That's a Shirt? I Always Thought It Was a Skirt!

    Hey Arnold! No, I’m not calling you Arnold. It’s the title of a show back in the 90s. Hey Arnold is an animated series with the genre of comedy and drama. It was directed by Craig Bartlett and was published on Nickelodeon in 1996. It had five seasons and a hundred episodes, showing more or less twenty episodes for each. The show was cut in 2004 after their 100^th episode special which was an hour long, entitled “The Journal”.

    The story is about an orphan kid named Arnold who lived in a boarding house building that was owned by his grandparents, Phil and Gertude. He’s a fourth grader in a school called Publica School 118 (or PS 118, for short) who’s wise beyond his age. Helga, who has a crush on him, would often act mean and shove him away just to hide the fact that she likes him. His best friend Gerald on the other hand is a kid who loves telling urban legends that would make the story even more interesting. There’s also Harold who’s a bully but in reality, he’s actually a scared kid trying to make everyone feel inferior. There are a lot of characters in the cartoon that had his or her own problems and insecurities, but they would often confide in a solution that wasn’t either right or very healthy. That’s where Arnold comes in. He often helps his friends go through problems, giving them advices and showing them what’s right and what’s wrong. Often times, he’d be faced with his own problems, but in the end, he would always think rationally and choose what’s right.

    As a kid, I remember watching Hey Arnold for the first time and thinking: “what a strange shape for a head…” Then again it’s a cartoon and most cartoons have weird looking characters. I guess that’s what makes them memorable at times--the image and style of the art--but you know, I don’t think that that’s what makes Hey Arnold unforgettable. I honestly believe that it’s the story of the cartoon that keeps everyone entertained, because the story itself has its small values and lessons that can be applied to anyone of any age. There’s a wide variety of characters which can actually make viewers relate and see themselves in some situations that were being shown. That in itself is something worth cherishing especially when you know you learned your lessons through the help of a football shaped head kid. Haha!

See you all on the next run,
Vieo

Sources:

hey-arnold-viaduct.jpg, retrieved October 8, http://playingwithpolitics.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/hey-arnold-animating-the-benefits-of-urban-design/

Hey-Arnold-old-school-nickelodeon-295350_1024_768.jpg, retrieved October 8, http://www.fanpop.com/spots/old-school-nickelodeon/images/295350/title/hey-arnold-wallpaper