0057 - Sydney Swift (Patreon)

Day two of Smart Kid Week!

Sydney introduces himself to Bart with a backwards greeting. I'm starting to think these kids may have an inferiority complex, by the way they seem to have a need to instantly prove their intelligence while sacrificing anything resembling a normal human conversation.

The way these kids - especially Ethan and Sydney - so quickly decide to bully Bart for being less intelligent than them is very telling. Being smart doesn't prevent them being jerks, and interestingly this is actually repeated throughout the show. Nerds are often portrayed as beaten-down underdogs, until they are given the slightest taste of power, in which case they are instantly tyrants who punch down to anyone they deem inferior.

I'm starting to dislike these kids.

This post is part of my "Every Simpsons Character Ever" series. For a list of my rules in this project, click here.