Lisa Simpson: A Role Example Towards Young Girls Empowerment?

It has happened many times in the past, and once again, The Simpsons have achieved a premonition. Or is it, though? Because some people may even say that this time, the four-fingered family have not foreseen the future, but served as a leading influence to what the world -or at least part of it- wants to become. And talking about the world in a partial way also refers to the family in the same manner. For it is not the entire group that is nowadays, and for several years now, actually, empowering women to take a step further. Lisa Simpson, a fifth part of the starring household, is said to be a role example to many real-life women that share her principles.

Drawing a parallel between Lisa Simpson and the inspired young women who follow her steps is not a difficult task to achieve, and it is even easier when we learn about her surroundings. However, it is important to understand that as a cartoon, many factors are exaggerated in order to achieve its satirical point of view. A vegan, environmentalist and artist, among others, Lisa is forced to withstand the controversial decisions of Mr. Burns, the picture of malign radioactive production. In this multi-millionaire old man, we find everything that opposes the little girl’s ideals, such as pollution, waste, and environmental dismissal. It is true, we have seen them fall in what seemed to be a co-operative close relationship, but that clearly did not prosper further than a episode’s length, or less.

As a spicy ingredient, we also find that one of his employees turns out to be Homer, Lisa’s father. Although most of the times, because we certainly cannot say it does work like this every single time, Homer’s love towards his little girl surpasses his obligations with his boss, and the coin eventually falls in Lisa’s favor. Homer depicts what many young girls nowadays are forced to struggle with: close relationships that cannot see the world in the same way as them. Even when the outcome has Lisa as an apparent winner, Homer continues to work in the plant for this ill-intentioned industry.

Also read: A FASCINATING STORY OF EMPOWERMENT, SKILL AND STRATEGY

As we continue analyzing Lisa’s family nucleus, we run into Marge, her mother. A woman, and one closely bound to her, Marge carefully supports her older daughter’s decisions. Or at least, she says she does. The blue-haired housewife represents another factor nowadays empowered young girls have to face, and are constantly trying to change. Previous generation women who have dropped their revolutionary dreams towards self-empowerment into a box of memories, covered by the dust of marriage, kids, and an unemployed lifestyle of in-house multitasking. Again, this is shown otherwise in some episodes, as Marge confronts her husband, or becomes an empowered and independent real estate agent. Still, these events being the center of the less-than-thirty-minute show are the best evidence that they are out-of-normal peculiarities.

This representative and, again, purposely oversized similarity between Lisa and empowered young girls today could go on for pages, with her everyday characteristics such as bullying, the eventual solitude caused by her own ideals, the struggle with authority as she sees her vegan idol put behind the bars, an immature brother -another close relationship- who constantly nags her, and a baby sister who is seen as a future improvement of her own self. However, the important fact that elevates her as an example to young girls towards empowerment is her consistency. Whether it is becoming a tree-hugger, leading a riot against pollution, or connecting to an artist in a brief relationship -not surprisingly ending in his passing away, and leaving his “legacy” to her-, Lisa has put her foot down in almost every Simpson’s episode. The fifth part of a household. Let us just hope it will serve more than a fifth part of the world.