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

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  (#2) Lila And Her Father Live In Abject Poverty

  In the episode titled "Ms. Perfect," Arnold and his friends meet a new classmate named Lila. She's smart, fashionable, pretty, and almost instantly popular. Helga and the other girls in class become jealous of Lila and play a mean-spirited prank to humiliate her (because kids are the worst), causing her to skip school and plunge into depression. Hold to to your horses, that's not the dark part. 

  The girls soon learn that Lila and her father are living well below the poverty line. The home they are living in is shabby and falling apart, and it's located in one of the city's worst neighborhoods. Apparently, they're in such bad shape that they can barely afford groceries.

  This episode is heart-wrenching because it depicts the struggle of poverty in a shockingly real way. This means, of course, that there is no real solution to Lila's struggle. She remains in poverty for the rest of the series. Yeah, Hey Arnold! really didn't pull any punches.
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  (#11) Harold Is A Frequent Victim Of Fat Shaming

  Okay, to get this right out of the way, Harold is kind of a bully. He's loud, he's obnoxious, and he picks on kids smaller than he is. However, like a lot of bullies, he's actually desperately insecure. In "Weighing Harold," we see Harold as a vulnerable and self-conscious little boy. In the episode, Harold is bombarded by people disparaging him about his weight.

  In fact, it’s not only his peers that insult him, but full-grown adults as well. Seriously, random adult strangers just totally sh*t on young Harold. The constant taunting sends Harold into a series of desperate attempts to lose weight, but he is continuously met with disappointment. His confidence shaken, he becomes utterly depressed. In a moment of weakness, he breaks down and calls himself a dumb fat freak.

  Overall, the episode closely mimics the sad truth about what people go through when they are fat-shamed in real life.
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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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  (#13) Helga Has A Dangerously Unhealthy Obsession With Arnold

  There’s just no hiding this one. Since episode one, it’s clear that Helga is madly in love with Arnold (when she's not busy hating him). See, Helga refuses to let Arnold know she likes him. She continuously goes to great lengths to prevent Arnold from finding out that she likes him, and then she's tormented when he doesn’t recognize her feelings towards him. It's pretty bananas. 

  For the most part, this is all played for laughs. However, there’s a dark side to her affections. Like, an unhealthy and possibly psychotic dark side. She is constantly stalking Arnold and "collecting" things that he's used and thrown away. She even secretly cuts off a lock of Arnold's hair as a keepsake! The most damning manifestation of her obsession, though, has to be the candle lit shrine she’s built in her bedroom. It's made out of used gum (some of which was chewed by Arnold) and is shaped in Arnold's likeness.

  Now that’s creepy. Like, "incriminating evidence to the police if they should ever find it"-level of creepy. 
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  (#9) Olga Pataki Is Constantly On The Edge Of A Nervous Breakdown

  Olga is the pristine older sister of Helga Pataki. While she lavishes attention on her little sister, Helga is generally kind of a brat to Olga. To be fair, Olga is academically talented, pretty, well-mannered, and popular. She's also clearly her parents favorite. It's easy to see why she'd be anathema to Helga.  

  Olga, however, is clearly has her fair share of issues and neuroses. This is perhaps most clearly illustrated in the episode "Olga Comes Home." See, Helga steals a letter with Olga’s college grades (before her older sister sees it) and secretly changes an A+ to a B+, which sends Olga on a downward spiral of depression. Olga locks herself away in her bedroom, broken, tearful, and miserable.

  Can you imagine the kind of pressure you'd have to be under for one grade to do that to you? Apparently, Olga has a lot going on underneath her glittering exterior. 
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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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