15 Times Lisa Simpson Was A Total Boss
Lisa Simpson might not be as outwardly hilarious as any of the other Simpson family members, but the girl definitely has a few redeeming qualities. Like her out-of-this-world intelligence and her compassion for others. That gene somehow seemed to dodge a few of the other characters on the show! It's clear that Lisa is super smart and well beyond her years in maturity, competence, and intellect, but there are a few distinct moments in which she proves how extraordinary she really is. Most of us can learn a lot from the middle Simpson child, who has the backbone to stand up for important issues, the nerve to challenge inequality, and enough empathy to coexist with others and not judge them! She learns from her mistakes, but let's face it: she gets it right a lot of the time! Here are 15 times when Lisa Simpson knew what was up better than anybody.
15 When She Used Her Fame For Good
In the episode Lisa the Beauty Queen, Lisa wins the role of “Little Miss Springfield” by default. She soon realizes that she's expected to promote cigarettes to a younger demographic in order to lure them into smoking, and she isn't having it for one second! During her public appearances, Lisa protests the cigarettes and even tries to reveal political corruption within Springfield. This eventually results in her title being taken away from her by some sneaky officials, but the point is that even at the age of eight, Lisa knows that with power definitely comes responsibility! She uses her public voice to try and influence the world for the better, and you have to love her for that. It doesn't really get very far, but it takes courage, and standing up for what's right in public actually raises Lisa's self-esteem and confidence by the end of the episode. As it should!
14 When She Accepted Her Family Eating Meat
After cuddling some seriously cute lambs, Lisa decides to become a vegetarian in Lisa the Vegetarian. She spends the majority of the episode trying to convince others to follow her example, which ends up in a bit of a blow-up with her father. Let's just say that nobody is ever going to take Homer Simpson's pork chops and hamburgers away from him! In the end, though, after having a casual chat with Paul and Linda McCartney on the roof of the Kwik-E-Mart, Lisa learns that she has to accept other people's eating choices just as they accept hers. This is a big thing today because everybody now has the freedom to follow whatever lifestyle they feel is the best for them, and this can lead to a few disagreements. We can learn from Lisa (and Paul and Linda McCartney) that life is more harmonious if we let others eat what they want!
13 When She Realized You Can't Change Boys
In a shocking turn of events, Lisa ends up developing a crush on schoolyard bully Nelson Muntz in Lisa's Date With Density. When he shows a bit of interest in her too, she makes it her mission to transform him from brute to charmer. She even buys him new clothes! But just as she believes she's finally gotten through to him, he reverts back to his old ways by throwing rancid coleslaw at Principal Skinner's house. Lots of girls (especially at such a young age) would follow their emotions in this situation and look the other way to keep things going with the guy they like. Lisa isn't most girls, though, and dumps him after realizing that he's never going to change for her. As much as we'd love people to change for us, waiting around for it to happen is the quickest way to disappointment, so Lisa is spot on here!
12 When She Gave Up Her Pony
If you know Lisa Simpson, you know that the one thing she wants more than anything else is a pony. In Lisa's Pony, Homer finally buys her one to try and earn her respect. From the moment she finds Princess in her bed (in a very The Godfather-ish way), Lisa is totally in love! She commits to her new best friend, spending all her time with her, and definitely appreciates Homer more than she did before. Even though Princess is a dream come true for Lisa and makes her happy, she reluctantly decides to give her up when she sees that Homer has to take on an extra job to pay the new horse-related bills. This is heartbreaking because Lisa and Princess have such a connection, and we all secretly wanted a pony like that when we were little, but Lisa is just proving that she values her dad's happiness above her own.
11 When She Wrote An On-Point Poem For Her Cat
In the episode Stark Raving Dad, Lisa tries to recite a poem to Homer entitled “Meditations on Turning Eight”. Homer walks out before she finishes, but we do get to hear the following lines: “I had a cat named Snowball. She died, she died. Mom said she was sleeping. She lied, she lied! Why, oh why is my cat dead? Couldn't that Chrysler hit me instead?” It breaks our hearts that Homer is not moved by the first verse because Lisa makes such a valid point in the last two lines. So many of us value our pets so highly that we would give anything to have them around forever, and losing one is one of the hardest things we will have to do. Nobody is suggesting that Lisa should have gone instead of the cat, but she does a great job of highlighting how it feels to say goodbye to a pet.
10 When She Dumped Her Fiancé For Disrespecting Her Fam
This whole scenario takes place in a future that a fairground psychic reveals to Lisa after she wanders off by herself. According to the fortune teller, Lisa meets a charming, British, Hugh Grant-like man, unsurprisingly called Hugh Parkfield, and he's perfect. As in, he's as smart as Lisa and incredibly kind and his parents have a mansion. So yeah, perfect! But on their wedding day, Hugh admits to Lisa that he can't wait to take her back to England where they won't have to deal with her family and likens her to a flower that grew out of a pot of dirt. Yikes! Perfect or not, Lisa understands that she can't live the rest of her life with somebody who feels that way about her family. She knows that the Simpsons have their share of flaws, but she points out that she still loves them anyway, and gives Hugh the flick.
9 When She Refused To Participate In Theft
In Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment, the whole Simpson family is pretty stoked when a questionable stranger hooks them up with free cable TV. Lisa is loving her wide variety of choices until she gets to Sunday school and learns what happens to thieves from a Christian perspective. The teacher frightens her so much that she doesn't even want to look at the cable TV, and she silently protests when Homer hosts a huge boys' night at his house to watch the fight. We love Lisa here because she shows how strong she is in resisting temptation (we probably wouldn't be able to refuse free Netflix!). While it's cool of her to accept the eating choices of others, this is dealing with the actual breaking of laws, and we're glad she stands up for what she believes is the right thing to do, even if others are tempted.
8 When She Dressed Up As A Boy To Go To Math
After a new principal at Springfield Elementary segregates the school by gender, Lisa realizes that the classes being taught to the girls are condescending and pretty useless. When she spies on the boys' math class, she learns that they're actually given difficult work to do. Rightfully outraged, Lisa dresses up as the ultra-masculine Jake Boyman and attends the classes for boys. She has to deal with some pretty gross stuff while masquerading as a male, but she's happy that she's learning something again. This Girls Just Want to Have Sums episode reveals that Lisa is prepared to challenge an unequal system by breaking the rules, and she's not going to let the limited beliefs of those around her get in her way, because she knows she's awesome! Despite being told by Principal Skinner and the school system that she's not as smart as the boys, she damn-well knows she is!
7 When She Knew That Nobody Can Please Everybody
Like the genius that she is, Lisa makes a very smart point when she is comforting Bart after he indirectly gets Principal Skinner fired. She tells him, “I think you need Skinner, Bart. Everybody needs a nemesis. Sherlock Holmes had his Dr. Moriarty, Mountain Dew has its Mellow Yellow. Even Maggie has that baby with the one eyebrow.” Now, none of that stuff may have much relevance, but Lisa is really saying that everybody has that one person who doesn't like them. It's a hard fact to swallow, but it's true. No matter how much you want to impress everyone, there will always be somebody that isn't feeling you, and that's okay. It happens to everyone! Lisa knows that not everyone is going to like everything she does, and here she's just relaying that info to Bart in the hopes of making the world a wiser place. You go, girl!
6 When She Took Her Religion Into Her Own Hands
If there's one thing Lisa knows how to do, it's think for herself. Despite being raised as a Christian with her family, Lisa turns to the Buddhist faith after Mr. Burns makes a mockery of the church in She of Little Faith. Now that her local church is full of advertisements and gimmicks, Lisa connects much more smoothly with the peaceful, simple Buddhist teachings she picks up from Richard Gere. Props go to Lisa here for realizing that a long-standing tradition wasn't working for her and searching for something more meaningful. It can be difficult to break away from certain customs if we've grown up with them, but at the same time, we can't force things to resonate with us if they just don't. We admire Lisa for having the courage to walk her own path, and for also coming to accept that her family might not want to join her.
5 When She Was The Bigger Person In Her Rivalry With Allison
Lisa's Rival is one of those episodes in which Lisa actually does the wrong thing, but at least we know she's human and succumbs to insecurity just like the rest of us. It actually makes us like her more, if that's possible! Lisa is jealous of Allison Taylor, who seems to be better than her at everything and tries to blunt her shine by becoming better than her and eventually, ruining her success. Lisa takes Allison's diorama and swaps it with one containing a real cow's heart, which gets her in trouble with Principal Skinner. But as soon as Lisa sees Allison's tears, her conscience kicks in and she shows everyone where Allison's real diorama is. Ending the rivalry earns Lisa a clear conscience and a new friend. Swapping the projects was immature in the first place, but it takes courage to own up to your mistakes and admit to jealousy!
4 When She Suggested She's Never Changing For A Man
This might be our favorite Lisa Simpson quote of all time. It's so simple, too! Marge tells her that her sarcasm will mean that she's not going to get a husband, and she responds with, “All right. No husband.” This embodies all the self-confidence in Lisa that we all aspire to, and it's seriously refreshing to see a character who truly holds the attitude that they don't need a man. Lisa isn't tearing down men here or saying that she doesn't necessarily want one in the future. She's just letting her mom know that she doesn't need one if it means she has to change herself to get him! We've all been taught not to change ourselves for a man, but sometimes it's hard to follow that advice when we're staring somebody who looks pretty great in the face. Seeing characters like Lisa holding the right attitude definitely encourages girls to feel confident!
3 When She Didn't Lead Milhouse On
It's a well-known fact that Milhouse has always had a crush on Lisa. It's also a well-known fact that for the majority of the time, Lisa is not interested in Milhouse at all. We know that unrequited love sucks, but Lisa knows that she's not expected to have feelings for anybody, and nobody's expected to have feelings for her. She gives Ralph Wiggum a valentine card out of pity, and that turns out to be a disaster, so she learns pretty quickly that it's better not to lead people on in the first place, even if you're trying to be kind. Poor Milhouse often gets the short end of the stick, and has to deal with Lisa saying that he's “like a big brother” and that she likes him, but not in “that way”. But Lisa is better off shutting him down than dangling him along like a kitten on a string.
2 When She Was Amazing On The Boy's Ice Hockey Team
Many of us can relate to Lisa's pain in Lisa on Ice, when she gets an academic alert for failing gym. Gym was like torture in school, so we are with her on this one! Lisa tries a few different sports to try and improve her grades, and then discovers a hidden talent for ice hockey. She is a bit apprehensive at first since this is a completely new thing, but gets over it almost immediately and ends up winning the game for them every time. We say good on her for not being afraid to prosper in something that people always believed she was terrible at! Her rivalry with Bart escalates to physical fighting throughout the episode, as their hockey teams prepare to face each other in the final. In the end, though, they restore their relationship with a good old hug while the entire arena riots. Aw bless!
1 When She Stood Up To Malibu Stacy
Lisa's most admirable moment ever has to be when she stands up to the makers of her Malibu Stacy doll for promoting sexist attitudes and beliefs amongst little girls. In Lisa vs Malibu Stacy, when she hears her new talking doll saying things like “Thinking too much gives you wrinkles!” and “Don't ask me; I'm just a girl!”, Lisa takes it all the way to the creator of the doll. Lisa stands out in this episode for her bravery in standing up for what's right and willingness to change oppressive attitudes. She ends up designing her own doll called Lisa Lionheart, who says things that make more sense. “Trust in yourself, and you can achieve anything!” is a much better quote for little girls to be listening to, and we'll always respect Lisa for identifying that this world needs her to set an amazing, positive example for little girls everywhere!