Geeky Things My Dad Has Ruined: Part IV

Written by Shae Rufe

So, you’re probably sick of this particular blog series already, and that’s fair. I’m still going to write this because, well, I want to! And know that I do have other things in the works, they’re just not finished yet. Today’s blog was inspired by Kingdom Hearts. I’ve been replaying the first game whenever I have a few minutes, which makes it slow going, but that’s all right. In the game, there’s this level involving the 100 Acre Woods. And that got me thinking.
 
My dad really enjoys finding ways to mess with the things I like. And this one happened when I was in college. Now, I’m not the biggest Winnie the Pooh fan, ever, but I love Eeyore. He’s just special to me. Like, every time we go to Disney (either the parks or the store) I have to come home with something Eeyore related. So, as I’m a young adult going into Psych classes, my dad is literally there excitedly telling me how Winnie the Pooh characters represent various psychological disorders. Yes, for real, that is exactly what is happening here. I assumed that something as extensive as this would be brought up by a psych teacher, but no. It was, indeed, my very father who thought we should talk in depth about the messed-up ways of this supposed childhood novel and cartoon.
 
Pooh, of course, represents an eating disorder. His constant need for honey was, admittedly, obvious. As is Eeyore’s depressive state. Now, I could give my dad this, he’s not wrong. Whether that was the intention of the author, well, I don’t know. Tigger has ADHD, Piglet has anxiety disorder, while Rabbit suffers from OCD. And our beloved Christopher Robin? Apparently, he is schizophrenic. I never bothered to ask my dad about the other characters, because I figured he’d seriously ruined how I look at Winnie the Pooh enough for one life time. But it gets worse. Dad is so obsessed with trying to ruin my childhood cartoons now that he brought up Courage the Cowardly Dog. According to dad, and it’s actually a popular online theory (whether he got it from the internet or not, is, well, debatable), everything that happens is all in Courage’s head. The whole thing is the Dog’s life experiences in his imagination. This, I can actually get behind since it makes perfect sense.
 
I will say, dad did try ruining Avatar: The Last Airbender, but instead watched it with me, and surprisingly didn’t have much to argue about. Let it be known, however, that my dad does not leave me alone for long. The Matrix was a perfect example. He loved the first movie so much that when the sequel came out, we had to go opening day. Eventually the third movie would come out, and if you want to see my dad mad, boy should you attempt seeing movies with sequels he decides he doesn’t like. Here is where revenge is a dish best served after a movie. Now, I’m not always proud of my ‘getting dad back moments’, but this one was pretty fun. While dad wasn’t thrilled with the ending, I thought I’d make it worse by pointing out the whole thing was an allegory for Christianity. I seriously made this up, on the spot. I even went into detail on how Neo was just like Jesus. And now, anytime my dad watches the first movie, it’s all he sees.
 
Sadly, it never lasts long, and while I get him back from time to time….it almost encourages him to ruin things for me even more.

---