Do you know what time it is? Its phycology time with Finn the human and Jake the dog. I draw your attention to the episode appropriately titled “Rainy Day Daydream.” If you have not seen the episode I am mostly positive you can watch it on YouTube. The episode starts off with Finn and Jake getting ready for a day full of adventure when it’s spoiled by a knife storm. They go back inside and while trying to decide what to do Jake suggests using their imaginations. Finn says no but Jake does it anyways and to quote Jake” I was just messing with my imagination and then everything got intense.” Hence the whole episode is about reaching an imaginary machine that turns off jakes imagination so they don’t die. On the journey through their tree house they come to one section of the house that is separate from the other and they have to cross a bridge to reach the next room but it’s raining knifes. So Finn tells Jake to imagine a steel umbrella over the bridge so they don’t get knifed; which jakes does and they end up fighting a riddle master.
The reason I bring this up is because of the knife storm. It was the reason they went inside and Jake started to use his imagination. So there are two conclusions that come to mind first. Jake imagined the knife storm so they wouldn’t go on an adventure and would stay home and play his game. The other is that jakes imagination is really that powerful, that what he imagines does indeed become real. As I was trying to figure out which case it might be; Finn found Jakes imagination machine and turned it off. Everything that Jake imagined disappeared. Now through the whole episode in the background through the windows you can see that the knife storm is still going on. You can still see the knife storm going on in the background through the window after Finn turns off Jakes Imagination.
Clearly the riddle was solved. It’s not hard to believe that Jake has super imagination powers; after all he is a magic dog. Then the problem became even more compounded by the fact that without his imagination Jake becomes a complete bore and to change him back Finn goes inside his own imagination to turn Jakes imagination back on. This he succeeds in and Jake becomes normal again. Now I can believe Jake the magic dog having it, I could even, with a stretch, believe Finn has amazing imaginations. What I cannot believe, even though it is a cartoon, is that both of them have it.
After pondering the quizzically episode I had just watched I came up with several explanations. The one I believe to most probable is this. We are not watching a magical, post-apocalyptic world where anything can happen. We are watching the dreams of a very normal person. As evidence that this is the case I will present the following break-down of a few of the characters. These will be just a small glimpse at the depth to be revealed.
Let’s start with Jake the dog. He is the perfect representation of every human’s wild side. He loves to party, play prank, isn’t very responsible, but is very loyal. It wouldn’t be the first time a person had a visual representation of that side of himself as an animal and a dog is the perfect one to pick. Sorry not a dog, a magic dog. The magic that we all believe we have in ourselves. Growing big and small isn’t the part that really matters it’s the changing shapes part; the complete formlessness of the wild instincts inside us. Jake is not exactly responsible, except when it matters, like being a good friend. You could even take it a step further and say that without Finn, the human side, to keep him in check he would be even more animalistic and less civilized.
Now for the Ice King what better representation of the complete frustration and impotence of human insecurity. All he wants is to be liked and find a wife. All he does is create the separation between him and others. He is one of the main villains in the show as well, showing us that insecurities are one of our own personal villains we need to defeat over and over, because even when they are not life threatening; they certainly are annoying to have around.
Next is Princess Bubblegum; the perfect representation of the super Id. She has created her entire kingdom and every subject in it. She has forsaken most of her personal life to the responsibility to them. That part of us that are the god of self. It creates in us what it wants and it constantly watches over itself to ensure everything runs smoothly.
I could take the easy route and say that Finn is the child in all of us but that would be too shallow. The depth of Finn is the idealism and goodness of humanity. He is not just going to go out and save the world, he’s going to go save the world and have a ton fun doing it. It’s not a job to him, it’s a lifestyle. He will take on any worthy job. He doesn’t just go out and save people from monsters; he also does the little things. Perhaps the most telling thing of all is that Finn just wants to find a woman he can love……I mean like a lot. He is a flawed individual but he always trying to better himself and yet content with what he is.
There really is a host of things I could point out, like how Finn the essence of good is always helping out Princess Bubblegum, the essence of the self-god. Or that after he gave up on wooing Princess Bubblegum he went and got with the fire princess. Well instead of spending even more time showing you all the different things the show can tell us about the inner workings of a person’s brain and soul I will just let you figure it out for yourselves. Whoever is dreaming that world is a very well-adjusted person.
In closing, all I can say is; I may be an adult that watches cartoons; but I am a kick butt reality master.