So Growing up, I watched a lot of Simpsons. It was a tradition With my Dad and I to watch a little together and laugh. However, looking back on it Simpsons had a ton of great commentary and criticism about society. One of the vehicles they used for this was the character Lisa. With Lisa and her dilemma’s they manage to criticize society While also criticizing some of the extremes taken to fight back with society.
Lisa has always been depicted as the intelligent and concerned genius of the Simpson household. She’s concerned with the suffering of others and the injustice in society and many of her stories focus on her conflicts with such things. An excellent example is the episode where she becomes a vegetarian. Her decision humorously sparks a counter reaction from school to show an “educational” video that encourages meat to be eaten, over-exaggerates concepts like the “food chain” and implies cows eat people. It’s humorous, but also provides some good commentary about the cruelty of the meat industry when the child from the short walks out of the factory horrified.
Another example is when she starts a protest against her school after they cut Gym and the arts. This is after the school faculty tried to turn her into a scapegoat for their new policies. Her family reacts negatively, but she goes on to protect what she thinks is right. It shows just how noble Lisa can be.
However, What I think truly makes Lisa and her story arcs special is that they don’t just paint her as a flawless hero or have everything she does be noble heroism. For example, in the vegetarian Episode, she tries to impose her beliefs on other people, sabotaging her father’s BBQ. By the end of the episode, she finds her own community of vegetarians and they explain to her that imposing her beliefs on others isn’t right even if her cause is.
In addition, they poke use her adventures to sometimes poke fun of things associated with Intellect such as enjoying thought provoking foreign films, shopping at healthier food restaurants. In two of the later episodes, Lisa take the family to a theater featuring a foreign film about refugee’s and in another, she takes them to a whole foods. Both of these make fun of the lack of tradition in art film and the high prices and short lasting products at Whole foods. It’s not saying the places themselves are horrible as much as just criticizing aspects of it.
With Lisa as a catalyst, they bring up issues of environment and societal stupidity while also criticizing the extremes taken by people to correct these problems. It’s great writing that gives you something to think about and laugh at.
Nerd Wisdom 