MovieChat Forums > Boy Meets World (1993) Discussion > Realistically, Shawn would have had to b...

Realistically, Shawn would have had to be bipolar, right?

posted 10 years ago by alexaw9
14 replies | jump to latest

To go back and forth that many times between 'I can do anything' (most comedic episodes, The Eskimo -- especially since he physically proved it to himself in The Eskimo that he CAN do anything, and still went back at some point to thinking he couldn't) and 'I can't do anything; I'm not meant to ever do anything ever because I grew up in a trailer park etc etc' (most dramatic episodes)?

[–] bottleofpop 10 years ago

Definetaly. They should've had it in the show, it was dark enough

Miranda: Did you fall down and smack your little head on the pavement?
Andy: Not that I can recall

[–] tyshimah3 10 years ago

Is that being bipolar? I figure that it's being a teenager with a hard background. & go back and forth between those feelings all of the time and I'm 26.

"Do you even remember what you came here to find?"

[–] Scarlett_Butler 10 years ago

Shawn is just a whiny emo douchebag. I don't think that makes him bipolar.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] Jupiter555555 10 years ago

lol good point. Sean was very moody

[–] alexaw9 10 years ago

It's not just moody, it's constantly, neverendingly back and forth between "I'm a troubled kid from the wrong side of the tracks and I can't do anything and I will never amount to anything" to being taught a lesson by Feeny or Cory and "I really can do anything, I can make it, I just have a troubled past but I can get past it" that's not normal.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] alexaw9 9 years ago

Hahahaha warm that is a very good way of putting it. That makes sense, in the writing if not the storyline, and is a great way to think of the character and various situations when watching the show. :-P Thank you.

[–] amber-1991 10 years ago

No, I don't think he had to be bipolar. He had a hard upbringing, he was never really sure of himself, he didn't know who he was, where he was going, what to do, etc. I think he was just a teenager and then a young adult who was still figuring everything out for himself.

[–] veil182 9 years ago

Shawn?! What about Cory, kid could not conceive of the fact that other people view the world/emotions/relationships differently than him. I'd call it autism but not quite. Man what a bizarre character pretty much from S2 on

thewritingwriters.wordpress.com

[–] deem_bastille 9 years ago

a lot of white kids with normal upbringings from middle to high class think like that. that is why he has to learn through the world that the world runs on different ideas/emotions/relationships.

to be honest, it isn't only children.... when I took my mother on a midnight run with me [help the homeless] she was shocked that my reports were true. people who had jobs, careers, homes to begin with had lost everything due to downsizing. nothing to do with drugs.

children are supposed to be a little on the ignorant side... which is what cory was to an extent. to be honest, he gave more of a shi7 than even shawn and topenga at some point.

a 15 year old girl is dead and no one cares.

Reading the paper can really be depressing. Mr. Dithers fired Dagwood again.

[–] There-Can-Be-Only-One 9 years ago

I think he had some amount of Depression, but I don't think he was bi-polar.

[–] stephlem89 9 years ago

I think he had some amount of Depression, but I don't think he was bi-polar.

Yep, agreed.

Admittedly, the episodes that stick with me the most are the heavier ones, but I really don't seem to recall many times at all where Shawn genuinely had an "I can do anything" attitude? I mean he had a bit of cockiness about him at times for comedic effect, but I think they did a good job of making that always pretty superficial.

The Superbowl episode was the one exception, and that was specifically because Feeney DID have to really push him to get him to realize that he didn't have to put a limit on what he felt like he could achieve just because of where he started from. But just because Feeney helped him to realize that doesn't mean his abandonment issues and insecurities about his life circumstances just completely went away for good- those were still things he was bound to continue to struggle with at least on occasion; that's the way mental health issues work.

I think over all there was a pretty strong thread of depression (or at least lack of positive self worth) with Shawn throughout the whole series. They never went as far as him having suicidal tendencies or anything, but I don't think that's necessarily always how depression works anyway, and there was certainly the thread of his pulling away when things got really hard, not being able to hold relationships, etc. In fact Shawn's was probably the character development that had the most clear trajectory to me. Of course he had plenty of comedic moments too, but hey, just because someone has mental health struggles doesn't mean they can't have moments of fun and feeling happier/better about themselves! It just means that it's going to be a common thread in their life for those feelings of sadness/worthlessness/etc. to come back at times. And Shawn definitely had that. It wasn't particularly up-and-down so much as it was a pretty regular struggle for him that he had to work hard to overcome.

Oh Bambi, I cried so hard when those hunters shot your mommy. - Kurt Hummel