Why The Simpsons Fans Think Bart Might Be Secretly Smarter Than Lisa
Up to now, it's widely accepted that Lisa Simpson (voiced by Yeardley Smith) is the smartest character on the Emmy-winning series "The Simpsons," but some fans have concluded that her troublemaker brother Bart Simpson (Nancy Cartwright) may actually be more intelligent.
Bart is known for a lot of things on the critically acclaimed series (via Rotten Tomatoes), like skateboarding, tagging "El Barto" everywhere, prank-calling Moe Szyslak (Hank Azaria), and generally showcasing a consistent lack of respect for authority. The rebellious fourth-grader isn't afraid to tell anyone to eat his shorts and is constantly writing on the chalkboard in detention. He has all the makings of a little rascal who's too cool for school. He doesn't do well in class, and his sister is constantly portrayed as his polar opposite, with an array of academic accomplishments under her belt, and the fact she was accepted into Springfield's local Mensa chapter.
But looks can at times be deceiving, and not everything is always as it seems. "The Simpsons" has several interesting theories involving many of its characters, and each one is just as surprising as the next. The reason fans believe that Bart may have a higher IQ than Lisa is intriguing and makes solid sense.
is Bart smarter than the rest of his family, Lisa included?
In the r/FanTheories subreddit, u/mjk1093 made the observation that Bart is smarter than Lisa, and several users commented a substantial amount of proof to support Bart's superior intellect. u/Neogreenlantern pointed out that he is familiar with the work of 1971 Nobel Prize winner for literature Pablo Neruda. Reddit user u/doclestrange wrote that in flash-forwards, Bart becomes a Supreme Court justice, which cannot be attained on street smarts alone, and u/ScandLynx mentioned that he foiled genius criminal Sideshow Bob (Kelsey Grammer) on numerous occasions. The general consensus revolves around him pretending for the sake of his bad-boy image.
With all this in mind, the person who is the character's basis may very well support the theory. Most brothers don't admit to being dumber than their sister, and it's hard to imagine anyone wanting to be the nerdy brother over the bad boy. Matt Groening, the creator of the long-running series, has verified that the character of Bart is based on himself, and Lisa is based on his real-life sister (via Smithsonian Magazine). If the fan theory holds up and the character is, in fact, more intelligent than his sister, he would probably keep that unpopular opinion a secret to keep his cool reputation. And according to a tweet from "The Simpsons," Bart likes to keep what he is thinking to himself, further adding to the notion he may just be manipulating everyone in order to get away with not having to try as hard as Lisa.
The evidence is pretty compelling, and it will be up to the fans to decide who holds the title of the smartest sibling on "The Simpsons."