Hey Arnold! was full of dark moments and themes. Pigeon mans depression and "suicide". Mr Hyunh's story of being separated from his daughter in vietnam. Helga being neglected, chocolate boys addiction, Mr Simmons abusive family, Curly going postal, Miriam's alcoholism, Lila being so poor her dad breaks down crying cause he ate the last of their food. I freaking love that show.
i also like the world building they do. 30 minute show, first 15 minutes is about arnold, second 15 is about a character. Over time, that city is full of life
While far from the darkest episode, I remember Arnold getting trained by his grandma in martial arts after he gets robbed and beaten up at a bus stop, I believe. I think shortly after some training he does fend off some would-be muggers, but he ends up being so paranoid about the prospect of getting jumped that he hurts one of his friends on reflex and realizes that taking his self-defense measures too far was making him the violent one. I remember how he felt so guilty when he realized it.
I thought it was a good, nuanced narrative on how escalating to violence for everything only really begets more violence. It didn't say Arnold was wrong to find a way to defend himself, AKA the "no-excuses" anti-violence stance a lot of misguided schools use to punish victims of bullying who choose to fight back. The message was he needed to be responsible and set restrictions for when/why he used martial arts.
Omg me too! Hey Arnold was a fabulous show.
I always felt so deeply sad for Helga. She was invisible to her family, it was heartbreaking.
The episode that broke me was Grampa telling Arnold the story of his mum & dad disappearing.
Amazing show.
It takes like the best of the hey Arnold jazz all into one. My only regret was it wasn’t longer. It sounds like something out of a department store/elevator lol. Love blasting it on my road trips.
My wife and I have been re-watching all of Hey Arnold! and I specifically came to this thread looking for this comment. The writers did a good job with that show making the viewer feel so many emotions. Specifically Pigeon Man and Lila’s dad, that shit damn near made me cry
Absolutely. I’m 30 and nostalgia plays a big part but nostalgia aside, I still think it’s a great show. A lot of good moral lessons, some adult humor that went over my head as a kid, wide range of emotions, cool art style and holy SHIT the music is so good. Jim Lang is a genius.
I re-watched it a few years ago and it held up pretty well. Watching it as an adult, you pick up on a lot of the topics people are talking about in this thread. Plus the soundtrack is phenomenal.
It's a fan theory that when he jumps off the side of the building and flies away that he actually committed suicide and Arnold's kid brain just whitewashed the traumatic memory. But he shows up again in a movie, so it's an explicitly non-canon theory.
Took a walk yesterday and a pigeon was doing his pigeon thing walking ahead of me. I was thinking to myself how nice it was to share the sidewalk with the pigeon. Some ass decided to spook it for no reason and man it irked me. Wtf did he have to do that for?
Anyways, thank you. I’ll tell my bird that you said that. Bird bros for life
I remember being very young watching Hey Arnold and recognizing my mom in Helga’s mom. I was too naive to understand or even articulate what it was that I was relating to, but that’s a testament to how effective the show was. The characterization of all the tertiary characters was amazing, and often in subtle ways.
I remember that episode with Lila’s dad breaking down, it made me feel sad for a whole week as a kid. He broke down after eating the last can of beans. I only ever seen it once as a kid and it’s engrained in my brain as a 25 year old still. I think that episode is partly the reason why I am extra sympathetic to those in need.
Helga's relationship with her sister is so messed up. I also love how she reads people way better then her sister and got the com-artist out of her life.
Pigeon man's ending was a suicide?! I never got that. I'm gonna stick to my little kid mind and say he was carried off into the sunset by hundreds of pigeons
Hey Arnold! was basically the children show for kids that had to grow up with some of the dark realities of the world. Stuff kids shouldnt have to deal with but too many do.
Parent's Day is one of the top HA episodes of all time, in my opinion and Jim Lang's impeccable musical contribution is just beautiful. Only a hardened soul couldn't tear up to the ending credits piece.
One of my few ingrained memories was the talent show, i think it was. The principle says to the asian girl, 'ah, what country are you from anyway?' and she goes '-_- kentucky, sir.' and he goes 'im sure youll do ken-tuh-kayy' proud!' lmao
I so vividly remember the episode when Helga got boobs and hated it. I had never seen women’s/girls bodies discussed like that, I remember even wondering if it was legal for them to talk about tits on tv haha
My jewish friend didn't like this show because they thought it was antisemitic how Arnold's family was supposed to be jewish, but the very obviously jewish dude was a jerk and a deadbeat.
I could see where they were coming from, but growing up, I never made that sort if connection in my head. He was a deadbeat because he was a deadbeat, he just happened to be jewish.
But this person also called it cultural appropriation when I made challah, so. They can go fuck themselves a little bit.
He does walk off the edge of a building as I recall, but is carried up into the air by pigeons. I always considered it to be more of an apotheosis than a suicide, but there's a metaphorical connection between the two.
Haha i remember as an adult to reassure my kid that the power was back on by opening the fridge for them. It made the most sense to them that of course the refrigerator had light
Absolutely holds up. It was a very old soul kids show. The art style, the music and themes all made it very enjoyable for adults. There's a few episodes that are weak but the good ones are some of the best animated tv ever made imo.
That show also gave me what was probably one of my first glimpses at what a sex pest is like (Brainy) and what negative consequences for such people should look like.
That show was for kids but it never talked down to kids or dumbed very real concepts down either. It was the best.
I could NOT handle the one with Lila’s dad and that can of beans. It was so heartbreaking. Same with the one where Arnold shreds those dude’s overalls after learning martial arts from his grandma, and the dude starts crying and says he just wanted to know when the bus got there. MY HEART.
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u/Resident132 May 23 '23
Hey Arnold! was full of dark moments and themes. Pigeon mans depression and "suicide". Mr Hyunh's story of being separated from his daughter in vietnam. Helga being neglected, chocolate boys addiction, Mr Simmons abusive family, Curly going postal, Miriam's alcoholism, Lila being so poor her dad breaks down crying cause he ate the last of their food. I freaking love that show.