{{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Good article}} {{Use mdy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Infobox Simpsons episode | image = | caption = | season = 7 | episode = 16 | director = [[Mike B. Anderson]] | writer = [[Jonathan Collier]] | production = 3F13 | airdate = {{Start date|1996|02|18}} | guests = * [[Donald Sutherland]] as Hollis Hurlbut * [[Phil Hartman]] as [[Troy McClure]] | couch_gag = The family is portrayed as ''[[The Brady Bunch]]''.<ref name="BBC">{{cite web| title=Lisa the Iconoclast| url=http://bbc.adactio.com/cult/simpsons/episodeguide/season7/page16.shtml|access-date=March 4, 2009|last1=Martyn |first1=Warren |author-link1=Gary Russell |last2 = Wood |first2=Adrian |author-link2=Gareth Roberts (writer) |year=2000|publisher=[[BBC]]}}</ref> | commentary = {{ubl|Bill Oakley|Josh Weinstein|Jonathan Collier|[[Yeardley Smith]]|Mike B. Anderson|[[David Silverman (animator)|David Silverman]]}} | prev = [[Bart the Fink]] | next = [[Homer the Smithers]] }} "'''Lisa the Iconoclast'''" is the sixteenth episode of the [[The Simpsons season 7|seventh season]] of the American animated television series ''[[The Simpsons]]''. It originally aired on [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] in the United States on February 18, 1996. In this episode, [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]] writes an essay on Springfield founder [[Jebediah Springfield]] for the town's bicentennial. While doing research, she learns he was a murderous pirate who viewed the town's citizens with contempt. Lisa and [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] try to reveal the truth about Jebediah but only anger Springfield's residents. It was originally advertised in commercials as a [[Presidents' Day]] special episode; the episode aired the day before Presidents' Day.
The episode was written by [[Jonathan Collier]] and directed by [[Mike B. Anderson]].<ref name="BBC"/> It was Anderson's first directing role and the story was inspired by the 1991 exhumation of President [[Zachary Taylor]]. [[Donald Sutherland]] guest-starred as the voice of Hollis Hurlbut, a part that was written specifically for him. The episode includes several references to [[British America|Colonial]] and [[American Revolution|Revolutionary America]]. It contains a scene of dialogue between George Washington and Lisa in which he makes a reference to "Kentuckians". It also features [[Gilbert Stuart]]'s [[Athenaeum Portrait|unfinished 1796 painting]] of [[George Washington]].
The episode features two [[neologisms]], ''[[wiktionary:embiggen|embiggen]]'' and ''[[wiktionary:cromulent|cromulent]]'', which were intended to sound like real words but are in fact completely fabricated (although it was later discovered that C. A. Ward had used ''embiggen'' in 1884).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/s6notesqueries10londuoft#page/134/mode/2up |title=Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, Etc, Volume 10|date=1884|page=135}}</ref> ''Embiggen'', [[Neologism|coined]] by [[Dan Greaney]], has since been used in several scientific publications, while ''cromulent'', coined by [[David X. Cohen]], appeared in [[Dictionary.com]]'s 21st Century Lexicon. In 2018, "cromulent" was added to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''.<ref>{{cite web| title=cromulent| work=[[Oxford English Dictionary]]| url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/cromulent_adj?tab=factsheet#1223528580}}</ref>
==Plot== As [[Springfield (The Simpsons)|Springfield]] celebrates its bicentennial, [[List of recurring The Simpsons characters#Elizabeth Hoover|Miss Hoover]] assigns [[Lisa Simpson|Lisa]]'s second-grade class to write an essay on [[List of recurring The Simpsons characters#Jebediah Springfield|Jebediah Springfield]], the town's founder. Meanwhile, [[List of recurring The Simpsons characters#Mayor Quimby|Mayor Quimby]] proclaims [[Homer Simpson|Homer]] the town crier during tryouts for historical figures in the town's upcoming celebration. Because his "criering" is better than [[Ned Flanders]]', Homer seizes Ned's heirloom hat and bell as props, damaging the hat in the process.
Lisa visits the town's [[historical society]] to research Jebediah's life. Hollis Hurlbut, the curator of the society's museum, appreciates Lisa's enthusiasm and grants her access to Jebediah's possessions. While examining his [[fife (instrument)|fife]], she finds a document inside that purports to be a confession of his secret past as the vicious pirate Hans Sprungfeld, as he was known until 1796. He had attempted to kill [[George Washington]] while the latter was having his portrait painted, and later wrote and hid his confession, confident that no one in Springfield would ever find it.
Lisa tries to convince the townspeople of the truth about Jebediah, but is met with disbelief and hostility. Hurlbut dismisses the confession as a forgery, and Miss Hoover gives Lisa a failing grade for writing her essay about it, accusing her of [[political correctness]]. Continuing her research, Lisa discovers that Jebediah wore a [[prosthesis|prosthetic]] [[silver]] tongue after his own was bitten off in a fight. She persuades local government officials to exhume his remains and search for it, but there is no sign of it when the coffin is opened. Exasperated at Lisa's meddling, Quimby strips Homer of his position as town crier.
Seeing a copy of the unfinished Washington portrait in her classroom, and remembering a dream in which he urged her to find the "one piece left in the puzzle", Lisa realizes how she can establish the confession as authentic. She returns to the museum and matches its torn edge to that of the portrait, proving that Jebediah had written it on a scrap of the canvas that got caught on his boot when he escaped after failing to kill Washington. The missing silver tongue is found in one of the museum's exhibits, stolen from the coffin by Hurlbut in an effort to protect his own career and the legend of Jebediah. Lisa and Hurlbut decide to reveal the truth about him during a parade celebrating the bicentennial, but at the last moment Lisa decides that the legend has served to inspire the town and chooses to keep the secret. As Homer watches proudly, he notices that Ned has been reinstated as town crier and pushes him aside, then lets Lisa ring the crier's bell while riding on his shoulders.
==Production== [[File:Donald-Sutherland.jpg|thumb|[[Donald Sutherland]] guest-starred in the episode as the voice of the historian.]]
The story was inspired by the real events surrounding the exhumation of President [[Zachary Taylor]].<ref name="Oakley"/> In the late 1980s, college professor and author Clara Rising theorized that Taylor was murdered by poison and was able to convince Taylor's closest living relative and the [[Coroner]] of Jefferson County, Kentucky, to order an exhumation. On June 17, 1991, Taylor's remains were exhumed and transported to the Office of the [[Kentucky]] Chief Medical Examiner, who found that the level of arsenic was much smaller than would be expected if Taylor had been thus poisoned. The remains were then returned to the cemetery and received appropriate honors at reinterment.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev27-12/text/ansside6.html |title=President Zachary Taylor and the Laboratory: Presidential Visit from the Grave |access-date=March 4, 2009 |work=[[Oak Ridge National Laboratory]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130710051721/http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev27-12/text/ansside6.html |archive-date=July 10, 2013 }}</ref> Then-[[show runner]] [[Bill Oakley]] said "Lisa the Iconoclast" is "essentially the same" story but with [[Lisa Simpson]] in the role as Rising.<ref name="Oakley"/> At the end of the episode, an ode to Jebediah Springfield is played over the credits. The music and lyrics were written by [[Jeff Martin (writer)|Jeff Martin]].<ref name="Oakley"/>
[[Donald Sutherland]] voiced the historian in this episode.<ref name="BBC"/> The script was specifically written with him in mind playing that part.<ref name="Collier"/> Sutherland wanted to do the voice recordings as one would do a film and start in the middle of the script, so that he could get to know the character, but that idea was abandoned.<ref name="Oakley"/> In the episode, Lisa joked she was getting over her "Chester A. Arthuritis", a play on the word "[[arthritis]]" and the name of [[Chester A. Arthur]]. Sutherland [[ad-lib]]bed the line "you had arthritis?" and the producers liked it so much that they kept it.<ref name="Oakley"/>
The episode opens with an old documentary on Jebediah Springfield, starring [[Troy McClure]] as Springfield. The writers tried to make this documentary seem as lousy and low-budget as possible. One of these tricks was to have post-production add scratches to the animation.<ref name="Silverman">{{cite video | people=Silverman, David|date=2005|title=The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa the Iconoclast"| medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> The animators added production errors that would occur in a low-budget film. For example, a man in the crowd looks at the camera, some of the people are wearing wristwatches,<ref name="Anderson">{{cite video | people=Anderson, Mike B.|date=2005|title=The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa the Iconoclast"| medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> McClure's stuntman does not have the same sideburns as he does, and a [[Boom operator (media)|boom microphone]] can be seen entering the frame.<ref name="Oakley">{{cite video | people=Oakley, Bill|date=2005|title=The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa the Iconoclast"| medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> In the Historical Society, the animators spent a significant amount of time decorating the walls. Besides numerous [[#Cultural references|historical references]], they also decorated the walls with ''[[The Simpsons]]'' characters in 18th-century settings. The first painting shows [[Otto Mann]] driving children in a horse-drawn [[carriage]]. Another painting shows [[Marge Simpson]] in [[silhouette]]. The last painting shows [[Professor Frink]] holding a kite in the manner of [[Benjamin Franklin]].<ref name="Oakley"/>
==Cultural references== [[File:Gilbert Stuart 1796 portrait of Washington.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Gilbert Stuart]]'s unfinished 1796 painting of George Washington, also known as ''[[Athenaeum Portrait|The Athenaeum]]'', plays an important part in "Lisa the Iconoclast".]] The Historical Society of Springfield contains references to historical figures and facts. The episode features [[Gilbert Stuart]]'s unfinished 1796 painting of George Washington and tells a fictional backstory of how it came to be. In reality, the painting was unfinished and it did not have a part torn off.<ref name="Oakley"/> Hurlbut mentions the American revolutionaries [[William Dawes]] and [[Samuel Allyne Otis]] as equals to Jebediah Springfield.<ref name="BBC"/> When Lisa passes out the "Wanted for treason" posters, it is a reference to those featuring [[John F. Kennedy]], which were circulated in [[Dallas]] prior to his assassination.<ref name="Weinstein">{{cite video|people=Weinstein, Josh|date=2005|title=The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa the Iconoclast"|medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> Hurlbut claims Springfield's confessions are "just as fake" as the [[Melvin Dummar|will of Howard Hughes]] and the [[Hitler Diaries|diaries of Adolf Hitler]], both of which are proven forgeries.<ref name="BBC"/> The opening couch gag shows the [[Simpson family]] in blue boxes similar to the style of ''[[The Brady Bunch]]''.<ref name="BBC"/> [[Chief Wiggum]] is singing "[[Camptown Races]]" from 1850 by [[Stephen Foster]] ventriloquised with the skull of Jebediah Springfield.<ref name="BBC"/> Lisa's dream in which Washington and Springfield are fighting is a reference to ''[[Lethal Weapon]]''.<ref name="Anderson"/> When Lisa is telling the people at [[Springfield (The Simpsons)#Moe's Tavern|Moe's Tavern]] about the real history of Jebediah Springfield, they all sit with their mouths open. This is a reference to a scene in the film ''[[The Producers (1968 film)|The Producers]]'' from 1968.<ref name="Anderson"/> When Homer knocks over Ned Flanders in order to take over his job as town crier, it is a reference to the film ''[[National Lampoon's Animal House]]'' from 1978.<ref name="Weinstein"/> Lisa's decision to hide the truth to preserve the legend of Jebediah Springfield is a reference to the film ''[[The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance]]''. In addition to these cultural references, at least one author has compared this episode to [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]'s short work ''[[On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life]]''.<ref name='SNUH'>Boven, David (November 2003), [https://archive.today/20130626174215/http://www.academia.edu/2481456/Nietzsche_The_Simpsons_and_History "Nietzsche, ''The Simpsons'', and History"], ''The SNUH Journal'' '''1''' (1).</ref>
==Reception== In its original broadcast, "Lisa the Iconoclast" finished 70th in the ratings for the week of February 12 to 18, 1996.<ref name=ratings>{{cite news|title=Nielsen ratings|date=February 23, 1996|page=4|work=[[The Tampa Tribune]]}}</ref> The episode was the sixth highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, following ''[[The X-Files]]'', ''[[Melrose Place]]'', ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210]]'', ''[[Married... with Children]]'', and Fox Tuesday Night Movie: ''[[Cliffhanger (1993 film)|Cliffhanger]]''.<ref name=ratings/>
The episode received extremely positive reviews from television critics.
DVD Movie Guide's Colin Jacobson lauded it for the focus on Lisa, commenting that "Lisa-centered episodes tend to be preachy, but I suppose that's inevitable given her character. I like the fact Lisa takes the high road here, though, as she proves she doesn't always have to be right. Homer's turn as the town crier brings mirth to a solid show."<ref name="The Simpsons: The Complete Second Season Review">{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdmg.com/simpsonsseasonseven.shtml|title=The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season |last=Jacobson|first=Colin|access-date=April 8, 2009}}</ref>
In addition, John Alberti praised the episode in his book ''[[Leaving Springfield]]'' as "an especially cromulent example of the narrative fissuring and disruptive disclosure...Lisa spends the entire episode uncovering the truth about Jebediah and courageously defending her findings against a phalanx of authority figures...a symbol of honesty, integrity, and courage. All in all, a spectacular episode revealing the truth behind our society."<ref name="book">{{cite book|last=Alberti|first=John|title=Leaving Springfield: the Simpsons and the possibility of oppositional culture|publisher=Wayne State University Press|year=2003|pages=[https://archive.org/details/leavingspringfie00albe/page/187 187]–189|isbn= 9780814328491|url=https://archive.org/details/leavingspringfie00albe|url-access=registration}}</ref>
The authors of the book ''I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide'', [[Gary Russell]] and [[Gareth Roberts (writer)|Gareth Roberts]],<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://doctorwho.org.nz/archive/tsv51/garyrussell.html|title=Gary Russell: From Peladon to Placebos|author=Preddle, Jon|date=June 1997|magazine=Time Space Visualiser|issue=51|access-date=20 August 2020|publisher=The New Zealand Doctor Who Fan Club|quote=I've just done my first non-fiction book, Oh No It's A Completely Unofficial Simpsons Guide for Virgin, co-authored with Gareth Roberts which has, to be frank, been more of a nightmare than it needed to be [the book was published as I Can't Believe It's An Unofficial Simpsons Guide, with Gary and Gareth writing under the pseudonyms Warren Martyn & Adrian Wood].}}</ref> thought it was a "clever" episode, and highlighted Lisa's fantasy of the fight between Springfield and George Washington as "fantastic".<ref name="BBC"/> Dave Foster of DVD Times thought Sutherland offered a "memorable" guest appearance.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=December 1, 2008|url=http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=60554|title=The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season |publisher=DVD Times|date=February 25, 2006|author=Foster, Dave }}</ref>
''[[Total Film]]''{{'}}s Nathan Ditum ranked Sutherland's performance as the 14th best guest appearance in the show's history.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.gamesradar.com/the-20-best-simpsons-movie-star-guest-spots/|title=The 20 Best Simpsons Movie-Star Guest Spots|last=Ditum|first=Nathan|date=March 29, 2009|work=[[Total Film]]|publisher=GamesRadar|access-date=January 21, 2022}}</ref> Michael Moran of ''[[The Times]]'' ranked the episode as the eighth best in the show's history.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/advice/the-10-best-simpsons-episodes-ever-bwhpbrv8sbn|title=The 10 best Simpsons episodes ever|last=Moran|first=Michael|date=January 14, 2010|work=[[The Times]]|access-date=January 21, 2022}}</ref>
Martin Belam of ''[[The Guardian]]'' named it one of the five greatest episodes in ''Simpsons'' history.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/nov/28/the-simpsons-the-five-greatest-episodes-in-the-iconic-shows-history|title=The Simpsons: the five greatest episodes in the iconic show's history|work=[[The Guardian]]|last=Belam|first=Martin|date=November 28, 2019|access-date=November 30, 2019}}</ref>
===Legacy=== The episode features two [[neologism]]s: ''embiggen'' and ''cromulent''.<ref name="Oakley"/> The [[showrunner]]s asked the writers if they could come up with two words which sounded like real words.<ref name="Collier">{{cite video | people=Collier, Jonathan |date=2005|title=The Simpsons season 7 DVD commentary for the episode "Lisa the Iconoclast"| medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}</ref> The [[Springfield (The Simpsons)|Springfield]] town [[motto]] is "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man." Schoolteacher [[Edna Krabappel]] comments that she had never heard the word ''embiggen'' until she moved to Springfield. [[List of recurring The Simpsons characters#Elizabeth Hoover|Miss Hoover]], another teacher, replies, "I don't know why; it's a perfectly cromulent word." Later in the episode, while talking about Homer's audition for the role of town crier, [[Seymour Skinner|Principal Skinner]] states, "He's embiggened that role with his cromulent performance."
''Embiggen'', coined by writer [[Dan Greaney]],<ref name="Oakley"/> is a verb meaning 'to make larger';<ref>{{cite news |first=Virginia |last=Linn |title=TV shows have had defining moments on English language |work=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |page=C–5 |date=October 22, 2008}}</ref> its [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] (''[[wikt:em-#Prefix|em-]]'' + ''[[wikt:big#Adjective|big]]'' + [[wikt:-en#Suffix|-en]]) is similar to that of ''[[wikt:enlarge#Verb|enlarge]]'' (''[[wikt:en-#Prefix|en-]]'' + ''[[wikt:large#Adjective|large]]''). The verb had in fact been used by C. A. Ward in an 1884 edition of the British journal ''[[Notes and Queries]]'', as an "English parallel as ugly" as [[Koine Greek|Greek]] ἐμεγάλυνεν ([[Acts 5]]:13).<ref>{{cite book |title=Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, Etc |last=Ward |first=C. A.|year=1884 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=135 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I20JAAAAQAAJ&q=embiggen }}</ref> The word has made its way to common use and was included in Mark Peters' ''Yada, Yada, Do'h!, 111 Television Words That Made the Leap From the Screen to Society''.<ref>{{cite book |title=Yada, Yada, Doh!: 111 Television Words That Made the Leap from the Screen to Society |last=Peters |first=Mark |year=2008 |publisher=Marion Street Press, Inc. |isbn=978-1-933338-31-6 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/yadayadadoh111te0000pete }}</ref> In 2018, it was included in the [[Merriam-Webster dictionary]]<ref>{{cite news|title=Simpsons word added to dictionary|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-43298229|work=BBC News|date=March 6, 2018}}</ref> and the online [[Oxford English Dictionary]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/embiggen |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170917233800/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/embiggen |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 17, 2017 |title=Online English Oxford Dictionary |access-date=January 20, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://public.oed.com/updates/new-words-list-june-2018/ |title=New words list June 2018 |date=June 2018 |work=Oxford English Dictionary |access-date=December 17, 2019 |archive-date=October 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019231754/https://public.oed.com/updates/new-words-list-june-2018/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> In particular, ''embiggen'' can be found in [[string theory]], as in the journal ''High Energy Physics'' in the article "Gauge/gravity duality and meta-stable dynamical supersymmetry breaking", which was published on January 23, 2007.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Argurio |first=Riccardo |author2=Matteo Bertolini |author3=Sebastián Franco |author4=Shamit Kachru |date=January 2007 |title=Gauge/gravity duality and meta-stable dynamical supersymmetry breaking |journal=Journal of High Energy Physics |volume=2007 |issue=1 |pages=24 and 26 |bibcode=2007JHEP...01..083A |arxiv=hep-th/0610212 |doi=10.1088/1126-6708/2007/01/083 |s2cid=119469649 }}</ref> For example, the article says: "For large P, the three-form fluxes are dilute, and the gradient of the Myers potential encouraging an anti-D3 to embiggen is very mild." Later this usage was noted in the journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'', which explained that in this context, it means ''to grow or expand''.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Sidelines |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |date=August 8, 2007 |volume=448|issue=7154 |doi=10.1038/448632a |page=632|bibcode=2007Natur.448Q.632. |doi-access=free }}</ref> The episode is a favorite of the producers, among them, series creator [[Matt Groening]] lists it as his all time favorite, stating that its reference of US history was "irrelevance", and showrunner [[Al Jean]] also lists it as one his all time favorites.{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}}
''Cromulent'' is an adjective that was coined by [[David X. Cohen]]<!--He called himself David S. Cohen while working on The Simpsons-->.<ref name="Oakley"/> Since it was coined, it has appeared in Dictionary.com's 21st Century Lexicon.<ref name="cromulent">{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=cromulent |title=cromulent definition |access-date=July 24, 2011 |work=[[Reference.com]] |publisher=[[Dictionary.com, LLC]]}}</ref> It was added to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary in September 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |title=We Added 690 New Words to the Dictionary for September 2023 |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/new-words-in-the-dictionary |access-date=September 27, 2023 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref> The meaning of ''cromulent'' is inferred only from its usage, which indicates that it is a positive attribute. Dictionary.com defines it as meaning 'fine' or 'acceptable'.<ref name="cromulent"/> [[Ben Macintyre]] has written that it means "valid or acceptable".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Macintyre|first=Ben|author-link=Ben Macintyre|title=Last word: Any word that embiggens the vocabulary is cromulent with me|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=August 11, 2007|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/last-word-ben-macintyre-s6h7sdhsxbb|access-date=January 21, 2022 | location=London}}</ref> In 2018, "cromulent" was added to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''.<ref>{{cite web| title=cromulent| work=[[Oxford English Dictionary]]| url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/cromulent_adj?tab=factsheet#1223528580}}</ref>
The episode garnered some attention in July 2024, when UK broadcaster [[Channel 4]] conspicuously pulled a scheduled showing on 14 July, and replaced it with an [[Baby You Can't Drive My Car|episode]] from [[The Simpsons season 30|season 30]] during a marathon of season 7 episodes. This was due to references to assassinations throughout the episode, and in light of the [[attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania]] hours prior.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bashforth |first1=Emily |title=The Simpsons episode eerily 'scrapped last-minute' after Donald Trump shooting attack |url=https://metro.co.uk/2024/07/14/channel-4-scraps-simpsons-episode-donald-trump-gun-attack-21225734/ |website=Metro |access-date=15 July 2024 |date=14 July 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Butt |first1=Maira |title=Channel 4 pulls episode of The Simpsons after Trump assassination attempt |url=https://www.aol.com/channel-4-pulls-episode-simpsons-092830426.html |website=AOL |access-date=15 July 2024 |date=15 July 2024}}</ref>
Erik Adams writes that “'Lisa The Iconoclast' is a complex episode, and that complexity comes down to the way the show plays with Springfield’s infamous mob mentality. 'A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man' isn’t the episode’s only moral; it also teaches us that unthinking collective—the one that would spend unwisely on a flashy monorail or converge on the local brothel with torches and pitchforks—has a heart, too. As the resident know-it-all, it’s an important lesson for Lisa to learn: Just because she finds freedom in the truth doesn’t mean that everyone else will... once we’re dead and buried and someone has replaced our bodies with skeletons, we forfeit any control over the stories that are told about us. We can attempt to conduct the narrative from the beyond the grave with journals of our innermost thoughts and confessions to our gravest crimes, but if we’re lucky enough to be remembered, then the people doing the remembering are calling the shots. 'Lisa The Iconoclast' captures this sentiment beautifully, showing that the people of Springfield are the ones getting the last laugh over the pirate who tried so hard to dupe them all. They’ve turned him into the figure that unites them all, on both a grand city wide scale and on a smaller scale within the walls of 742 Evergreen Terrace. This takes a bigger chunk out of Sprungfeld’s reign of terror than George Washington’s wooden teeth ever could, and I cannot tell a lie: They did it with their parades and their educational films starring Troy McClure and their ceremonial bells. Lisa and Homer know the truth about Hans Sprungfeld, but the myth of Jebediah Springfield lives on. How cromulent."<ref>{{cite web| last=Adams| first=Erik| title=The Simpsons (Classic): Lisa the Iconoclast| work=[[The A.V. Club]]| url=https://www.avclub.com/the-simpsons-classic-lisa-the-iconoclast-1798180434}}</ref>
==Merchandise== The episode was included on April 28, 1997, on the [[VHS]] set ''The Dark Secrets of the Simpsons'', alongside "[[The Springfield Files]]", "[[Homer the Great]]", and "[[Homer Badman]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00004CUCA |title=The Simpsons — The Dark Secrets Of|access-date=March 5, 2009 |work=[[Amazon.com|Amazon.co.uk]]|date=July 21, 2003 }}</ref> On September 8, 2003, the VHS tape was released on [[DVD]] under the name ''The Simpsons: Dark Secrets'' in [[DVD region code#2|Region 2]] and [[DVD region code#4|Region 4]], but "Homer the Great" was replaced by "[[Homer to the Max]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0000BZNIV |title=The Simpsons: Dark Secrets|access-date=March 5, 2009 |work=[[Amazon.com|Amazon.co.uk]]|date=September 8, 2003}}</ref> It was released again on [[DVD]] on December 13, 2005, as part of [[The Simpsons season 7#DVD release|''The Simpsons Complete Seventh Season'']]. [[Bill Oakley]], [[Josh Weinstein]], [[Jonathan Collier]], [[Yeardley Smith]], [[Mike B. Anderson]], and [[David Silverman (animator)|David Silverman]] participated in the DVD's [[audio commentary]].<ref>''The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season''. 1995–1996. DVD. 20th Century Fox, 2005.</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{wiktionary|embiggen|cromulent}} {{wiktionary|cromulent|embiggen}} {{wikiquote|The_Simpsons/Season_7#Lisa_the_Iconoclast|"Lisa the Iconoclast"}} {{portal|The Simpsons}} *{{snpp capsule|3F13}} *{{IMDb episode|0701155}}
{{The Simpsons episodes|7}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lisa The Iconoclast}} [[Category:The Simpsons season 7 episodes]] [[Category:1996 American television episodes]] [[Category:Fictional history]] [[Category:Bicentennial anniversaries]] [[Category:Cultural depictions of George Washington]] [[Category:Television episodes directed by Mike B. Anderson]]