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Veterans
Day
When it comes to historical holidays, it seems like it’s
difficult to show that in media. This is
probably why you hardly hear people talk about them, and that they're just treated simply as
days off. For that, I consider it a
special occurrence when a show turns out very respectful to such holidays. A big example is this endearing special about
Veterans Day.
In real life, most people
know it honors all the brave people who fought in major wars America was involved
in. However, it feels like they think
more of what they’re going to do during the long weekend. Arnold and Gerald demonstrate this at the
start by thinking of what to do at this time.
That’s when their parental figures, Grandpa and Gerald’s dad Martin,
come up with an idea suitable for the holiday by going to the nation’s capital
for a Veterans Day celebration. Along
the way, they tell the boys of their war service with Grandpa in World War 2,
and Martin in the Vietnam War. Making
these tales stand out is how the boys perceive them. Arnold doesn’t high expectations given his
Grandpa’s interest in tall tales while Gerald thinks a little too highly of his
dad’s contributions.
As for the stories
themselves, they’re major highlights of the special with intriguing insights of
how meaningful war contributions can come from anywhere. Grandpa wasn’t a revered soldier in the army, having pretentious dreams despite only being given menial work. In fact his biggest mission was to take a
large shipment of bad meat to be dumped, but this ended up bringing his true
shining moment. He was captured by a
Nazi battalion who stole his meat, but through a hilarious conversation with
the Nazi major, he made them think it was good.
This made the troop very sick allowing the American allies to pass
through to Berlin and win the Battle of the Bulge with no trouble. What’s more, at the special’s end, Grandpa
considers Arnold’s feelings and shows him proof of the story’s truth by showing
him a hidden statue. The best part about
this is even if most can tell that nothing like this happened in real life,
it’s still fine to include this. It was
never documented exactly how the allies got to Berlin.
As for Martin, his war contributions don’t
sound quite as impressive. He was
drafted when the Vietnam War was nearly over, was sick for most of training,
and was laughably bad at combat when he could show up. He was relegated to a simple file clerk
position who barely saw action apart from one time when he used papers to heal
a wounded soldier. Gerald is majorly
disappointed by this and feels that his dad’s war contribution was meaningless
since anyone could have done that.
That’s pretty disrespectful for sure, but in all honesty, it kind of
works for the message the special is going for.
The last scene during the
Veterans Day celebration features Martin and Gerald meet the soldier Martin
saved. He’s eternally grateful for what
Martin did for him after being left behind and nearly bleeding to death. The fact that he’s now a happy man with a
loving family shows just how big Martin’s actions really were. Anyone could have done what he did, but
through what this act led to, Martin has a lot of merit for making it
happen. This right here perfectly
captures what should be taken from Veterans Day. No matter how small one’s contribution to war
is, they can always go a long way through being part of a greater good. It’s precisely why it’s important to honor
those who fought for us, and make the day quite inspirational too. The tact and respect this special brings to
it make it one worth saluting.
A+
The Ranking
- Veterans Day
- Headless Cabbie
- Helga’s Parrot
- Oskar Can’t Read?
- Dinner for Four
- The Beeper Queen
- Stinky’s Pumpkin
- It Girl
- Polishing Rhonda
- Weighing Harold
- Big Gino
- Chocolate Turtles
- Friday the 13th
- Grudge Match
- Phoebe Skips
- Eugene’s Birthday
- Student Teacher
- Love and Cheese
- Jamie O in Love
- Deconstructing Arnold
- Full Moon
The next Hey Arnold features Grandpa go back to school where he succeeds and falls out again, and Arnold and Helga take up parenthood, yet Arnold turns out to be the bigger jerk.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the last part of the DuckTales "Time is Money" arc.
If you would like to check out other Hey Arnold reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
I admit, I tend to overlook this one a lot. Any episode lacking in the Helga department is always going to be a detriment for my bias, but it does have a healthy dose of Grandpa to make up for that. And after rewatching this one at long last I was incredibly moved. It's also one of the funniest episodes of the series which is kind of amazing for the subject matter. I hope this episode is remembered long from now for being the only kids cartoon ever to feature Hitler getting a wedgie if nothing else...
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