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.