the name of one of his sisters. Lisa then made her debut with the rest of the Simpsons clan on 19 April, 1987 in the Tracey Ullman short "Good Night". Nancy Cartwright, originally auditioned for the role of Lisa, but was soon told that her voice would be better suited voicing Bart. Yeardley Smith had initially been asked to audition for the role of Bart but casting director Bonita Pietila believed her voice was too high, so Smith was given the role of Lisa instead. In order to perform the voice, Smith lifts her voice up a little.

Development
In the Tracey Ullman Show shorts, Lisa was more of a "female Bart" and was equally mischievous. As the series progressed, Lisa began to develop into a more intelligent and more emotional character with "Krusty Gets Busted" being one of the first episodes where her true intelligence is fully shown. Many episodes focusing on Lisa have an emotional nature, the first one being "Moaning Lisa". The idea for the episode was pitched by James L. Brooks, who had wanted to do an emotional episode where Lisa is sad because the show had done a lot of "jokey episodes".

Cultural influence
In 2001 Lisa received a special "Board of Directors Ongoing Commitment Award" at the [Environmental Media Awards. "Lisa the Vegetarian", an episode from the seventh season, won both an Environmental Media Award for "Best Television Episodic Comedy" and a Genesis Award for "Best Television Comedy Series, Ongoing Commitment". Lisa was also listed at number 11 in TV Guide's "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time." 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 city struck a chord with the Japanese.

Description
Lisa understands that striving for the best will have great rewards waiting for her. She is often found fantasizing about her future as a Nobel Prize winner, great Jazz musician, and a female President. After finding out that the "Simpson Gene" is ineffective in Simpson women, Lisa feels that there isn't anything that can block her path to success. Her possibilities are endless!

Lisa in the Future
Age 10: Lisa gets Braces when she receives her dental plan.

Age 12: Lisa is saved by Milhouse in a house fire which she later found out was caused by him.

Age 16: Lisa is graduating from high school 2 years early and is about to go to Yale. She is dating Milhouse who she later dumps. She is furious at Bart for taking her scholarship in Yale. She gets back together with Milhouse but Bart saves her and gives her back her scholarship.

Age 21: Lisa rejects Milhouse's offer to marry him saying she doesn't intend to ever get married.

Age 23: Lisa is at university and falls in love with a British man named Hugh Parkfield who she then is about to marry. She is embarrased by her family and Hugh wants to take her back to England because he hates her family. Lisa dumps him since she would rather have her family.

Age 30: With Bart needing a stomach transplant she tries to solve the mystery of 'fish logs'. She asks townspeople who tell her the story which takes place when she was still 8. She then finds out that fish logs brought Bart into hospital in the first place.

Age 38: Lisa is the President of the United States. The country is broke and is forced to bring a tax hike but things get worse when Bart interrupts everything. The leaders of the other country's are about to beat her until Bart saves her.

Unknown About her 60's: Lisa is elderly and married to Milhouse. She wants to take a poetry class but they are broke and Milhouse spent all the money on the electricity which wasn't enough.The Future was changed so it is unknown if Lisa will marry Millhouse still or if a better man will.

The Simpsons Road Rage
Lisa drives the ElecTaurus car and is one of the default characters. You may also pick her up off the streets when not playing as her.

The Simpsons Hit & Run
Lisa is playable in the third level of The Simpsons: Hit and Run as she looks for Bart after his disappearance. However, she makes an appearance in the first level in Springfield Elementary school, where Homer has to give her the science project she forgot. By the time the seventh level has come around, Lisa is back in the Simpson house, and tells her father to go out and stock up on supplies. However, by the fourth mission, Lisa is back at the school, where she suggests that Homer goes to Mr Burns to buy nuclear waste, which is the aliens’ weakness. When characters use the Malibu Stacy car in levels four, five, six,and seven Lisa appears in the car.

The Simpsons Game
Lisa is a playable character in the Simpsons Game. Her powers include The Hand of Buddha and can use her saxophone as a weapon.