Why We Watch: What is the Meaning of Scoobie Doo?
Psychobabble, Why We Watch, Hmmm...LESS SERIOUSLY... September 24th, 2007
Monday, Boston, Massachusetts
Do you have a theory about the psychological meaning of the classic cartoon Scoobie Doo? It is rife with meaning. What’s your take on why we watched this program for so many years. A hint: It’s about life and death! Send a (clean) comment & it will be posted.
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September 25th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
Ok, I’ll give it a try.
First of all, each of the characters represents a different “type” of person we might find in our daily lives. In fact, we might be able to relate to one of them personally:
Daphne, the bright and pretty. Freddie appears to favor, or rather “protect” her and she often defers to the others. She represents the quintessential female of the time.
Thelma, the brainy tomboy, is independant and takes charge. She isn’t threatening to the others and works for the common good of the group.
Freddie, the studly sleuth, is the friendly pleaser. He rallys the group to solve the mystery while hoping he’ll score with Daphne eventually (there’s always a guy like this in the workplace).
Shaggy is the baby steps risk-taker. He makes his moves with his alter-ego (Scooby) at his heels. “I’ll do it if you do it.” He gets into tight situations, yet comes out scared, but unharmed. Scooby is Shaggy’s “other personality,” and not really a true dog at all. So, that’s it for the “life” reasons we watched the show. There’s a little of all of them in and or around all of us.
As for the death part, we humans love to be safely scared. Maybe it’s in the genes the same way we need to alter our reality in other ways. The shows gave us just enough of a fear rush to deliver the “drug.” The plots always safely side-stepped reality enough that we could immerse ourselves in the fear without nightmares of something REALLY happening. We were safely delivered back to our couches with the villian’s words, “and I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids.” Ahhh, safe and sound until we needed the next fix, knowing we could defeat fear and death in about 30 minutes (including commercials).