Random Reasons Hey Arnold Is Actually About Depression And Economic Struggle (15 items)

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  (#6) Arnold Lost His Parents And He Hasn't Gotten Over It

  Everyone loved Arnold's affectionate and kooky grandparents, but do you remember why he lived with them in the first place?  His parents left him when he was an infant. In fact, Arnold is constantly daydreaming about them and their adventures. He never got conclusive proof of their deaths, so he's forced to spend his life speculating.

  Clearly, he has a lot of unresolved feelings wrapped up in his parents' disappearance. This can be seen in the episode titled "Arnold’s Hat," where Arnold becomes depressed after losing his signature tiny hat. It is later revealed that the hat was given to him by his parents as a baby. Really stop and think about that. He's been wearing the same hat every single day since he was a baby. If you saw a 10-year-old doing that in real life, you'd probably suggest some sort of psychiatric counseling. 
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  (#3) Mr. Hyunh Gives Up His Infant Daughter During The Vietnam War

  In "Arnold’s Christmas," Arnold is faced with the task of getting a gift for Mr. Hyunh, a Vietnamese tenant in his grandparent's boarding house/amazing country singer. When he confronts Mr. Hyunh about his lack of enthusiasm for the holiday, he's exposed to a pretty staggering truth.

  As it turns out, in the past, Hyunh was caught in the middle of what it pretty clearly the Vietnam War. He was forced to give up his infant daughter to the U.S. military so that she could have a better life. Bruh.

  Although the thought of Hyunh losing his daughter is sad, the entire war scene depicted in the episode is even more depressing. The scene shows the darkness of warfare and the destruction, fear, and sorrow that plague the parties involved. The episode is a stern reminder of the brutality and pain caused by war. And it probably aired next to, like, a commercial for Sketchers or cereal or whatever. 
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  (#8) The Patakis Are Objectively Terrible Parents

  Out of all the families depicted on the series, Helga’s family is probably the most dysfunctional. And that's really saying something. When the chance arises for Helga to talk about her anger issues, in an episode titled "Helga On the Couch," her therapist gets an inside look of how deeply neglectfully Helga's family has been towards her.

  In a heartbreaking scene, the Pataki parents praise their eldest daughter over her latest achievements and ignore a pre-school aged Helga, who is pleading with them for attention. Also, to be fair, they really messed up Olga's head too. It’s truly crushing to see the root of Helga’s anger problems (and the resentment she has for her sister) result from the neglectful actions of her parents.

  Jeez, wasn't this show like, TV-Y7 or something? That's some deep stuff. 
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  (#12) Pigeon Man Teaches Arnold That Most Humans Are Inherently Evil

  "Pigeon Man" is one of the more painful episodes of Hey Arnold! ever made. Vincent, also known as the Pigeon Man, is a lonely hermit and an outcast who's fascinated with pigeons. He doesn’t trust people, and favors the companionship of birds over human friendships. Almost everyone in the city views Vincent as a strange man, but Arnold sees something in him.

  When Arnold tries to introduce Vincent back to society, however, it backfires horribly. While they're out eating pizza, some kids sneak up on to Vincent's roof and destroy his home. In the end, Vincent decides to leave the city. Before Vincent’s epic departure into the sunset (he flies away carried by his pigeons, it's awesome), he explains to Arnold that although he’s disappointed in humans generally, he’s thankful that there are at least some people like Arnold who are kind.

  While that seems hopeful, that's actually a terrible message to relay to a child. "Look, kid, people are mostly awful. That's just a fact of life. There's only a few good ones, and it's kind of unlikely that you'll find nice people in any given place. Pigeon Man, AWWAAAYYY!" 
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  (#4) Chocolate Boy Is Basically A Drug Addict, And No One Can Help

  "Chocolate Boy" is one of the series' darkest episodes. It's seriously jacked up. See, Chocolate Boy is a young child who... loves chocolate. He's not very creatively named. In his eponymous episode, Chocolate Boy asks Arnold for help breaking his chocolate addiction (first because of a bet, but then for real). Throughout the episode, it's pretty strongly implied that Chocolate Boy is addicted to chocolate in the same way some people are addicted to crack cocaine.

  Chocolate Boy humiliates and degrades himself for chocolate, dancing for the ol' sweet bad brown when cajoled by some fifth graders. At one point, he even goes rooting through a dumpster looking for more chocolate.

  After he goes cold turkey, he starts going through heroin-like withdrawal. He sweats, he gets the shakes, and all he can think about is chocolate. Arnold even tries to get him on carob (basically methadone for chocolate), but Chocolate Boy has a severe allergic reaction.

  While he eventually kicks his addiction to chocolate, he then seems to get hooked on radishes. Kind of like giving up heroin and picking up smoking cigarettes. By the time of Hey Arnold! The Movie, he's suffered a complete relapse. Chocolate Boy is clearly an allegory for drug addicts in our own society and the terrifying and stark realities of their existence.    
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  (#7) Arnold's City Struggles With Violent Crime

  Arnold is generally an all-around nice guy who usually tries his best not to let things get him down. In the episode titled "Mugged," however, Arnold finds himself a victim of a mugging. This prompts him to learn self-defense from his grandmother, which helps him gain confidence and teaches him how to protect himself. However, Arnold starts using his new martial prowess to start harassing other people in turn, perpetuating the cycle of violence.  

  This episode is messed up on a few levels. First, the manner and brutality of Arnold’s mugging is pretty hard to watch, even if it is animated. Seeing a little kid getting beat up by teenage male is pretty disturbing, and it suggests a frightening level of institutionalized violence. He ostensibly kicks Arnold's ass for some change and a bus pass, but he's clearly mostly doing it for the thrill. Secondly, the episode explores the ways in which a violent incident can alter someone's life.

  Often, victims of crimes will, like Arnold, respond by becoming more threatening than the thing that scared them. If Arnold didn't have such a loving support network, he might have just stayed an abusive d*ck for the rest of his life. Frankly, the guy who assaults Arnold was probably a victim himself at one point or another. Violence begets violence.  

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