cultural anxiety: fear of being socially inept

• excluded from mainstream society because of their...
• a lack of fashion-forwardness: Disco Bear in "Ipso Fatso" tries to impress girls with this retro-disco vibe and antics but fails miserably as each time he tries to charm them, they reject him out flat either by rolling their eyes or dismissing him.
• the failure to adhere to society's idea of beauty: Flaky's insecurity due to his dandruff leads to disaster
• Disco Bear and Cro-Marmot representative of forms of 'backward' thinking?

cultural anxiety: deep concern with outer appearances - socially constructed beauty!

• Petunia constantly wears a pine scented deodorizer around her neck: the perfectly preened girl
• represents a need to be perfectly preened and smell good
• Flaky has a problem with dandruff which is the cause of his insecurities: the oddball with a problem with dandruff
• a binary opposite to Petunia
• stereotype: females are more concerned and success at maintaining and keeping up with standards of beauty compared to males

cultural anxiety: intellectual differences - the brainy nerds vs. the clueless ignoramus

• binary opposites - intellectual differences
• intellectual differences don't matter in terms of ensuring survival - they all die/get maimed anyway - albeit sometimes because of the actions of the less smart/intellectual.
• a reminder that we all face the same fate or an elitist view of society?
  

cultural anxiety: power relations - the psychotics

• Nutty the (sugar) junkie and Flippy the psychologically scarred soldier represent the mentally and psychologically unstable in society.
• the psychologically scarred war veteran to remind us of the horrors of war and its unintended effects?
• a re-examination of politics - considering the wars that the US has/is engaged in and its effects - are we choosing the right leaders? by going to war, it
• are we a violent, belligerent society or is it a trickle down effect of the actions of people in power (ie. Bush) on the people?
  
• is it sending out the message that we should make love and not war?
• the junkie: are we using things and abusing ourselves to make us feel happy as a form of escapism?
• addictions: not just chemicals (i.e. sugar or drugs),
  
• a warning against the lack of moderation? are we an extreme society? is life too stressful?
• or are we geared too much towards hedonism (that we're pushed to the edge)?
• who and what is defined as happiness?
  

the father and son

• an avenue to explore patriarchal relationships.
• Choice of a father figure instead of a mother reflects patriarchal state of society
• reflective of a belief in the inadequacies of fathers to take care of children as compared to a mother? If we look at episodes like "And the Kitchen Sink" and "Read 'Em and Weep", we see the failure of Pop (the father) to take good care of Cub (the child; who ends up either dead or maimed), even though every action he undertakes is has his child's interests at heart. It would seem that leaving a child in the care of his father is a bad idea since he lacks a very sensitive side to him.

the disadvantaged

• are we as a society also blind and silent?
• the Mole's role in most episodes is rather silly; woven into the story to unwittingly like mere pawns to forward the plot.
• a reminder of the marginalised positions of the blind and silent?
• strung along like puppets of those in power/control?
  

the good vs. the evil

• another binary opposite - hero vs. the crooks
• what is wrong and what is right?
• We read - "This hero of the skies is always ready to swoop in for the rescue. Not knowing his own strength, he always does more wrong than right."
• a reminder to reflect and rethink the (moral) boundaries we have established for ourselves?