Blogpost 4: The Fairly Oddparents: Depression

You probably know Timmy Turner, the main cast in the cartoon show The Fairly Oddparents. Timmy is a 10-year-old boy who wishes for a perfect life. Unfortunately, he has parents who work full time and often neglect him in favor of their own desires, and while they are out, he has an evil babysitter, Icky-with-a-V, who revels in tormenting him. By his side are his constant companions, his fairy godparents Cosmo (the idiot) and Wanda (the perfect straight-woman). I think this kind of setting, and the kind of life Timmy Turner has is most common to some children nowadays. Usually, this anxiety kicks in when you're still young and defenseless. That's the reason why many children commit suicide, or become aggressive to other people to the point where they actually kill people. Now, what is really going on in the Turner's residence? How can this affect the children's point-of-view towards parenting? Is this show healthy for the minds of the innocent? Because we can obviously see that there is a dreadful scene at the back of every episode.

As a young lad, I am intrigued on how Timmy Turner's parents came to be. It seemed that they don't even care at all about him, and just entrust their child to a babysitter, who turns out to be an arrogant, irresponsible teenager. According to the very first article that I read about the Fairly Odd Parents Theories written by an anonymous author for the website CreepyPasta, his theory suggest that Timmy Turner happens to be hallucinating about these so called "Godparents". Within the television show, the number one rule about Fairy God Parents is that their secret should not be revealed about them "existing," which is referring that, if Timmy says he has these Fairy God Parents, his parents may try to seek therapeutic help to cure him of his imaginary friends and hallucinations.

Several series prove his episodes of hallucinations. Few series showed that there is even a special "fairy gadget" that clears your mind. This setting symbolizes the therapeutic treatments and clearing the mind of these hallucinations. Countless times in the series, his parents would scold him because it seems like he's talking to someone invisible. Sometimes, Timmy enters such deep hallucinations that he can actually visit this so-called "Fairy World" and imagine other fairies interacting with each other. More drastic part of his hallucination is when he actually hallucinate that these Fairies are wishing him up something to improve his lifestyle.

Since his parents are never really around, he was never caught with his "fairies". I think Timmy Turner came to be this kind of child because he is Depressed. That's why he developed this kind of depression because of the many sad events in his life.

His Parents, who's apparently not named in the show, express the great irrelevance of them to Timmy's life, or vice versa. They were never there for Timmy and they just abandon him almost everyday because of them working.

Vicky, the arrogant, selfless teenager who came to be Timmy's babysitter, is a very violent person. Her approach in scolding Timmy is very abusive and is inappropriate for general audience. I mean, when Vicky show her violence to Timmy, it somehow retains to the mind of the children, and it's not at all appropriate to be abusive if you're a babysitter. This scene might bring up fear among children towards their babysitter.

Mr. Crocker, Crocker is really a child rapist (Pedophile). He decides to pose as a teacher, despite clearly showing no knowledge of teaching, considering all he gives is F's to kids. He even has a secret hideout underneath his classroom, nicknamed the "Crocker Cave," where he reviews hidden camera footage of Timmy Turner. Crocker portrays a certain obsession to Timmy Turner, it's because he also have this obsession among fairies, and he probably already knows about Timmy having fairy friends, that why he kept on clinging to Timmy in every step of his way.

Cosmo and Wanda, on the other hand, is the product of his isolation and depression. He came to create this entities to provide for himself something to cling to and asked for help in time of his depression. They tell Timmy he can wish for whatever he wants. He firsts wishes for friends, then producing AJ and Chester. He then wishes to figure out why his parents hate him so much. Wanda doesn't want to grant the wish, but Cosmo screams "Done!" and then there is a major poof. There's a memory of how his parents wanted a girl, buying everything in pink and dresses. Disappointed with a boy and too cheap to buy boy things, the parents force Timmy to wear the dresses and the pink hat that he still wears. His parents think he's not straight, which leads to why he is constantly being beaten up, because they worry Timmy won't give them a grandchild. I think this is the most depressing and darkest scene in the show. It is as if Timmy carries all the burden in his world, that without him, or if ever he was born a girl, things will be at place and none of the complications will occur.

I personally pity Timmy Turner. His life is such a mess, not because of his own fault, but mainly by his parents' and everyone around him trying to drag him down. This is a common scenario for most of the teens nowadays experiencing depression. According to the article about Teen Depression: A Guide For Parents written by Melinda Smith, M.A., Suzanne Barston, and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D., as they quote, "Occasional bad moods or acting out is to be expected, but depression is something different. Depression can destroy the very essence of a teenager’s personality, causing an overwhelming sense of sadness, despair, or anger." I think parents should always tend to their children and never let them be exposed with too much violence and oppression. We all know that children are too vulnerable in every possible way, that's why they need the compassion of a parent. On the case of Timmy Turner, he has none whatsoever. That makes his life the saddest, and made him that depressed to the point that he learned to improvise his own defense mechanism against society - which is the 'fairy godparents", Cosmo and Wanda.