#to display during the show. he did tai chi in the corner during the show (which was a rock band.) while his girlfriend- who i’ve known since | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

orangeoragamicat · 7 years

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Examining Arthur for Lessons

Episodes:

A. Arthur’s Number Nightmare - Buster discovers a list that everyone assumes is the class ranking list, and everyone is surprised about where they are on the list.

B. Brain Gets Hooked - Alan (aka ‘Brain’) becomes obsessed with a tv show, and his obsession has negative consequences.

C. Silent Treatment - When his friends keep forgetting about him, George decides to stop talking to his friends altogether until someone notices him.

D. Kung Fool - Fern assists an old retiree around the house and learns about his life.

E. Prunella and the Disappointing Ending - Prunella and her friend, Marina, read a book together, but end up in a contest over who can read fastest.

F. The Good, the Bad, and the Binky - Binky is determined to raise money for a wrestling ticket, and babysits a 4 year old girl, whom he bonds with over wrestling.

Values: self-responsibility

This value involves both negative and positive aspects from the show, but is seen as a positive value overall. It pertains to anytime a character had to be responsible in some way for themselves. This would involve doing homework, being held responsible for a job or task they were set to do, etc. In one episode, [B], Alan (nicknamed ‘Brain’) becomes obsessed with a tv show. This obsession causes him to watch the tv show and forget everything else. This includes the big history oral report due that week. Alan continually puts off doing his report to watch this tv show, and he ends up doing badly on it. He is shown getting reprimanded by his teacher sternly. The homework and tv are physically placed next to each other in the show, so you can see the homework being ignored. Alan is shown thinking about the show all the time - during school and at home. His obsession with the show to the detriment of homework is seen as a negative thing: Alan is seen getting angry at the tv screen, yelling at the characters, calling them names, standing up angrily with fists raised at the tv, eyebrows furrowed and frowning. He is also seen punching a cabinet (that he put the dvd of the tv show into, in order to try and focus on his homework) because he can’t open it. Other people note Alan’s lack of self-responsibility: the teacher, Mr. Ratburn, asks him “is that it?” after Alan gives his pathetic report. Mr. Ratburn expected more from Alan, and is obviously disappointed at his obvious lack of efforts. The librarian also asks Alan, “is that it?” incredulously, when all he wants to check out at the library is the one dvd of the tv show, “you usually check out a whole stack of books!” Self-responsibility is also shown in a positive example: in episode [D], Fern has a responsibility to fulfill. She’s volunteered to help Mr. Wu, an elderly retiree, to earn her service badge for her girl-scouts troop (or the Arthur’s equivalent). Fern is seen to hold herself accountable to this responsibility without complaining at all in the episode, even though she is visibly bored in one scene: she is slumped on the couch, eyes half closed, bored tone of voice. This job wasn’t what she expected, but she is seen to carry it out anyway, and make the best of it along the way: she perseveres in asking Mr. Wu questions and carrying on conversation about him and his life. She ends up having fun in her job, all because she didn’t give up or give in. She stayed true to her responsibility to the end, even though she was ridiculed by one of her classmates, Binky two times during the show, in school. He approached her while Fern was talking to friends, cracked a joke, pointed and laughed, and left. Fern doesn’t let Binky’s taunts bother her though. Episode [F] is another great example of a character showing self-responsibility: Binky sets a goal for himself to raise money for a ticket to a wrestling match he really wants to see. It’s $50, and he is shown, from the get-go, to hold himself responsible to raise this money, in a responsible manner. Binky takes on a babysitting job, and is seen to do very well at it. He is shown doing various chores for others - painting, yard work - and being successful at it. He doesn’t cut corners, but sees the job through from start to finish. He also holds a yard sale - which is also successful.

2. friendship

Friendship is a value that is seen through the interactions of the characters on the show. Friendship is promoted as a positive value in Arthur. In episode [B], Alan’s obsession over the tv show shows to harm his friendships to a small degree. He dismisses his friends in a secretive and ashamed manner. He openly lies and looks like a fool doing it, and his friends know it: Buster and Arthur stare at Alan, wide-eyed with disbelief and disappointment, talking with a humoring tone of voice, “O-kay….” Alan comes across as overly insistent and unconvincing in his lies to his friends. He’s embarrassed by his obsession and shows his discomfort by fidgeting with his collar and looking away, changing the subject when asked about it. At one point, Alan is on his knees, begging Buster for the key to the cabinet where Alan locked the dvd of the tv show (he had given the key to Buster for safe keeping). Buster is angry and annoyed with Alan - his eyebrows are furrowed and he’s frowning. Buster doesn’t take Alan at his word, Alan starts to lose credibility. Arthur and Buster invite Alan out to play, but when Alan arrives, only to ask for a favor concerning the tv show, Arthur and Buster are visibly disappointed in Alan (their eyebrows droop). In the end, Fern has to confront Alan face-to-face: she yells at him, turns off the tv, holding his shoulders and looking him in the face while talking to him sternly and seriously. In episode [C], George (a quiet and shy boy) is, on multiple occasions, forgotten about by his friends. At the beginning of the episode, George is forgotten in a game of hide and seek, and consequently is left out on the opportunity for ice cream. He sees the rest of his friends eating ice cream, and gets angry and is disappointed with them, especially Binky, who was ‘it’ in hide and seek. Binky, to his credit, attempts to hide his ice cream and denies having it - he is visibly embarrassed: stammering, diverting his gaze. Binky tags George, trying to cover up the fact that he forgot about George, saying that he didn’t forget him. Sue-Ellen offers George her ice cream, saying, “I wasn’t hungry, I got this for you.” But George walks away from them all, angry and hurt. They all look after him in stunned silence, obviously affected by this experience. Sue-Ellen then pushes for them all to throw a party in George’s honor, since it was obvious that his feelings were hurt during hide and seek. All of George’s friends chip in to throw him a surprise party. Everyone immediately agreed with Sue-Ellen’s idea without complaining or disapproving - they all feel bad for forgetting about George. The party they throw is George-centered, the food is his favorite, Binky plays a song directly for George, and even the cake is shaped like George. All of this pushes the value of friendship because Georges friends immediately felt responsible for hurting George, and did everything possible to make it up to him without so much as a complaint or regret. The show is promoting strong, honest friendships. In episode [D], Fern becomes friends with Mr. Wu by the end of the episode. She encourages him to go outside of his comfort zone, and goes with him to support him in this; Fern encourages Mr. Wu to go to the park to practice Tai Chi. Mr. Wu is uncomfortable going outside because he’s an anti-social old person. But he goes, complaining heavily first: he’s hesitant, making lame excuses, crosses his arms and pouts like a 3-year-old. Fern responds to all this with only positive encouragement: she laughs in a friendly, non-provocative manner, she smiles, she says, “maybe you’ll meet some friends there!” and other up-beat things. And, when they’re finally out there, Mr. Wu ends up making lots of new friends and starts an outdoor Tai-Chi class to boot! This shows that good friendship is supporting your friends, and this will ultimately pay off in the end.

3. being true to yourself

Being true to yourself is a value displayed in Arthur in a few different ways. The show promotes different social classes, personalities, and interests, and no one is ridiculed or called out for being different. The characters on the show take each other as they are, and don’t expect them to act any differently than they are. Everyone is encouraged to be true to who they are. Francine lives in an apartment building, but is best friends with Muffy, who is atrociously wealthy, and they get along fine. Muffy doesn’t rub it in Francine’s face, and Francine doesn’t feel jealous. Muffy does act obnoxiously bourgeois, but Francine takes it in stride, and isn’t offended [A]. One character, George, is extremely shy and quiet (and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was schizophrenic too). George is a little unusual - he talks to his ventriloquist puppet, Wally, a LOT. He wants attention, though, and tries hard to get it, but everyone tends to forget about him. Even though he’s forgotten about a lot, it isn’t because his friends don’t want to be around him. They like playing with him and including him, and are shown to treat him equally and with respect. They even show shame and embarrassment when they realize that they haven’t been treating George fairly. Sue-Ellen rescues Wally from the river after George accidentally drops him in. She hands him back to George and asks if Wally is ok. Instead of answering himself, George talks through Wally, saying that he was alright. Sue-Ellen, though a little taken aback, takes the response in stride, saying, “Well, that answers my question!”, and brushes over the fact that George just talked to her through a puppet. She obviously accepts this aspect of George. [C] All of George’s friends, instead of making fun of his personality, openly accepts George as he is, encouraging him to be true to himself. Fern also encourages Mr. Wu to be true to himself. She gets to know him personally, and helps him to step outside his comfort zone a bit to show his true self to other people too. Celebrating his interests outside in the park, he started up a Tai Chi class, and made new friends! [D] Being true to yourself is obviously a positively held value for the Arthur show. Binky definitely wasn’t afraid of being true to himself when he babysat Emily, a four-year-old girl. He is a rough-n-tough and interested in wrestling. When Emily discovers Binky watching wrestling on tv, Binky shares with her about his interest. She gets interested too, and Binky opens up with her. He gives her a wrestling jacket that’s too small for him anymore, and teaches her moves, and teaches her to burp. Emily looks up to him as a role model, and it all works out in the end. [F] This example also works for Emily. She is a young girl who has interests deemed as both masculine and feminine, and the show makes a point to show Emily embracing both these sides of her with grace and equality. Emily is true to her self, even though her best friend, D.W. is obviously disappointed in Emily. D.W. goes to her brother, Arthur, and complains that ‘something is wrong’ with Emily. She blames Binky for being a bad influence on Emily. D.W. confronts Binky herself, and is angry and yells at him. But even though all this happens in the show, Emily isn’t phased or influence by D.W.’s opinions. She decides to stay true to herself, and not let anyone tell her differently. [F]

4. respecting others

Respecting others is a value that means being considerate of others’ feelings and beliefs. D.W. is prancing around and gloating about how she won a board game with Arthur. She is chanting catchphrases like ‘cream of the crop’ and ‘I’m number one’ in a taunting manner. Arthur leans back into the wall, slides down until he’s sitting, and sighs, rolling his eyes. This shows gloating in a negative light, and highlights the importance of respecting others’ feelings. [A] Francine is complaining that Arthur shouldn’t be ranked as high as he is on the class ranking list. Arthur replies to this angrily: standing up abruptly with raised eyebrows to confront her to her face and talks very sternly. Francine wasn’t being very respectful, and get punished for this attitude later on: she goes to principle Haney’s office to complain, and ends up getting extra work preparing a speech for the Harvest Day Celebration, and she has to wear a ridiculous pumpkin suit. The show punishes her for her disrespectful attitude. [A] Buster is a superstitious person, always coming up with alien abduction theories and the like. But no one on the show respects this belief. If they don’t outright ignore Buster, they tell him directly how silly his ideas sound. Arthur one time trumps Buster’s suggestion with one of his own - a more reasonable, down-to-earth suggestion - and the show rewards Arthur’s suggestion and devalues Buster’s. At one suggestion Buster makes, Arthur smiles in a laughing-at sort of disbelieving manner and shrugs, pointing at Buster. This is when Buster is trying to tell Arthur about his lucky number, 11. Buster tries to describe his belief in this superstition, but obviously fails: he messes up and stammers and misses obvious points. Arthur stumps Buster by answering quickly and with assurance Buster’s questions. This makes Buster look like a fool. Buster is ultimately interrupted from trying to explain himself by Mr. Ratburn - the authority in the classroom. No one in the show asks Buster about his beliefs, Buster has to bring them up each time, and fight for attention, as no one is interested in his theories. The show doesn’t punish Buster’s friends for their negative attitudes toward Buster. The show, in this case, does not respect Buster’s beliefs. The show ends up punishing Buster for his beliefs: he is seen sadly and regretfully eating his 11 grape tomatoes, obviously unhappy and regretting taking so many (11 is his lucky number so he had to take 11). Buster’s attitude is seen as obsessive and rude: he ignores Arthur when Arthur is trying to talk about something important - his low grade on a quiz - to talk instead about his lucky number. Buster yells at Prunella for not having 11 chestnuts in the guessing-game jar. Arthur has to physically hold him back and lead him away, laughing awkwardly and making excuses for him, apologizing. At the end, when Buster is seen to start being suspicious of the number 2, Francine and Arthur both yell at him to shut up, obviously angry with raised eyebrows and frowning. [A]

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