It’s tempting to say “Lisa is obviously far smarter, and Bart is obviously destined for prison, what kind of stupid question is this?”
But consider. Recently I saw an episode in which Lisa, for reasons that would be otiose to rehearse, had tricked a girl she considered a romantic rival into going into the woods alone. After learning that the boy she thought she was competing for was in fact the other girl’s brother, and that the woods were far more dangerous than she realized, Lisa realized that she had to go to the girl’s rescue but had no idea what to do. So she called fro Bart–not simply because he wouldn’t rat on her but because he’d be able to solve the problem. Which, in very quick order, he did, figuing out how to trick a family of racoons into creating a makeshift bridge or whatever and save the other girl.
Bart, as this episode shows, has may be short on blook learning, but he has excellent problem solving skills under the right conditions. He has to be under pressure; give him too too much time and he’ll lose focus. And it has to be something he’s interested in. Schoolwork bores him, but pranks and heroism do not.
Bart is at least as smart as Lisa, I say. And Lisa is just as much a hellion as he is.
I think you are absolutely right. Lisa is smart and she knows it. Bart may think he’s a regular dumb kid, but he’s crafty as hell and there are few situations he can’t get himself out of, once he gets in.
And she’s not *just *a non-rival because they’re siblings, but also because “they outlawed that [incest] in this state two years ago.”
Lisa is awful in “Lisa the Vegetarian”. But she seems more capable of learning from her mistakes which is a sign of intelligence. Bart sometimes is not capable of doing so (see the hamster part).
Homer and Bart are dumb because only Simpson males get dumb. On the other hand, Homer is only dumb because he has a crayon in his brain. They contradicted themselves! I mean, what are we, to believe that this is some sort of a, a magic xylophone or something?
There’s one episode (I can’t find it) where in the resolution at the end, Bart is talking to Lisa and says that he is really smart, because he knows when faced with a difficult problem, the way to figure out what to do is to ask his sister. Rather sweet.
Bart is more capable than his sister in some areas, such as surviving in a savage environment. Lisa, however, is smart enough to know what those situations are, and to ask Bart to help with them.
For further evidence regarding Bart’s intelligence, consider his strategy at Paper-Rock-Scissors.
Lisa is more capable than her brother in some areas, such as solving an attempted murder mystery. Bart, however, is smart enough to know what those situations are, and to ask Lisa to help with them
Let me just note that, when Bart – who managed to clear Krusty the Clown, because deductive reasoning plus “big shoes to fill” – took the aptitude test that revealed a knack for a career in law enforcement, he enthusiastically threw himself into the role and immediately showed that he could spot a forgery easy as call on a knowledge of arcane rules if he wants to get someone busted.
Heck, I figure he has the potential to become a Supreme Court Justice.
For the record way back when the show first started Matt Groening himself stated that although the family members are named after his family, Bart is merely an anagram of the word ‘brat’.
Lisa is a girl, a vegetarian, a kid who has all her needs provided for her, she constantly remains ignorant of the fact that actions have consequences beyond her own vision or control, she is jingoistic, quick to assign blame to anyone she thinks deserve it, and she is ridiculously smug.
She’s not a brat, but she is an annoying, whining, ignorant, know-it-all, shrill, hypocritical liberal…
