I have never been a fan of Scooby Doo—not when I was little, and not as I grew older - wasn't my "type" of cartoon and simply didn't appeal to me 🙂
A few years ago, my now 9 year old son discovered Scooby Doo cartoons on TV and was instantly smitten. He thought they were absolutely laugh-out-loud funny, and he wanted to watch the old version of the cartoons, the new ones, and the movies. I kept my dislike of them and my critical thoughts firmly inside my own head, added everything Scooby Doo I could find to our Netflix queue, and watched with him. I didn't laugh as hard as he did—but I did find some clever moments and came to appreciate some of the characters and storylines.
He hasn't watched Scooby Doo for quite some time now, having moved on to other interests. But this morning when he asked me if we were still expecting the giant storm that's being predicted for our area (that forecasters yesterday had, much to his amusement, termed the "Snor'eastercane") I told him yes, but that now it was called Frankenstorm. I told him I expected it was going to be quite the storm and said we'd probably need to start prepping today.
"Mom, Frankenstein is not evil. People just think he's evil but he's not - he's just trying to be good even though he's failing. Even though I haven't read the book or saw the movie if they make one, I know that pretty much from Scooby Doo. So we have nothing to worry about with the hurricane if now it's Frankenstorm because Frankenstein is good. If we were supposed to be scared, then they should have picked a better name!"
Many, many times in my daily life with my son, I am reminded that there is value in so very many things—be those things Scooby Doo or Pokemon or Star Wars or Harry Potter or 1,000 other "easy to criticize" forms of media or entertainment. Life is so much more fun when you look to the happy parts, look for the good, and keep an open mind 🙂
