Lessons of Quirky 80's Cartoons - He-Man

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of reading an article by Jason Rider here on AC which showcased the arrival on DVD of He-Man. To say that it caused my sudden nostalgia would be very accurate.

I was a "geek" of the worst sort back in the 80's. I make no apologies. I remember fondly the days that I came home from school and watched the quirky and corny shows like He-Man, She-Ra and GI Joe. And the interesting thing about all 3 shows was that they all had morals tucked into the story lines. We don't see so much of that tactic anymore.

Instead we have shows that offer nothing but mindless stupidity for our children. For the younger kids, this doesn't apply so much. We still have Sesame Street. I am talking about the tweens and teenagers. So, I decided to try an experiment. Nothing terribly scientific, and no high paid scientists. Just the internet, my son, who is Autistic, and his friend Ann, who has ADD/ADHD. I decided to see if they could in fact identify the moral of the story by watching something that was designed around the very idea of morals and superhero messages. Something that would make them think about things. And wasn't just another mindless program about spoiled rich kids and their singing careers. I was surprised and pleased by what I found out.

Since I know you are going to ask, I'll tell you where I found the videos after reading Jason's article. I found it completely by accident, but I went to www.veoh.com. I started by searching for He-Man. And there is was. Both the old and new series. Full episodes, not chopped up like on YouTube. So, I then selected an episode called "The Royal Cousin" from the original series "He-Man and The Masters of the Universe".

The episode centers around Jeremy, the cousin of Prince Adam/He-Man, who has come for visit. Needless to say the first thing that we discover is that Jeremy doesn't know how to listen. And he doesn't really seem to care whether his actions have consequences. Initially, we see him, Adam and Man-At-Arms (Duncan) in Duncan's workshop. Jeremy is asked not to touch anything, and of course he does. He ends up causing a huge mess after he activates Duncan's new invention, the Rock Softener, and summarily melts one of the worktables. Now, at this point, I had paused the video and I asked both Matt and Ann what they thought so far. The first words out of Ann's mouth were that Jeremy was being a brat and was not listening! Go Figure. I didn't stop the video again, as it was becoming obvious that they were enjoying it, despite the corniness of the whole thing.

The story continues with Jeremy taking advantage of Ram Man, stealing a flyer for a joy ride and having to be rescued by He-Man for his arrogance. But afterwards, we still see Jeremy defying the adults around him and refusing to listen as he goes behind Adam's back and goes to the fair anyways. It is at the fair that we see Evil Lynn, while in disguise, buy Jeremy the boomerang that he wants in return for a favor. She wants him to play a joke on Man-At-Arms and take the Rock Softener. Jeremy is naively okay with playing a joke, as he likes jokes. What he doesn't realize is that Evil Lynn has plans to attack Grayskull with the stolen Rock Softener.

At this point in the story, Ann pipes up that the old woman is in fact Evil Lynn in disguise. She also makes a reference to Queen Amidala from Star Wars: Episode I. Of course I pointed our the differences in one being good and one evil, but her point was not lost on me. The headdress that Evil Lynn wore was in fact very similar, though not as elaborate, as the one worn by Queen Amidala. And she was able to come up with this all on her own. Despite have ADD, which normally affects her concentration, she was able to focus on this cartoon and find these interesting little details.

Now, as the story continued, we see the King, Adam and Man-At-Arms talking. Man-At-Arms realizes that someone has stolen the Rock Softener. Jeremy begins to realize that this might actually be a bad thing. He admits to taking the device and giving it to an old woman because she asked him to play a joke. The adults realize that it must be Evil Lynn and she's going to go after Grayskull. At this point, Jeremy finally begins to understand that his actions may indeed cause people to be hurt or even killed. He-Man and Man-At-Arms go after Evil Lynn, not knowing that Jeremy is following. When they arrive at Castle Grayskull, it is to find Evil Lynn trying to soften the gates of Grayskull so that she can gain the power that resides within. At the same time, within the Castle, the Sorceress, is attempting to keep a magical globe from overpowering Grayskull.

Outside, we see He-Man trying to stop Evil Lynn, only to be struck by the rays of the Rock Softener. Duncan is waylaid by a magically enhanced vine and upon seeing Jeremy, orders him to throw his boomerang to get the device back. Jeremy, in a complete turnabout, does as he's told and ends up saving He-Man and Duncan. And of course, once He-Man dealt with Evil Lynn and her cohorts, he goes into the Castle and saves the day again!

So, again, we see the quirky show has a moral to it. And, while predictable, the kids both learned the lesson it was trying to impart. Here's the moral, in case you didn't catch it! :

**Learn from your mistakes**

**Listen to those who care about you**

**Be Polite, not rude***

**Be Helpful**

**Teamwork**

Now that I have finished my little experiment, I am pleased to say that both kids actually did learn something from this show. Right after we were done watching, I actually had to remind one of them about the "listening to those who care about you" moral of the story. It worked to diffuse a possible discipline situation.

Additionally, while Matt did seem to get the whole idea behind the episode, watching something like this also spawned the questions that his therapists have been wanting him to ask. What, Who, Where...etc. He was actively engaged in the story and had lots to ask. And, this became a sort of social experiment as well. While we all agreed that it was corny, the kids remained quiet for the whole 20 minutes except to answer my questions.

I have plans to do this "experiment" again. It would seem that my previous theory about heroes being able to get thru to our children is not wrong. And I think that He-Man is just as good a hero as Superman or Spiderman. Because, in many ways, it's the old shows that impart these morals rather than the new ones, with the exception of the Power Rangers.

To Be Continued...