________________

			     INTO THE WORLD

			      Dylan Holmes
			    ________________


			      2021/Oct/22


There is so much that makes /Over the Garden Wall/ great --- the
animation, the pure autumn atmosphere, the americana aesthetic, the
funny one-liners.  I watch it every Halloween season.

I think one of the reasons it has such staying power is because it uses
fantasy to tell something important about growing up. The story is
really Wirt's story, because he's the one who finds his way along it.

It starts with Wirt in a great deal of conflict. For one thing, he feels
like a weird unlikable loser. He has a crush on a girl but lacks the
courage to ask her out.  He's dealing with his blended family and the
fact that adults expect him to be responsible for his half-brother
Greg. Wirt faces the world feeling high-strung and frustrated and no
courage at all about the future.

Think about those problems, and notice what Wirt finds in the Unknown.
In that darkness, he's forced to improvise, which really means he has to
find his own center.

Who do you trust? He meets people who seem at first good or bad, but
turn out to be something else entirely---you have to look past your own
expectations of people.

What are your real capabilities?  Despite his best efforts, Wirt gets
embroiled in situations where he feels utterly terrified and out of his
depth. Somehow, though, however awkwardly, he makes it through---notice
that you have what it takes to survive.

What's the right thing to do?  When you live on autopilot, you tend to
fall back on your own selfish whims, your discomforts, your fears.  This
is really the beast at the center of the story: if you don't know
yourself, you can be seduced by your own worst impulses. You become
selfish, ingratiating, suspicious, afraid to grow. You lose touch with
reality, with the people around you, with your own inner truth.

The Woodcutter gets lost like this. Wirt almost does.

When they emerge from the woods, Wirt has found himself. He has learned
that he can survive. He faces the prospect of growing up, in all its
great unknowns, with some confidence (or at least readiness). He has
learned to question his worst impulses, and to find the mettle and love
that lie underneath.

It's a good lesson. Every time the leaves change, I find myself wanting
to experience it again.