Adventure Time: Jake, the Laid-Back Superego

In Adventure Time, Jake is the superego, the moral center of the show.

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Transcript provided by Youtube:

00:04
Jake may seem like just a laid-back, goofy canine,
00:08
[Bacon Pancakes, Making Bacon Pancakes]
00:10
but this silly dog is the moral center of Adventure Time.
00:15
Without Jake the dog, Finn the human would be lost
00:17
in a sea of moral quandaries.
00:20
And that’s because — in our ongoing series
00:22
comparing each Adventure Time character to a piece of the mind —
00:25
Jake is the superego.
00:27
In the Freudian model of the psyche,
00:29
the superego internalizes social ideas of right and wrong.
00:32
[Hey, back off, you gnomes!
00:34
That kid just saved you guys!]
00:36
[You should thank’em!]
00:37
It forms a conscience to keep the ego’s bad behavior in check,
00:41
and sets an ideal standard for the ego to aspire to.
00:45
[Jake was here.]
00:46
[Jake would be running.]
00:47
[That’s Jake’s secret, too.]
00:48
[What?]
00:49
[Jake!]
00:50
Jake is a pretty lax version of the superego.
00:52
[It’s fine.
00:53
She’ll be fine.]
00:54
but he keeps Finn the ego on track,
00:57
gently guiding him towards self-betterment.
00:59
[This place is designed to mess you up.
01:02
To mess with your head.]
01:03
[None of this is real.
01:05
It’s all just trials to test
01:06
your heroic attributes.]
01:08
[You’re the smartest dog I know, man.]
01:10
Jake shows the characters and the audience what it means
01:13
to be a good person in the Land of Ooo.
01:16
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01:18
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01:20
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01:23
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01:26
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01:28
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01:31
[You’re sort of like…a violation.]
01:34
In Ooo, morality looks a little bit warped
01:37
compared to our sense of right and wrong.
01:39
[Cause you’re gonna hurt everybody.]
01:43
[Nooooooo!]
01:44
[Everybody who is evil, Jake.]
01:45
[Oh, well I’m over it then.]
01:47
And we can see that morality of Ooo most clearly in Jake.
01:50
The superego embodies the rules of what’s acceptable
01:53
in a certain culture.
01:55
So as the superego, Jake reflects the land’s
01:57
slightly wonky code of ethics.
01:59
[We’ll be vigilantes!]
02:01
[Nah, we’re more like cops.
02:04
Crooked cops!]
02:05
The Adventure Time version of the superego
02:07
has more room to be relaxed, fun and goofy.
02:10
[Ah…I lost focus.]
02:12
Being a moral person in Ooo means something a little different
02:15
than what it means on the earth we know.
02:17
For one thing, this isn’t a show that teaches kids
02:19
that violence is always unacceptable.
02:21
[Like a true hero, you were born to punch evil creatures.]
02:26
Characters in Adventure Time exist almost exclusively
02:29
in a moral grey area.
02:31
[Vandalism is wrong, Marcy.]
02:33
Jake himself has a past life of crime.
02:35
But that doesn’t preclude him from being the moral authority
02:39
in this morally ambiguous world —
02:41
in fact, his being a mix of good and bad makes him
02:44
more reflective of the Ooo philosophy.
02:46
People aren’t good or bad, they just make good or bad choices.
02:49
[I choose…sandwich.]
02:52
Jake understands this, and that makes him fully equipped
02:55
to shepard Finn on his coming-of-age story.
02:58
The superego strives for perfection.
03:00
In our world, we often think our perfection as
03:03
proactively preventing mistakes before they happen.
03:06
Meanwhile, the average person makes mistakes all the time,
03:09
but tries to learns from them, and be better then next time.
03:12
But in Ooo society, citizens aren’t capable of learning
03:15
from their mistakes.
03:16
[I win again!
03:18
Just like always!]
03:20
So their version of “perfect” is basically
03:22
our version of “average” —
03:24
being able to learn from mistakes and improve,
03:26
seems as hard for them as avoiding all mistakes seems to us.
03:30
So their standards for perfection are a little lower.
03:33
[I’m not technically a doctor.]
03:35
The ideal that Ooo citizens strive for
03:37
is more of a state of contentment and satiation.
03:40
They’re one step behind us in morality, which is why
03:43
Jake is a softer version of the superego.
03:46
[I wanna help you out of this, man, but she scares
03:48
the filling outta my doughnut.]
03:50
He can be the height of moral achievement in this world
03:53
while also being occasionally lazy,
03:55
[I may wake up in any moment…Nah.]
03:59
or selfish, and just generally fallible.
04:02
The people of Ooo don’t typically feel guilt in any real sense.
04:06
For example, Princess Bubblegum uses her godlike ability
04:09
to create life fairly recklessly.
04:12
[I would like to honor James…]
04:16
[…with this new James I whipped up in the lab!]
04:17
And she’s rarely, if ever, held responsible
04:19
for the horrific things she’s often complicit in.
04:22
These characters don’t tend to worry too much
04:24
about the consequences of their actions.
04:27
And this makes sense if you look at each character
04:29
as an isolated part of the human mind, as we have been.
04:33
Most distinct parts of our psyche aren’t capable
04:35
of processing morality on their own —
04:37
that’s the superego’s job.
04:39
In many of our societies morality is implemented
04:42
through shame or guilt —
04:44
which are tools of the superego.
04:45
[You should be ashamed of yourself!]
04:48
But in the Land of Ooo morality has to be
04:50
enforced physically by Finn and Jake.
04:53
[l’m going to beat my purity into them!]
04:56
Unlike the other characters, Finn as the ego is capable of processing guilt,
05:01
[That’s a really, really messed-up thing to do, and…
05:04
I’m truly sorry.]
05:05
[I forgive you.]
05:07
[Awesome.]
05:08
and he can incorporate Jake’s moral lessons into his life.
05:12
[What’s more important?
05:13
Your love for that screwball dame,]
05:15
[or being a hero and savin’ the lives of innocent goblin folks?]
05:19
[Rrrrhh..
05:20
Being a hero.]
05:21
It’s the ego’s job to take the guidelines of the superego
05:23
and incorporate them into behavior.
05:26
So as a bonded pair, Finn and Jake together represent
05:29
the only way to spread a moral code throughout Ooo.
05:33
[You should apologize to the farmers and make amends.]
05:35
[Really?]
05:36
[Yeah, that’ll work.]
05:38
Jake shares his moral expertise with Finn,
05:40
and Finn puts that advice into action.
05:42
And thus they help save the citizens of Ooo from moral pitfalls.
05:46
[Your harrassment of the female gender makes me sick!]
05:50
Kids in the audience will be like Finn —
05:52
able to see these externalized lessons and internalize them,
05:56
even if most of the characters they’re watching
05:58
can’t do the same.
06:00
Jake may represent unattainable moral perfection
06:03
for someone in Ooo,
06:04
but he’s a pretty realistic standard for us.
06:07
He teaches us to value our self-actualization
06:09
and deeper moral development over meeting the demands
06:12
of a strict prescribed code.
06:14
[But he’s a criminal!]
06:15
[He’s only trying to be what following how his dreams
06:18
make you want to be, man!]
06:21
[Whaaaaat?]
06:22
This may not be the path to our standard of perfection,
06:25
but it is a path to happiness.
06:26
[Love you forever, man, but your guilt’s hurting
06:29
the team dynamics.]
06:31
The superego is there to be the voice of right and wrong
06:33
for the ego,
06:35
and Jake gives his share of excellent one-liner advice.
06:38
[Dude, suckin’ at somethin’ is the first step towards
06:41
bein’ sorta good at somethin’.]
06:43
[You’re thinking too much with those eyeballs,
06:44
and not enough with your mind-hole.]
06:47
[To live life, you need problems.]
06:49
[That’s stupid!]
06:52
But most of the time Jake’s not preaching —
06:54
he’s more interested in facilitating Finn’s growth.
06:57
He’ll often give Finn the advice he really needs
06:59
at the beginning of an adventure.
07:01
[Do not do tier 15!]
07:04
But then he’ll slog with Finn through
07:06
the moral ups and downs of his journey,
07:08
rather than chastising Finn for every wrong decision.
07:11
[I just wanna sit here and moan.]
07:13
[Then I’ll moan with you, buddy.]
07:15
Or Jake’ll give Finn his two cents and then just step back,
07:18
and give Finn the space to work through his issues on his own.
07:22
[I wonder what Finn’s up to.]
07:24
[Hey, buddy.
07:25
Feeling better already?]
07:26
The Superego develops in early childhood largely
07:29
through our parents’ punishment or approval,
07:32
so the superego is also an internalized parental figure.
07:35
Jake is a father figure for Finn, and he’s a really supportive one.
07:39
His goal is never to correct a negative behavior without addressing its root cause.
07:44
[Having a girlfriend is hard.]
07:46
[You’re getting all hung up, all hung up on imaginary problems.]
07:50
[You gotta focus on what’s real, man.]
07:52
So we can read Jake’s form of superego as a very positive model for parenting —
07:58
His style is almost the opposite of helicopter parenting
08:01
but is still very much about being present in the kid’s life.
08:05
He doesn’t follow the Jiminy Cricket model of the conscience,
08:08
hovering over Finn and doggedly telling him the right thing to do.
08:12
[You’ve got to go to school!]
08:14
Instead, he wants Finn to truly understand
08:16
why he needs to make certain changes in his life,
08:19
just as it’s probably more effective to show a child
08:22
why certain behaviors are better or worse,
08:25
rather than scold them into fearfully obeying rules
08:28
that are meaningless to them.
08:30
To have such a laid-back version of the superego
08:33
in Adventure Time,
08:34
sends the message that kids shouldn’t be overdisciplined,
08:38
and we shouldn’t get caught up in unattainable standards of behavior.
08:41
The superego that we impart to kids can be a more relaxed
08:45
and balanced part of the psyche
08:47
that helps us feel out how to truly understand morality
08:50
with depth,
08:51
instead just acting in fear.
08:53
For Jake, being a conscience isn’t about being a judicial force,
08:57
punishing or rewarding the ego.
08:59
He’s always there as a spiritual guide letting Finn know
09:03
what he thinks —
09:04
but he stays out of Finn’s way a lot of the time.
09:06
Finn’s the one who has to struggle through making
09:09
the difficult choices,
09:10
and incorporating Jake’s advice into his life.
09:13
So if we can learn something from Jake’s parenting,
09:15
it’s to let the child come to understanding on their own
09:18
without interfering too forcefully, but always to be present,
09:22
and there for them.
09:23
[Even if we’re not changing on the outside,
09:25
we’re changing on the inside constantly.]
09:27
Jake’s stretchy, shapeshifting powers are symbolic
09:30
of the fluid morality of Ooo.
09:32
[But I could get used to this.]
09:34
[What?
09:35
No!
09:36
You have to suffer.]
09:37
[Okay.]
09:38
And they also represent the virtue of flexibility.
09:40
For one thing, Jake’s stretchy powers allow him to display for Finn
09:44
the complex issues that Finn needs advice about.
09:47
And Jake’s literally flexible enough to adapt
09:49
to Finn’s needs in any given situation.
09:52
His physical flexibility symbolizes his flexible personality
09:56
and go-with-the-flow attitude.
09:58
[So we could’ve died horribly?]
10:01
[Yes.]
10:02
Jake’s laid-back mindset actually makes him more equipped
10:06
to separate right from wrong.
10:08
He’s unclouded by the rampant, out-of-control emotions
10:11
that sometimes take over Finn.
10:13
[How do I know the good side from the bad?]
10:16
[You will know when you are calm.]
10:19
And when he gets into a bout of angst,
10:21
he wants to ruminate on his negative feelings
10:24
or repress them all together.
10:25
[Festering is always bad, man!]
10:28
[There’s no good kind of festering!]
10:30
But Jake maintains a clear perspective,
10:33
because his adaptability makes him resilient,
10:35
things roll off his back.
10:37
We can also aspire to Jake’s laid-back flexibility —
10:40
the more we stretch, the easier it is to see
10:43
that many of our everyday stresses aren’t really worth
10:46
getting so wound up over.
10:48
Jake the superego’s incredibly supportive, healthy attitude
10:51
makes us think that maybe we can learn a few things
10:54
from Ooo’s slightly sub-par code of ethics.
10:57
It is not traditional, but if it produces a conscience like Jake,
11:01
there may be more wisdom here than meets the eye.
11:04
[It’s kinda nice up here, though.]
11:10
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