Blogpost # 4: Care Bears: More Like Voodoo Dolls

 Have you ever watched Care Bears? Care Bears is also one of my favorite TV shows as a kid. Well if you haven't watched an episode of it, what do you think would be the story of this show? You would most likely think that this is all about those cute and cuddly bears playing and having adventures right? 

The Care Bears are the ones who watch over the earth to keep bad feelings away. Whenever a kid is feeling down, they are there to help bring a smile to the child's face. They live in a city in the sky, named Care-A-Lot. They have meetings in the Hall of Caring to discuss important things. Their cousins live in the Forest of Feelings. The Care Bear Cousins' leader is Braveheart Lion. Each bear and cousin has a special power, related to the symbol on its tummy. When they assemble, they can use the Care Bear Stare to beam good energy at their enemies. The bears have two modes of transportation, Cloudmobiles and Rainbow Rollers, which they fly down to earth on whenever there is trouble. They are alerted to problems by the Care-O-Meter. 

In the article "The True 'Spirit' of the Care Bears" by David Nalle on blogcritics.org, David said that "Unquestionably the height and full-blown realization of Voodoo in children’s animation was in the still enormously popular Care Bears. From the very name of the cartoon to the look and behavior of the characters, Voodoo permeates the Care Bears universe." He suggests that the Care Bears are not what they seem.  He believes that they are a form of Voodoo living under the guise of children's entertainment.  He believes that this has been done through the adaptation of symbology.   

In the article, David states the similarity between the Care Bears and aspects of Voodoo: Firstly, the name "Care Bears" means Carefours (district of Port au Prince, the heart of the Voodoo world). And Care-A-Lot means 'holy city' of the Lwa. The statement: "Care Bears want to share until people care" means that Lwa want to share the bodies of their worshippers. And also the statement: "Care Bears want to be children's 'friends'" means that Lwa referred to as 'friendly spirits' or just 'friends'. And lastly the statement: "Each Care Bear has a unique tummy symbol" means that each Lwa has a Veve.

(L-R): Love-A-Lot Bear, Friend Bear, Cheer Bear

Also, some of the bears mean something, like for example, Love-A-Lot Bear. It means the goddess Erzulie (the symbol of twin hearts means dual nature, color pink, love). And the next one is the Friend Bear. It means Legba. Legba is the symbol of crossed flowers, Legba referred to as a 'friend', prominent role. He cited some more example but my last example would be the Cheer Bear which means Damballah. Damballah is the symbol of a rainbow, uses magical or mystical powers more often.

Nalle even goes further with his theory, suggesting the circumstances surrounding the animators of the Care Bears as strangely suspicious.  He says that animator Lester Meyers disappeared, leaving a cryptic note suggesting that he was gone to find out the truth of 'where the care bears came from' and his final credit card bill showed the purchase of a ticket to Haiti.  

 Whether people who read his article choose to side with Nalle's theory or not is left up to each individual.  I quite do not believe that the creators and animators of the Care Bears designed it to represent Voodoo.  Though there may be similarities between Care Bears and Voodoo Lwas, I think that it's just accidental and a mere coincidence. There is also one article that I read entitled, "Cartoon Conspiracy Theory | Care Bears have VooDoo Ties?!" by Kmach Time" by Kyle Mack. He said that, "Care Bears is supposedly all about voodoo trying to convince children to get into voodoo." However, both articles do pose an interesting alternative view of the cartoon. 

Now the question is: Voodoo you trust? Let us not assume that all the things we find on the Internet is true. It's just up to you whether you believe it or not. 

 

Blogpost # 1: Children and Watching TV

I know most of the time, children today would rather grab their gadgets and play all day or surf the net rather than to watch the television. But of course there are still children who watch the television while holding on to their gadgets, right? 

The time they use for watching television takes away from important activities such as: reading, school work, playing, exercise, family interaction, and social development. Children also learn information from television that may be inappropriate or incorrect. They often cannot tell the difference between the fantasy presented on television versus reality. They are influenced by the thousands of commercials seen each year, many of which are for alcohol, junk food, fast foods, and toys

Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in some of the countries in the world. In the article I read entitled, "Journal Issue: Children and Electronic Media" by Craig A. Anderson in the website: futureofchildren.org, he states that "A variety of research studies have found significant associations between obesity and TV viewing." Studies have shown that, for many reasons, risk of overweight increases as time watching television increases. Children are inactive while watching TV. Advertisements encourage consumption of high-calorie snacks and beverages. Many kids munch while they watch TV. Some researchers have found that metabolic rates of those viewing television are the same or lower than when sleeping.

Just because a food product is advertised on television or in other media does not necessarily mean it is a healthy choice. And just because a person is promoting a food doesn't necessarily mean that they eat it themselves either. Consult your health professional, a Registered Dietitian, or Food, Nutrition, and Health Extension Agent for information on eating healthfully and being active -- two important keys to preventing childhood obesity.
  

I have also read in an article entitled, "Some types of TV might improve behavior in kids"
by Leslie Wade in schoolsofthoughts.com that they conducted an experimental study wherein they recruited about 600 families and assigned to one of the groups. Parents in the first group were encouraged to substitute violent shows with educational and pro-social ones – shows that stressed compassion and cooperation. The families were given TV guides listing educational programming for their area monthly. Examples of shows that were given are: "Dora the Explorer," "Super WHY," "Seasame Street" and " It's a Big, Big World." Parents were also encouraged to watch together with their kids. 

The children watched from half an hour of violent programming a day to 23 minutes. Then parents increased educational viewing from about to thirty to forty three minutes a day. While families in the second group did not change their viewing habits.

They said that after a year, the researchers found out that the children who were watching less violent and a more child-appropriate shows scored better on their exams that involves measured cooperation, willingness to share to share or compromise compared to those who didn't. And they also had fewer incidents of aggressive behavior like yelling and hitting people.

According to their research study, I am able to say that better shows, better kids. When children watch shows with positive and good message they imitate it and put it into practice. But sad to say some of the TV shows today are nonsense and violent, although there are still shows that has a good message in it. We all know that kids most probably would mimic the thing that they see because they think it's normal because everyone's doing it. So if a child learns a violent action, it's very hard to unlearn it that's why we should be careful and consider what your child, your brothers or sisters, or your cousins watch on TV.

Blogpost # 3: Scooby Doo: Character's Diagnosis

Aside from playing outside and having fun, I also grew up watching cartoons on television. This is one of my pastimes because I can learn new things and I enjoy them. But I noticed that the modern cartoons are nonsense and uneducational.

Cartoons have changed over the years and have morphed into basic insanity. Speaking of basic insanity, has it ever occurred to you that the cartoon characters could be a subliminal message sent to us by the creator? One example is Scooby Doo, one of my favorite cartoons. 

According to an article entitled, "Psychology of Cartoons – Part 1: Scooby-Doo," on wired.com by Curtis Silver, "I started to notice the inherent humanity presented in the characters. They weren’t boilerplate; they were designed a certain way."

This piqued my curiosity. I wondered what she could possibly mean. Reading on, it was stated that each character had a specific psychological profile waiting to be analyzed. 

Starting with Fred Jones or a.k.a. Freddy. Fred is the leader of the gang. He is known for his ascot which was removed from the series "What's New, Scooby Doo?" He usually drives the Mystery Machine. He is also good at setting traps to catch the villain, but he can never keep them from being fouled up. 

According to the article, they said that Fred doesn't like criticism most especially when it comes to deciding on things. He is the kind of person who doesn't like to entertain other's ideas and he considers it only when there is no other choice. He is the one who assigns the things that are needed to be done but when the team screws up, he blame them for the fault. The way he constantly disapprove Shaggy and Scooby's ways is also another clear indicator of being a narcissistic person. This shows that Freddy has a Classic Narcissism disorder. but the good thing about Fred is that no matter how self-centered he is, he makes sure that the job gets well done of course with the help of his team. 

Daphne Blake. Daphne is the fashionable teen who takes great pride in the way she looks. She is known for her red hair and purple dress. Out of all the characters, Daphne is the one who can be kidnapped instantly by the predator because she came from a wealthy family. Therefore, Daphne being the center of everybody's attention, she has a diagnosis of Dependent Personality Disorder which is similar to narcissism. She always has to be rescued and Fred is the one who always rescues her. Fred's affection and appreciation for Daphne's personal well being and presence kept her disorder to grow more and more. 

In addition to her dependability, she interests us because she got better. She turned from an irresponsible woman into an independent woman. This complete change from being a helpless pretty girl to a self sufficient woman changed the character of Daphne and hopefully inspired many self centered “princesses” to do the same.

The next is Velma Dinkley. Velma is the brains of the gang. She always figures out who the villain is in the end. She is known for wearing an orange sweater and glasses, which she seems to lose a lot. Being the smartest, Velma has an Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder. OCPD is when everything needs/has to be with order, rules and expectations and this causes anxiety when things are out of expected order. This doesn’t mean that Velma expects everything to turn out good, just that she expects things to be the way she expects them to be. Out of all the gang though, having OCPD and choosing to solve mysteries for a living isn’t actually a bad thing.

Having this type of disorder, it also helps her to solve the mystery in a very fine manner. Along with Fred, Velma is the main case solver and leads the Mystery Inc. to the denouement in every episode. Her behavior clearly teaches us to have a greater understanding of the world through having a less than flexible attitude towards it. 

Norville "Shaggy" Rogers is the next character. Shaggy as we know is Scobby's owner and best friend, although cowards, he and Scooby are usually the bait of the villain. His disorder is Cowardly Pothead with Hints of Paranoia. He has extreme cowardice, which is not a side effect of the implied drug use. If anything, Shaggy is a lesson against drug use. His constant craving for “Scooby Snacks” and other weird snack foods (because his first toy as a child was the garbage disposal) paired with his constant fear of the world around him makes him the least effective of the gang. It’s clear they keep him around for comic relief, and to keep the rest of them on their toes.

Whether they would admit it or not, Shaggy’s paranoid behavior enables the rest of the team to function properly. Most of his paranoia is inadvertently aimed at what we later find out to be the bad guy, or the reason the old boarded up possibly haunted house is shut down. Through this constant craving for running away and snacks, Shaggy and Scooby often stumble upon a key in solving the case, further enabling the others to do their jobs. Unfortunately, Shaggy is generally too stupid (due to loss of memory because of drug use) to solve the case himself. While we can only assume the drug of choice is marijuana (hence the snacking,) the oft performed feats of great agility (superhuman running and what not) would imply something stronger is at use. The lesson here is that drugs are bad, but when you are really scared they can help you run on water. If you are a cartoon character.

And last but not the least, Scooby Doo. Scooby is  a 7-year old Great Dane. He loves to eat and he would do anything for a Scooby snack. First off, Scooby thinks he’s a person. Not only does he occasionally walk upright and eat the same kind of strange food that Shaggy consumes, but he talks. Scooby has a broken English speech pattern that everyone can understand. “Ruh-roh, Raggy” is easily translated and muttered every episode. Aside from thinking he is people, which is clear dissociative behavior, he also behaves as his nature sometimes, that of a dog. Walking on four legs, eating food intended for animals and not wearing clothes. With that, he has Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Moreover, according to another source that I read entitled, "Scooby Doo Stuff" written by Dave Kaczanowski on con.ca, they said that the truth is that there are "Four high-school dropouts and their sentient dog ride around the country in their psychodelic love machine, earning their way by selling drugs. Oh, and they occasionally take some old guys mask off to solve a mystery." He stated that they are selling drugs because the "Dobidoo" is the slang word for drugs and that Shaggy smokes marijuana. While Fred and Daphne who were always splintering from the group to solve the mystery themselves but they are really just making out behind the Mystery Machine. And also that Fred had steroids. And for Velma, everyone's least favorite, is a lesbian.

I enjoyed the episodes of Scooby Doobidoo as a child not knowing what it really meant. Scooby Doo was once my favorite, but for now it just ruined my childhood. Just imagine how cartoons can also have a deeper meaning behind it that can ruin one's childhood. Subliminal meanings that are targeted at real people's personalities and abnormalities, all masked by childish illustrations and interpretations.

Blogpost # 2: Spongebob Squarepants: Seven Deadly Sins

Who lives a pineapple under the sea? Absorbent and yellow and porous is he, nautical and nonsense. Yes, you're right it's Spongebob Squarepants. I bet you've heard about this TV Show about a sponge who goes for adventure with his best friend Patrick and Squidward, the unlucky one. There's also Mr. Krabs who loves money and Sandy the scientist at the same time a karate squirrel. Even I enjoy watching this nonsense show, but I found out that each character represents the 7 Deadly Sins also known as the Cardinal Sins.

According to  the article Spongebob Squarepants and the Seven Deadly Sins, written by Duncan Stewart, in the website Modern Mom as he quote, "After months of research and tedious scientific analysis(also, he of the writers from the show mentioned it in the audio commentary on the DVDs from the first season), we've discovered they're actually representative of the seven deadly sins." The writer actually did a very long research about the subject matter and found out that each character means each of the seven deadly sins.

Mr. Krabs. When I think about Mr Krabs, I think that he loves money very much that he puts himself and other people(well "creatures") in danger and sometimes it gets to the point where it is a life to death situation. Mrs. Krabs, who I never heard from the episodes, most likely I would think that she divorced the old man because of he strain greed put on the relationship. And in that, commits the sin of Greed.

Patrick Star. When I think about Patrick, lazy is the word I've got for him. He lays under a rock almost all the time but he's not doing anything all day and he is doing everything he wants to do if bored he go to Spongebob. So for that, he commits the sin of Sloth. There was actually an episode entitled, "Big Pink Loser" wherein he was awarded for absolutely doing nothing for the longest time.

With hopes that one day he'll get the recipe of the Krabby Patty, a no brainer guy, here goes Sheldon Plankton. Plankton owns restaurant called "The Chum Bucket" and is consumed with the desire to achieve the success of his adversary(Mr. Krabs). His ultimate goal in life is to steal the Krabby Patty formula so that he would beat Krabs in the food business. Having that attitude, he commits the sin of Envy.

Squidward Tentacles, who I think is eighty three percent angry all the time. I know he hates his life, he hates Spongebob and anything dealing with anyone except him. He is plays a role as a general failure who refuses to acknowledge his own personal flaws. His attitude of constant self-denial opens itself in a sarcastic sense of humor and resentment toward the society that doesn’t ‘appreciate’ his creativity and clarinet ”skills”. So being angry at everyone, he commits the sin of Wrath.

Next is Gary. The pet snail of Spongebob. Spongebob most of the time have jokes in having to remember to feed his pet snail. Gary is doing nothing at else besides meow-ing and eating everything he likes. There was an episode when Gary runs away from home because Spongebob forgot to feed him for a while.  This proves beyond a doubt that when left to his own devices, Gary would rather do nothing but to eat. So for Gary, he represents the sin of Gluttony.

Sandy Cheeks the karate, astronaut-looking squirrel. She is a squirrel that is very proud of her heritage. Sandy also takes a great deal for being the only land critter living in Bikini Bottom. Though generally a good-natured individual, Sandy is quick to spout off about the greatness of the Lone Star state or to show off her athleticism in a karate match or a weightlifting contest. Being showy in everything, Sandy is representing the sin of Pride.

Finally, Spongebob Squarepants. We all know that Spongebob loves everyone. To define lust, it can be identified as "excessive love of others". In this sense of the word, it cannot be denied that our absorbent yellow friend is an extremely lustful creature. Spongebob has a lust for life that is incomparable to most other cartoon characters - he longs for the affections of both friend and foe alike, is eager to please, and will often stop at nothing to complete a task. In this, he represents the sin of Lust.

Although, according to another article I have read entitled, "7 deadly sins of Sponge Bob Squarepants" by Stewes Lackey in the adultswim.com that Spongebob can also be the sin of envy because "While nothing is wrong with who he is, or his position in life, he constantly wishes to be something else, but never obtains it.  All the while endangering his personal relationships, and causing harm to those around him." Never knew Spongebob was so dramatic and deep like that. 

So this is what I came up with. Having all that said, my question is: Should children really be learning these habits from these characters? I say that the parents out there should be warned and be boggled about this matter because it will ruin their children's childhood. So is SpongeBob a masochist?  Actually I don't think SpongeBob can feel anything except love. And maybe that's the point. Maybe, just maybe, this yellow blob of unconditional, purely platonic love exists to show us what it means to truly love someone. Or maybe he's just a cartoon character who lives in a pineapple under the sea?