Ed Edd And Eddy and Parental Disinterest.

[Three]

Today, I had it all figured out. My routine was impeccable. First, I would have a killer work-out. Then I would clean my room. After that, I would make my way to cleaning the rest of the apartment. And this was to be done within the next 3 hours because it was at that time, I decided, I would go to the M & Y Chinese Massage to have a full body rub. All of this would be performed with machine like precision and accuracy. Once all of the boxes were checked off on my list, because there would be nothing left to do, I would spend the rest of the day experiencing the optimum level of rest and relaxation.


Alas, none of this happened. Instead my morning routine was curtailed by my impulses, which drove me back to bed to watch a hilarious cartoon on youtube that I use to enjoy when I was younger called Ed Edd and Eddy. As a person who has a reasonable capacity for introspection, while I watched this show, I asked myself questions such as, “I wonder why I’m doing this? Why this show as opposed to anything else? What are you trying to show me?” Admittedly,  I wasn’t at first so accepting of this resistance from my body. It was only after a number of failed attempts to force myself to work out and do chores that I came to my senses and decided to give up control. Especially since, come to think of it, that never works anyway. So, I humbly accepted the change and relaxed into the moment, with curiosity as my guide.


For those who are not familiar with Ed Edd and Eddy, the cartoon, according to Wikipedia, “revolves around three adolescent boys, Ed Edd "Double Dee" , and Eddy, collectively known as "the Eds", who live in a suburban cul-de-sac. Under the unofficial leadership of Eddy, the trio constantly invent schemes to make money from their peers to purchase their favorite confectionery, jawbreakers. Their plans usually fail though, leaving them in various, often humiliating, predicaments.”





One of the first things that struck my attention as interesting about this show was the writer’s decision not to include any parents. There’s never a single adult shown in this cartoon. Now, I’m aware of a popular online theory of this show, which says that, “the children are dead and live in purgatory, hence the lack of any real parents or adults”,  to summarize briefly. But, to me that doesn’t make any sense because purgatory isn’t real. One of the main principles of rationally analyzing fiction is to interpret what the symbols and metaphors represent in the real world. It is to take the things that seem illogical when viewed literally, and interpret them in such a way that renders them logical.

For example, let’s imagine the following scenario. I’m at the library studying physics, with an extremely naive friend who has difficulty understanding metaphors. After 30 minutes of intense thought about a particular problem, without any furthering in my understanding, I release my pent up frustration by exclaiming “the problem is over my head!” and my literal minded friend predictably looks above my head with a puzzled expression on his face and replies, “No, it’s not”. The best way not to explain what I meant to my confused comrade would be to use another metaphor and say, “What I mean is that this problem beats me”, because this again, literally makes no sense. This is the kind of error that the purgatory theory is making. It’s using a metaphor to explain a metaphor, which only creates the need to interpret another metaphor, an explanation of an explanation, and thus, makes things less clear. The purpose of an explanation make things more clear.


So, what could not showing adults in this cartoon represent? Now, to be clear, the adults are there. In one episode, Edd’s parents leaves him sticky notes that tell him what chores to do. To quote Edd “It’s a hand written request from my father. We communicate through sticky notes.” One of the first thoughts that come to mind is that, when we have emotionally or physically absent parents, like double D, we grow up as lone wolves. We are left to learn about many essential lessons in life, such as sexuality or self protection, from the experience of our own initiative or from our peers. Some people might get by this way, but most are not so lucky and end up making huge mistakes. We need parents to guide and support us through life's major challenges and transitions.


And living life as a lone wolf is only made possible by the parent’s inability, and lack of desire, to empathize with the child and to see the child as an autonomous individual with distinct thoughts, feelings, and preferences. If the parent could do this, it’s more likely that the parent would strive to connect and learn about the child’s preferences, since undoubtedly one of the preferences the child has is for the parent to take interest in her. Thus, when we live our life as though our parents do not exist in this way, it is because we fundamentally do not exist to our parents.

 
It’s a very covert and passive form of abuse, but the impact it has on a child’s self esteem is catastrophic. Disinterest conveys the following messages, “you don’t matter, you are not important, you are not worth listening to and you don’t have anything to contribute to my life. I wish you were dead”, to name a few. And to belabor the point even further, let’s look at a passage about emotional engagement from an article called “The Six Major Signs of Divorce” by Sam Margulies from Psychology Today

  “2. Emotional Disengagement

Emotional engagement is a minimum requirement for the development and maintenance of intimacy. Willing discussion of feelings, one's own feelings and the other's feelings are a part. Interest in the emotional life of the other and empathic engagement of each other's emotional life all constitute the required elements for an intimate relationship.

3. Disaffection

Emotional engagement is generally accompanied by the withdrawal of affection. If your wife has disengaged emotionally from you she probably doesn't feel much love for you. Divorcing people commonly say that "they have fallen out of love." And depending on how sour the relationship has become one or both probably don't like each other very much.”



So, if the minimum requirement for intimacy is not being met and the bare minimum amount of effort is not being put forth on the part of the parent to connect with his child, how is a child to cope or adapt to such a bleak environment? To accept the reality that his parents are devoid of any true love for him would be unbearable. In our evolutionary history, to have unreliable parents was synonymous with death, so that would be too terrifying. The answer is that the child blames himself.  The child becomes to himself “bad” or flawed in some way. It is in this moment too, that the child enters into the me + paradigm of thinking which operates under the premise, “I’m not good enough as I am. I’m not loved just for me. So, I must make up for this deficiency by being more convenient, more funny, more intelligent, more talented or more helpful. Then, after these amends, mommy will open the gates to her heart and love me. ” As a result the child sentenced to a kind of purgatory, which is after all a “state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are expiating their sins before going to heaven.”  In other words, purgatory is a metaphor for the state of suffering a child inhabits after being disregarding by her caregivers. Me + is a way to expiate the badness. Heaven is parental love.


 It’s an ineffably humiliating place to be. To be discarded, like rubbish. Perhaps then, it is no accident that humiliation is a recurring theme in the show. As the wikipedia article states that “their plans usually fail though, leaving them in various, often humiliating, predicaments”. Regardless, my goal is not to interpret Ed Edd and Eddy, but instead to once again raise consciousness to the subtle, yet grave impacts of covert abuse. With knowledge and courage we can steer our way through the fog to get back in touch with our authentic self. We’re worth it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1si68-P6sU

 

 Post Script- I also couldn't help but notice some of the sexual innuendo. This went over my head when I was younger. In one episode (fast forward to 16:10), when Edd approaches the Kanker sisters, who all have major cruches on the eds, to ask for a cup of sugar one of the girls says, " he wants to share condiments!"

 

When Edd walks away with his face covered up by his black beany, the stooge Ed exclaims, "oh no, they tore off double d's head!"

You could write an entire article on that alone. 

Very interesting. 

[Falling Trees]

I remember really liking the show as a kid and now I can see why. It was basically a parody of my life with me always trying to find some plus for everyone so I can avoid attack. Trying the intellectual rout, then the jester and even trying to sell things. Nothing worked so deciding that if I can't BE without being attacked by those around me I turtled into my mind. The only place I could feel safe... at least until that too was attacked.    

[Wesley B]

A very good examination of the show. I was obsessed with this show when I was a kid and watched it all of the time. During that age, like the kids in the show, i was also neglected by my parents (Not in an extreme way but they didnt pay alot of attention to me and didnt really care about my preferences or anything like that, definitly not an over abundance of empath in the house). What i related to even more, and why I think i was obsessed with this show so much, is when you mention how these kids have to learn many essential lessons in life on their own. This is a very painful thing that i have definitly had to go through in my life. I guess thats why i related to the characters so much. I was also very socially awkward like the main characters, espescially Edd. It is indeed a great example of the horrid effects parental neglect can have on children. Very good post!

[luxfelix]

Regarding metaphor:

 

One interpretation I've found for the definition of metaphor as "a vehicle for meaning" implies a prerequisite connection. Since meaning is produced from the interaction of author, medium, and receiver (with most mediums as imperfect conductors), a metaphor can be lost in translation and/or perhaps spontaneously generated at the receiving end of communication.

 

In Ed, Edd, and Eddy, the purgatory theory could've been generated solely at the receiving end if unintended by the author(s); or, the purgatory metaphor could've been a subliminal reproduction of the author(s) subconscious mind packaged within the animation and received by the audiences' subconscious mind where it might resonate and become recognized also by aware conscious minds.

 

Likewise, your introspection could be interpreted as a communication between your subconscious and conscious minds where metaphor and the senses (subjective and objective) act as the medium.

 

(Your conscious mind asks a question; your subconscious mind responds with an image, metaphor, and/or emotion. Your subconscious mind triggers the biological warning system; your conscious mind concludes the stranger ahead is best to be avoided and plans an alternate route.)

[Three]

I remember really liking the show as a kid and now I can see why. It was basically a parody of my life with me always trying to find some plus for everyone so I can avoid attack. Trying the intellectual rout, then the jester and even trying to sell things. Nothing worked so deciding that if I can't BE without being attacked by those around me I turtled into my mind. The only place I could feel safe... at least until that too was attacked.    

Jecht, I'm incredibly sorry to hear that. You deserved better. i'm glad you made it out with your true self in tact, though!to relate to what you'er saying, I remember acting like the stooge from Ed Edd And Eddy quite often as a way to provide value. Over time, this strategy would backfire and people would start talking to me as if I was a stooge. It became difficult to turn around because when I wasn't the jester some friends would urge me to do something goofy. It makes sense because when you make a transaction with someone, based on the premise "i will provide value by being a jester", that's what people expect. 

 

A very good examination of the show. I was obsessed with this show when I was a kid and watched it all of the time. During that age, like the kids in the show, i was also neglected by my parents (Not in an extreme way but they didnt pay alot of attention to me and didnt really care about my preferences or anything like that, definitly not an over abundance of empath in the house). What i related to even more, and why I think i was obsessed with this show so much, is when you mention how these kids have to learn many essential lessons in life on their own. This is a very painful thing that i have definitly had to go through in my life. I guess thats why i related to the characters so much. I was also very socially awkward like the main characters, espescially Edd. It is indeed a great example of the horrid effects parental neglect can have on children. Very good post!

Thank you for taking the time to read and share your feed back. As well as the compliments!I'm sorry to here that you were neglected. You were worth more than that! 

 

Regarding metaphor:

 

One interpretation I've found for the definition of metaphor as "a vehicle for meaning" implies a prerequisite connection. Since meaning is produced from the interaction of author, medium, and receiver (with most mediums as imperfect conductors), a metaphor can be lost in translation and/or perhaps spontaneously generated at the receiving end of communication.

 

In Ed, Edd, and Eddy, the purgatory theory could've been generated solely at the receiving end if unintended by the author(s); or, the purgatory metaphor could've been a subliminal reproduction of the author(s) subconscious mind packaged within the animation and received by the audiences' subconscious mind where it might resonate and become recognized also by aware conscious minds.

 

Likewise, your introspection could be interpreted as a communication between your subconscious and conscious minds where metaphor and the senses (subjective and objective) act as the medium.

 

(Your conscious mind asks a question; your subconscious mind responds with an image, metaphor, and/or emotion. Your subconscious mind triggers the biological warning system; your conscious mind concludes the stranger ahead is best to be avoided and plans an alternate route.)

That's interesting, luxfelix. i'm certainly no seasoned metaphor interpreter, so any tips are helpful!