The Shows That Taught Me Laughter and Hard Moments Can Coexist

One of the things that I have learned about chronic illness is that you have to take darkness with the light. Some days, you will feel like you’re on cloud 9, and then other times, you barely want to get out of bed in the morning because you feel so drained. It is like a roller coaster, except you have no idea when the highs or lows are coming. I think that is why I tend to drift toward comedies that tend to have a bit of hard moments. There are a couple of shows that come to mind when I think about that.

Adventure Time With Finn and Jake

For a cartoon about a boy and his dog going on magical adventures, it explored a lot of dark aspects in their world. Some of the things that have come up: Finn and Jake live in a post-apocalyptic world that was caused by a nuclear war, Finn’s father went insane after Finn and his mother were gone, and Finn’s mother uploaded herself into a computer system on an island so that she could save the citizens from an outbreak. However, the one I remember most is about the Ice King.

The Ice King is originally seen as a crazy villain who kidnaps princesses, but he is more than that. At the start of the series, Marceline the vampire is the only one who remembers Ice King before the madness, as Simon. He helped Marceline survive after the nuclear war and protected her. However, Simon started to wear a crown. It gave him immense power, but it came at a price: his sanity. Marceline had to watch as the crown took control until Simon didn’t remember her anymore and became the Ice King. In the video below, Marceline tries to get the Ice King to remember her, but is not able to.

It is hard to watch because I have had relatives who had Alzheimer's and Dementia. You watch as they slowly become another person and don’t recognize you or themselves. It is a continuous suffering that is difficult to accept, especially when you remember how the person once was instead of the shell of the person they are today.

Frasier

Frasier is the first show I remember exploring mental health in a comedic way. The show is about a psychologist, Frasier, who moves from Boston to Seattle to do a radio show where he helps people with their mental problems. While doing this, he manages the strained relationship between his father, Martin, and his brother Niles, who is also a psychologist. One episode I remember dealt with the Niles’ mental issues.

Niles’ ex-wife had requested a collectible weapon from him. He didn’t think anything of it until his ex-wife went to jail for killing her lover with the weapon Niles gave her. He becomes bombarded by the press and is accused of being his ex-wife’s accomplice. On top of that, his current wife is having a baby and is upset that Niles continues to listen to the complaints of his ex-wife. Due to the pressure, Niles has a mental breakdown. It is dark, yet comical at the same time. It shows that when you are holding emotions in, they will eventually need somewhere to go. Oftentimes, it will release most abruptly.

It also shows that medical professionals can have the same issues as we do. As a professional, Niles knew that holding in his emotions could lead to disastrous results, but he kept them in because he thought he could handle it. It was a miscalculation on his part of epic proportions.

Roseanne

Although Roseanne explored the everyday life of a middle-class family in a comedic way, it never shied away from the hardships in life, especially for tasks everyone eventually goes through. Death is something everyone experiences, but not a lot of shows explore the details that happen after death. One episode that explores that very well is the one where Roseanne’s dad died.

Roseanne and her family members had to go through the process of funeral arrangements. In one particular scene, Roseanne’s sister, Jackie, was responsible for notifying family members about her father’s death. However, one particular relative didn’t understand Jackie during the phone call about her father’s death. You could feel Jackie’s exasperation during the call when the relative didn’t understand what she was saying. While dark, it comes across as funny because we have all experienced a task that is supposed to be straightforward and turns out more difficult than we thought, especially when it comes to the death of a loved one.

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

The show follows Will, who is sent to live with his aunt’s family after a bad fight with some neighborhood kids. He got into a lot of schemes with his friends and cousins, which often got him into trouble. However, the show did cover difficult topics. The most notable one is when Will’s dad randomly reappears in his life.

Will’s father tells him that things will be different and wants to take Will on a road trip. However, Will’s father decides to back out of his commitment to Will at the last minute. Will appears to take it well when his father leaves him for the second time. However, he breaks down once his father is gone in front of his uncle. When Will says, “How come he didn’t want me, man?”, it is so heartbreaking. It is one of the few scenes that has made me cry because it is devastating when your parent doesn’t want anything to do with you. Fortunately, Will’s uncle, Phil, was there to catch Will when he fell into despair.

The Amazing World of Gumball

Some cartoons are philosophical in their approach. One of them is The Amazing World of Gumball, which is about a cat that gets into a lot of mischief with his fish brother, Darwin. The show is often funny, but it sometimes asks the audience hard questions to consider. One of the moments that sticks out to me the most from the show is his mother, Nicole.

Nicole came in from work tired and saw her kids and husband having a food fight. They ended up coating her in food. In that moment, she contemplates her life and what led her to this moment. She wonders if she had followed a different path in her life, if she would have ended up in a better situation. I love that scene because it is a common thought everyone has. There is always that what if I did this or what if I did that? It is profound that a kids’ show dealt with something that a lot of adults struggle with. It illustrates that we all have bad days and how the choices we make affect our lives for better or worse.

One of the reasons that I like shows like these is that it shows what happens in real life. It doesn’t do it at the surface level either. They show the complex emotions that people go through to try to stay afloat. It is not just laughing all the time. There are dark moments that creep up on us. However, it is important for us to take the good and the bad, and that there is always a chance for a better tomorrow.