Arnold’s Hat
Next to his football-shaped head,
Arnold’s little blue hat is perhaps one of his most defining characteristics,
and it’s also interesting to note that it’s the central part of a story that
adds some good depth to his, as well as Helga’s, character. For Arnold himself, it’s not too surprising
that his hat means a lot to him, which includes always wearing it and never
taking it off for anything as the opening scene shows. His attachment to the hat is given some
beneficial depth when it’s later revealed that it was given to him by his
parents who left when he was very young and never came back, which is one of
the most emotional parts of the show that has never been resolved until later
this year, but that’s a topic for another day.
The point is, there’s enough emotional weight to help you understand Arnold’s
connection to his hat, and so when it gets lost and no one recognizes him, it’s
easy to genuinely sympathize with Arnold.
Now, as you’d probably expect, Arnold eventually learns that his hat
doesn’t make him who he is, in a nice scene of him getting advice from Grandpa,
which we’ll be seeing a lot more of, and while that lesson is a standard one,
it’s fitting for this story. Plus, so
that the story isn’t totally predictable, a lot of time is spent with what
Helga gets up to. This cartoon is an
example of just how powerful her crush on Arnold is. We already know she write poems about him,
but her crush leads her to express her love in other creative ways such as
building a shrine dedicated to him, including a bust of his head made up of
used chewing gum. It’s no wonder she
needs a huge dose of bullying to hide these feelings for Arnold. She practically worships him. Regarding the bust, Arnold’s hat comes into
play when she realizes she needs just that to complete the project. After failing to get it through some
hilarious hijinks, the hat finally appears to her by chance. However, this leads to a moment that shows
that Helga’s love for Arnold is about caring for him as much as it’s about
admiring his appearance. When she sees
Arnold miserable without his hat, she goes to great lengths to get it back to
him, including digging through a dumpster after realizing the bust was thrown
out. Then, Helga’s gesture of devotion
is capped off with her returning the hat to Arnold while still keeping her
crush and good side a secret, which we’ll also be seeing a lot more of. This is truly a nice thought-provoking story
made even better by how it does wonders for Arnold and Helga’s characters. 9.5/10
Stoop Kid
Back at the beginning of these Hey Arnold Season 1 reviews,
I said one of the things this show does a lot is look into the lives of this
city’s strange inhabitants. This is the
first cartoon to focus on that. When
Arnold punts his football hard, it lands on a stoop, but not just any
stoop. It lands on a stoop of a kid
simply called Stoop Kid, and there’s a pretty mysterious air to him. The catch is that he literally never leaves
his stoop which gives the impression that he’s very protective of it and will
harm anyone who comes near it. At the
same time, we as an audience are left with a lot of questions about Stoop
Kid. How did he end up at the
stoop? Did he ever have parents? How did he get by without going to
school? We later see how he gets water
to drink and wash himself, but what does he do for food? It may seem like a problem that we never get
answers to these questions but maybe that works in showing off just how
mysterious Stoop Kid really is. Anyway,
the cartoon goes in the smart direction of showing that even those who act
strange are just as human as any of us when Arnold watches Stoop Kid from a
distance going about his life peacefully including a nice scene of him reading
a children’s book to himself. The real
human side of Stoop Kid though comes in when Arnold comes to the conclusion why
he never leaves his stoop. When Arnold grabs his football and runs and all
Stoop Kid does is stand on his stoop and yell without chasing him it’s shown
that “Stoop Kid’s afraid to leave his stoop!”
We all have our fears in life, and I believe that most of them stem from
how we lived most of our lives, so Stoop Kid’s fears of leaving his stoop make
perfect sense, and it’s not hard to feel bad for him when the whole city teases
him for them. For Stoop Kid’s sake
though, it’s great that Arnold, the one kid brave enough to watch him and
understand him, is around to help him conquer his fear through encouraging him
to leave his stoop so to potentially explore other stoops and reminding him of
that children’s book from earlier. The
latter tactic is especially helpful in making the moment where Stoop Kid
finally steps off his stoop in front of the whole city big and grand. Then, as the cartoon ends, we’re left knowing
that Stoop Kid is now destined to live a healthier lifestyle by being brave
enough to leave his stoop, even if he’s just going to continue harassing people
at the moment; well, it’s more true to real life that it’ll take time for him
to see the world. This is one of many
cartoons of the show that explore how diverse in personality the many
characters are, which helps make this show so great. 10/10
The Rankings
1. Stoop Kid
2. Arnold’s Hat
3. Downtown as Fruits
4. Field Trip
5. The Little Pink Book
6. Eugene’s Bike
I've read other critics complain about The Jungle Movie (and by extension Parents Day and the Journal) and how it placed too much importance on the subject of Arnold's Parents, which they never saw as a central theme on the show.
ReplyDeleteArnold's Hat is the episode that makes it clear that his parental woes are in fact a HUGE theme of the show, just one that doesn't rise to the surface very often, but it's always there in the subtext. Arnold is a well-adjusted kid and not exactly depressed, but still kind of blue most of the time. And it's obvious from his attachment to his hat that the question of his parents' fate weighs heavily on him even if he rarely talks about it. This episode was the first hint at why he's so seemingly sad and wise beyond his years resulting from this hole in his heart, and how that drives him to try to be such a good person to compensate for the darkness in his life. One of my favorite episodes.
Looking at this comment several months after it was written as I write my reviews for Season 5 and The Jungle Movie, what you say is a very insightful perspective on Arnold's feelings on his missing parents. Arnold is good at being a genuinely good person to the world around him, but traits like missing his parents are underlying human issues for him to deal with on the inside. It's honestly remarkable that he's as great as he is despite these internal conflicts that are very understandable.
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