Scooby Doo: What do We Learn from You?

 

     I love Scooby Doo. Before I decided to start eliminating weight, and bulk, and find new homes for DVDs (I eliminated laserdiscs before that) I had about 35 Scooby Doo DVDs. Now, since I subscribe to Boomerang, I can restrain myself form purchasing as much -- but I still have at least 15 in a digital locker available to stream. From the time that first series was produced for Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1969, there have been more than 13 series and more than 40 stand-alone video/movies.

     If one makes the reasonable assumption that they wouldn't keep making so many of this character if people didn't like it, then it is also reasonable to assume that people other than myself do like it. Why? Well, for one thing each character is easily defined and quite predictable. People like "cozy mysteries". Sure, people also like challenging reading but cozy mysteries are similar to "comfort food". No surprises, easy to eat and digest.

     Those predictable, stereotypical, personality aspects are not that lovable in themselves. Scooby and Shaggy are both gluttons and professed cowards (they are really braver than they allow themselves to acknowledge).  Both are also rather greedy and the comfort, and appetites, of others does not seem to be "top of mind". Velma (the one wearing glasses, of course) is brainy and lacking in social and physical confidence. Daphne is the klutzy appearance-important person and Fred is the person absorbed in traps and oblivious to the realities of others around him (poor Daphne). Each has occasional surprises (temporary or carried through in later features). Daphne learns martial arts. Velma starts pursuing Shaggy -- or others. Fred's relationship with his father pops up. And so forth.

     All of these are reasons why they are popular and why the characters, and series, go on and on and on. But, there is another aspect of the plots which is quite applicable to everyone's everyday lives. Perhaps everyone recognizes it at some level and it contributes to their popularity. But, the lesson involved rescues the characters from mediocrity and irrelevance.

     Disguised among various problems, specific villains or monsters, and a few added (usually temporary) personality aspects is a core plot without which it would not be a Scooby Doo episode. The "Cliff's Notes" summary of a Scooby Doo episode is "run away, run away, run away, run away, run away, finally stop running away then trap, catch, and unmask, the villain/crook/monster".

     Do you know of anyone whose solution to their problems is to run away from them? Has it ever happened to you? It's not always a bad idea to avoid a problem when a person is not ready to address it -- but that avoidance should be temporary. You want to reach the end of the episode and trap, catch, and unmask the problem. You need to drop the avoidance and the procrastination as soon as possible.

     Scooby Dooby Doo