All right, after watching the latest episode and not having overthought anything in a while, I felt like writing something. So why not write about ponies? Here’s my hypothesis: every pony of the mane cast represents a personality disorder according to the DSM-IV. To be diagnosed with a particular disorder, you have to fulfill at least four and in some cases five criteria that are typical for that disorder. All statements listed with a bullet point are taken directly from the DSM-IV’s definition. So, let’s get diagnosing.

Histrionic Personality Disorder: Pinkie Pie

Ponies suffering from histrionic personality disorder have one and only goal in life: being the center of attention. As the most recent episode has shown, behind everypony’s favorite fun-loving, good-natured, party pony lurks a deeply troubled and disturbed soul that can only be herself when she’s the focus of everybody’s attention.

• is uncomfortable in situations in which he or she is not the center of attention

That’s Pinkie Pie all right. She has a tendency to burst into the scene and disregard anything else that might be going on. In Applebuck Season she took center stage during the award ceremony for Applejack and had to be reminded that she wasn’t, in fact, the reason everyone gathered in the town’s square.

• displays rapidly shifting and shallow expression of emotions

Remember how during the finale of the second episode she burst into tears and IMMEDIATELY went to announcing a party? Remember how she went from being scared to being excited to being indifferent in Bridle Gossip?

• consistently uses physical appearance to draw attention to self

Her costumes, her uncanny ability to appear anywhere at any time, take your pick. This is Pinkie in a nutshell.

• shows self-dramatization, theatricality, and exaggerated expression of emotion

See above; also, everything about her is theatrical. Remember her song that started a war?

• considers relationships to be more intimate than they actually are.

Remember how she “frisked” Hairity during Bridle Gossip? Yeah, she has no sense of “personal space”, which is why’s she always in everybody’s face. Also, she tried to befriend a dragon in Dragonshy by simply being… Pinkie. She believes her personality is enough to warrant trust and intimacy.

• has a style of speech that is excessively impressionistic and lacking in detail

Her silly willy dilly filler words just serve as packaging for her outbursts.

Also, the story of her childhood she told in Cutie Mark Chronicles was, apparently, horse apples. Yet her transformation into her old Pinkamena persona hints at this part being true: she used to be someone else. This could potentially hint at dissociative personality disorder: delusions, false memory, paranoia etc. are all signs of what is colloquially known as a “split personality”. Maybe she constructed her Pinkie identity as a kind of defense mechanism, to distance herself from a truly traumatic event in her childhood and the attention she receives helps her maintain that defense by legitimizing it. So there may still be some truth in that tall tale she related to the CMC.

Her tendency to mess with the fourth wall could also be considered a sign that she’s not who we think she is. Pinkie remains a mystery.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Rarity

Named after Narcissus, some dude who pops up in Greek mythology who was so obsessed with himself that he fell in love with his own reflection. This can be considered the more “introvert” version of histrionic personality disorder; narcissists don’t compete for other people’s attention because they know how godlike they are.

• Has a grandiose sense of self-importance

Welp, that’s a freebie.

• Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

This is too easy.

• Believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)

Rarity does not associate with the riffraff as evidenced by her problems with Applejack’s conduct during Look Before you Sleep and glorifies Equestria’s high society in The Ticket Master.

• Requires excessive admiration

c.f. her Icarus-like story in Sonic Rainboom

• Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations

The dogs in A Dog and Pony Show even enabled her sense of entitlement by conforming to it.

• Is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her

They devoted an entire episode to this.

• Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

I really oughta stop here. Seriously Rarity, go see a shrink.

• Predominant “name dropper” boasting or suggestion association with people or affiliations of importance.

Just because I’m not a big fan of Rarity, this one’s just for fun. Or petty vengeance: Photo Finish? Hoity Toity? Sapphire Shores? You name it, she’s named it. And associated with it.

Not much to say here. Rarity is what the scientific community refers to as “totally fucking nuts”. Of course, her calling being something entirely superficial only makes it worse. I don’t have much hope for this one.

Paranoid Personality Disorder: Rainbow Dash

Pegasus society is, apparently, much more competitive than any other pony society. We get to see how boastful and brash flying ponies are so Dashie took this competitiveness to its logical extreme: everyone’s your enemy. Trust nopony.

• suspects, without sufficient basis, that others are exploiting, harming, or deceiving him or her
• is preoccupied with unjustified doubts about the loyalty or trustworthiness of friends or associates

Those are both pretty similar and both of course apply to Dashie. “Are you a spy?” is probably the most obvious hint; Dashie is quick to doubt the loyalty of others. This may have something to do with her representing loyalty: unless another pony conforms to her idea of loyalty, that pony has to be disloyal.

• is reluctant to confide in others because of unwarranted fear that the information will be used maliciously against him or her

Dashie tends to get uncomfortable when the situation gets emotional. And of course she refused to tell anyone about her being nervous (if not outright scared to death) during Sonic Rainboom. She also denies being scared of dragons after almost having her rump kicked by one. She must maintain her tough pony persona.

• persistently bears grudges, i.e. is unforgiving of insults, injuries, or slights

Applejack beating her almost made her obsess about defeating AJ (to be fair, the obsession was mutual). And she didn’t intend to rest until she’s beaten AJ; losing is an insult to her.

• perceives attacks on his or her character or reputation that are not apparent to others and is quick to react angrily or to counterattack

She’s quick to consider any offhand remark a challenge. Not to mention that she’s quick to become defensive in general but to her credit, this extends to other ponies.

Despite her initial reluctance, she gladly and warmly accepted her friends’ group hug at the end of Cutie Mark Chronicles. So the treatment regimen is quite simple: more group hugs.

But the strong feminist themes of the series are built on a foundation of political contradictions. The most fantastic element of the show is not that ponies can talk or that dragons exist; it is the illusion that an egalitarian society can be maintained among groups with massive biologically inherent gaps in ability and economic utility. By even the most cursory of sociological and economic analyses, the society in MLP: FiM should be highly stratified along class and racial lines. And there are clear signs of that stratification, except they are obscured by a propagandistic focus on the power of “friendship”.

Solidarity is Illusion: The Political Economy of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
> Catena Ex Situ

What if I told you they were preparing us for the future? What if I told you Pixar’s films will affect how we define the rights of millions, perhaps billions, in the coming century? Only by analyzing the collection as a whole can we see the subliminal concept being drilled into our collective mind. I have uncovered the skeleton key deciphering the hidden message contained within the Pixar canon. Let’s unlock it.

The Hidden Message in Pixar’s Films
> Catena Ex Situ

The Smurfs had a clear identification of their given roles, whether inherited or assigned. I specify that distinction because aside from the roles of profession (such as Poet, Actor, Handy, or Farmer) there were also roles of disposition. I find this very fascinating, as these Smurfs (such as Lazy, Dreamy, Greedy, and Grumpy) seemed to offer nothing substantial to their society as a whole, yet were just as necessary.

Psychology of Cartoons – Part 2: Sociology of The Smurfs 
> Catena Ex Situ

Psychology of Cartoons Part 1: Scooby-Doo
> Catena Ex Situ

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was originally written by "SpongeTronXYZ" in the ToonZone forums. The original link is here. I don't really like to reproduce entire articles found on other sites, but I also don't like to link to forums since they often disappear.]

I have been a fan of SpongeBob Squarepants for years and think that the depth of the characters is one of the things that really makes this show work. Ever since I heard Mr. Lawrence say (in an audio commentary on the Season 1 DVD’s) that Stephen Hillenburg based the 7 main characters on the 7 Deadly Sins, I couldn’t help but be very fascinated. I think I’ve figured out which character is each one.

1. Sloth-Patrick
Sloth is the sin of laziness, or unwillingness to act. Obviously this is Patrick. He lays under a rock all the time and doesn’t really do anything. In fact in the episode “Big Pink Loser” he got an award for doing nothing the longest.

2. Wrath-Squidward
Wrath involves feelings of hatred and anger. Squidward hates his life, usually hates SpongeBob, and is pretty much angry most of the time.

3. Greed-Mr. Krabs
Obviously Mr. Krabs is greedy and desires money. How could Greed not be Krabs? He actually sang about the power of greed in “Selling Out”.

4. Envy-Plankton
Plankton is envious of Mr. Krabs because The Krusty Krab is a success while The Chum Bucket is a failure. His envy drives him to try to steal the Krabby Patty secret formula.

5. Gluttony-Gary
I actually think this one is pretty funny. Did you ever notice the running gag in Spongebob where they say “don’t forget to feed Gary” or Sponge says “I gotta go feed Gary”. Gary even ran away that time when SpongeBob forgot to feed him. Glutony usually refers to the overindulgence of food so I’m guessing this one fits him pretty well.

6. Pride-Sandy
Sandy takes a lot of pride in who she is and where she comes from. She takes pride in the fact that she is from Texas and likes to let everyone know it. She also takes pride in the fact that she is a mammal and a land creature, like in the episode “Pressure” where she tried to prove land critters were better than sea critters.

7. Lust-SpongeBob
OK, I know what your thinking. It does seem a little weird and curious at first but I have given it a lot of thought. Lust in one definition is “excessive love of others”. I think this one works best for Spongebob. He shows his love of others with his over eagerness to do good and help people. If anything is true about SpongeBob its that he loves everyone around him, even if they don’t exactly love him back.

Filed under: ex situ, SpongeBob SquarePants Tagged: envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth, Squidward, wrath ]]> http://cartoonoveranalyzations.com/2010/07/28/spongebob-and-the-7-deadly-sins/feed/ 27 The Editor spongebob_bar http://cartoonoveranalyzations.com/2010/07/24/pooh-and-friends/ http://cartoonoveranalyzations.com/2010/07/24/pooh-and-friends/#comments Sun, 25 Jul 2010 00:48:46 +0000 The Editor http://cartoonoveranalyzations.com/?p=1073 ]]> Found on reddit.

[Editor's Note: This is a republish of an old Ex Situ which was part of a set, but I thought with my addendum that it deserved its own article.]

Yonder at The Minus World, there was a cleverly-conceived, confusingly both underwritten and overwritten, and woefully trying-too-hard-to-be-funny report about the frequency of Princess actualization. The original link seems to be dead, but here is a reprint:

New Haven, Connecticut – Profoundly sidetracked Yale scholars have been working feverishly to determe the statistical accuracy of finding the hypothetically kidnapped Mushroom Kingdom Princess in a castle. It has been agreed that 87.5% of the time, prospective rescuers will not happen upon the Princess and will instead hold a brief conversation with a fungus man who will inform them vaguely that her whereabouts are elsewhere. While probability and numerical accuracy have been officially cemented, researchers remain consistently baffled as to why she keeps getting yanked to begin with, or if the bitch is even worth it at this point.

Addendum: The calculation to find the Princess Probability isn’t even accurate. Taking into account the Warp Zones, there are  many different paths Mario might take during the course of the game, each with a different total probability of the Princess being in a castle, hereafter referred to as .

In World 1-2, there is a Warp Zone to Worlds 2-1, 3-1, and 4-1. In World 4-2, there are two Warp Zones, to 5-1, 6-1, 7-1, and 8-1 in toto. So let’s break the Mushroom Kingdom into two sets: A and B, where each possible path to get to World 4-2 is in A and each possible path to get from World 4-2 to the end of the game is in B.

Here is a chart enumerating each path in A, where an “X” indicates a completed castle, is the total number of completed castles for that path, and is the total number of Princesses being in a castle for that path:

Path	World 1	World 2	World 3	NC	NP	Notes
	X	X	X	3	0
		X	X	2	0	Warp from 1-2 to 2-1
			X	1	0	Warp from 1-2 to 3-1
				0	0	Warp from 1-2 to 4-1

And a similar chart for set B:

Path	World 4	World 5	World 6	World 7	World 8	NC	NP	Notes
	X	X	X	X	X	5	1
		X	X	X	X	4	1	Warp from 4-2 to 5-1
			X	X	X	3	1	Warp from 4-2 to 6-1
				X	X	2	1	Warp from 4-2 to 7-1
					X	1	1	Warp from 4-2 to 8-1

So the total number of paths possible is:

(which really is just )

To calculate the probability of The Princess being in another castle, , we can calculate and subtract it from 1 to give us:

is equal to the number of Princesses being in a castle in all possible paths, divided by the number of castles in all possible paths:

(Note that , since each possible total path results in 1 Princess being in a castle.)

So instead of  , the correct calculation is:

Furthermore, since each path has a probability of being taken and the total number of instances of a Princess being in another castle summed over all paths is , we can calculate the expected values for the number of times the Princess is in another castle and the number of Princesses being in a castle:

To summarize: on an average full game of Super Mario Bros., one should expect:

• The Princess to be in another castle about 78% of the time
• The Princess to be in another castle 3.5 times
• The Princess to be in a castle 1 time

We here at J. Cart. Overanal. feel this probabilistic description is far superior, assuming we didn’t screw up the math. Comments or complaints about wonky symbol useage are welcome below.

Found this one through the reliably bookmarkable Cartoon Brew. It’s a fascinating and insightful study of the color choices used in It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown by Justin Hilden.

Bill Melendez’s 1966 television animated special It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown may not seem the obvious choice for a study in color theory. The Peanuts shorts from that era are usually considered beloved yet simple children’s fare. In animation circles these specials are often footnoted as being produced quickly and on the cheap. While it is certainly true that The Great Pumpkin is not high art, it has endeared itself into the collective holiday psyche of Americans since the late 1960s. Such an emotional attachment stems from the familiarity of the characters, the breezy quality of the music, the innocence of the voice acting, and also – I believe – the use and direction of color.

Mr. Hilden has graciously accompanied his article with illustrative screen captures and comments, e.g.:

The kids are surrounded and buried in these deep, dark tones with two exceptions. The kids who go trick-or-treating are anchored onto a baby blue sidewalk in the same value as the boring house interiors, in contrast to Linus and Sally who remain half covered by the Halloween intensity. This makes trick-or-treating feel less exciting than waiting in the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin.

I love this stuff. The early Peanuts specials are more sophisticated and crafted than they may first appear. No wonder these things are classics. For another fascinating over-analyzation in the same vein, see “The Art of Bill Melendez.”

Color Design in It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
> Catena Ex Situ