The Scooby-Doo Hypothesis

Scooby-Doo (yes, the kids’ show) has been around since 1969 and seen all over the world.  It is a child-appropriate blend of mystery, surprise, intrigue and goofy humor and Scooby and Shaggy (the dumbest, goofiest, hardest-working characters) are beloved by kids and adults everywhere.

What’s so great about Scooby-Doo?  The plots are simple and repetitive, and the characters are one-dimensional, but Scooby-Doo taps into the archetypes of mystery and fear in every show.  The generic Scooby-Doo plotline is as follows: “the gang” (Scooby, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne and Fred) arrives at some location, by intent or by accident.  Wherever their van (the Mystery Machine) stops, something is happening that is supernatural and frightening.  Often the spooky situation has frightened the local inhabitants away.  Fred (the brave one) and Velma (the smart one) are always in favor of solving the mystery.  Their initial approach is interest and curiosity, not fear.  Daphne (the pretty one) sides with Fred and Velma, the voices of reason.  Shaggy and Scooby (the cowards), are terrified, of course, and want nothing to do with anything mysterious or frightening.

Each member of the gang has a role to play: Fred and Velma lead and figure out most of the clues.  Daphne helps the exposition, listening to Velma and Fred explain what's going on and filling in the blanks.  She also (unjustly, to my mind) get blamed a lot for damaging the gang’s plans by falling, tripping or otherwise holding everything up.  [The gang call her “danger-prone Daphne,” but she’s not the only one whose accidents put herself or the others in danger.]  Shaggy and Scooby, the most easily frightened members of the gang, are invariably volunteered, coerced or sweet-talked (with food rewards!) by the others into the most dangerous, risk-taking actions, with the goal of trapping the villain in some elaborate scheme.

So what? you wonder.  Did I seriously just read a breakdown of the basic Scooby-Doo storyline and characters in a blog that’s supposed to convey messages about weight?  Yes, you did, and here’s why.  The genius of Scooby-Doo is in the message that is given tacitly in every episode: challenge your fears.  In most of the episodes the terrifying, supernatural monster (yeti, defrosted caveman, sea creatures, aliens, zombies, witches and lots of ghosts) always turns out to be a human being, one who has created his or her own elaborate scheme, complete with costume and special effects, in order to gain some benefit.  The first part of the show is all about discovering the scary creature, fearing it and running from it, and the rest of the show is about solving the mystery and unmasking the villain.  Both of these behaviors capture the essence of human response to the unknown: fear, curiosity, mastery.  It is typical and reasonable for people to fear the unknown, which might be dangerous.  It is even more reasonable to fear the unknown if it is giving off danger-signal clues: oversized, threatening, monstrous figures that are destroying property and chasing people.  But the secret about fear is that fear itself is often groundless or overblown, as the plot of Scooby-Doo inevitably demonstrates.  The men and women who are trying to scare people are never as scary in themselves as they are in disguise.  Scooby and the gang are literally looking behind the mask to the unremarkable, caught-in-the-trap, ordinary person underneath.  At that point, even the easily-frightened Shaggy and Scooby are relieved and calm and can begin to really enjoy themselves, resuming their interrupted trip or vacation.

There’s a message to us all in this: fears can assume a terrible (and inaccurate) aspect.  When you run from them, they seem all-powerful, but when you stop running, when you begin to analyze the fear, plan a way to deal with it and put that plan into action, the source of the fear loses its power and the actual danger (usually) turns out to be minimal. In fact, when Scooby and Shaggy (despite their fears) confront the monster, it usually turns and runs from them.

There are a lot of fears related to weight.  Many of them, like the fear that being heavy will create health problems for you, are inaccurate, if not totally wrong.  There is the fear that standing up for yourself will make people dislike you or attack you.  While it’s true that some people (who have their own problems) will feel justified in trying to tear you down, this would be only slightly less true if you were perpetually meek.  As Emiliano Zapata, the Mexican revolutionary, said: “it is better to die on your feet than live on your knees.”  

The dangers and villains that Scooby and the gang run from, investigate and ultimately conquer are real, but tiny compared to the fear they inspire by trying to scare people.  It’s good to keep this in mind, for the next time someone tries to play upon your fears with scare tactics.

For more on fat misinformation, check out Ragen Chastain’s blog: Dances With Fat, especially “Yes Virginia, BMI is BS,” and  “Save Me From What Everybody Knows.”