Elf Blood

So, I caved in and finally got a Netflix subscription the other day.

BEST. DECISION. EVER! There’s plenty on there that I love watching, including gems that I haven’t seen in a while, like the fantastic mid-90s animation Hey, Arnold!

If you haven’t seen Hey, Arnold! before, in a nutshell it’s nominally a kid’s series about the titular character and his friends being kids in the city. In modern terms, it’s almost like a slice-of-life story, with a varied cast of characters from all walks of life. More importantly, each story wasn’t just a fun story about stuff the average 9-year old does (or wishes they could do), it usually also contained a moral too. What was great about the writing was that it never felt like you were being beaten over the head, or preached to; Rather, it seemed to serve more as a demonstration of different social scenarios.

As absurd as it sounds, I do credit Hey, Arnold! with aiding greatly in developing my own moral core. It taught me to value my friends, about equality, and to treat everyone with respect. I particularly liked that the nominal ‘bully’ characters weren’t actually bad kids, and more often than not were found playing with the rest of the kids. Isn’t that more close to reality? Because I remember throughout high school, making sure to treat the local neds (chavs, delinquents, whatever your area calls them) the same as I treated everyone else if they weren’t antagonising me. Result? I was able to move through town fine late at night without being harassed by mobs of neds, unlike many of the people I knew who weren’t so courteous to them during daylight hours.

Okay, that sounded a little preachy. But if you watch Hey Arnold!, you’ll probably get the same message but in a more easily digested manner 😛

Catch you on Friday!

M.