Sherman... but not the tank...

For my birthday last year, my mother-in-law was very generous in getting me a Borders gift certificate. Unfortunately, I had been trying to keep myself from books lately because our shelves are overflowing right now. However, this afforded me the opportunity to purchase some things that I wouldn't normally buy, which at the end of the day is a great gift for me. Namely, I bought some DVD's of one of my favorite TV shows... I don't supposed you guessed which one it is have you?

In fact, that is the cover there above. I love the Rocky and Bullwinkle show. It is such well written silliness that as a child I remember laughing at the Fractured Fairy tales, and Bullwinkle's incessant quest to pull a rabbit out of his hat, and one of my favorite segments was "Mr. Peabody's Improbable History." In fact, I wonder if that is where I received part of my impetus to get a minor in History (which I also wouldn't mind studying further some day).

I don't know if I could articulate the joy that I received in sharing this with my son. Especially, after an unfortunate attempt to watch the animated Underdog show with him (he found some of the villians a bit too scary).

But what surprised me most (so far) in watching season one was the background story about Mr. Peabody and Sherman that is revealed in the very first episode of the first show of the first season. For those of you who aren't familiar, the premise is quite simple. Mr. Peabody is a dog with excessive, it seems, intelligence (for a dog), and at a certain point he decides that he would like to adopt a boy. I believe the line was, "If every boy deserves a dog, then every dog deserves a boy."
In fact, in order to adopt Sherman, Mr. Peabody goes to court to attain the right to adopt a boy, though he is only a dog, but at least a wealthy one at that. I still am unsure how I feel about this. I am trying to consider the implications of all of this in my mind. Nevertheless, Mr. Peabody begins to take Sherman throughout history in a time machine he has created called the "Way-bac machine."


Now don't get me wrong, I realize it is only a cartoon, but something about this is just disturbing. In later episodes, which I never picked up as a child, Mr. Peabody will say to Sherman, "Speak Sherman," to which Sherman replies, "Hello everybody." The response of Mr. Peabody is "Good boy." Now, understand that Mr. Peabody does save Sherman from an orphange as his adopted boy. But why is a dog seen to be adopting a child, not as his father - which somehow (to me) wouldn't seem so bad - but as his owner, as if the boy were a dog himself. Gosh, is this what happens when Theologians watch cartoons? On the one hand I want to argue for the dignity of the human person over an animal. But on the other, it is pretty darn funny; it is only a cartoon; and I love their adventures in which Mr. Peabody schools the boy in history lessons by means of the "way-bac machine," albeit slightly altered from actual history.

Again, don't get me wrong, I won't lose sleep over any of this, but it is sort of fun in my mind to consider the weight of this perspective of this segment of this cartoon show. Somehow I don't think I will be able to bring my son up to speed on the philosophical implications of Mr. Peabody and Sherman for quite some time, nevertheless I love that I have the beginnings of a great philosophical conversation in my possession now thanks to my mother-in-law and my 34th birthday. Hooray for birthday gifts!