Category
Textual or Investigative
Description
This paper discusses how the allusions to The Divine Comedy in Patrick McHale’s mini-series Over the Garden Wall (OTGW) influences one’s interpretation of the series. Building off the work of other OTGW scholars such as Willsey and Camacho & Menchero as well as pop culture commentators such as Trey the Explainer, I highlight parallelisms within OTGW as well as reference comments from the creators in order to demonstrate how theoretical concepts in The Divine Comedy shape the understanding of OTGW. Specifically, one such theoretical concept involves Dante’s philosophical belief that the intellect and the will must work together to create movement, a concept fleshed out by Dante scholar Freccero. McHale, by subtly illustrating an impediment on both of his protagonist’s feet, references Dante’s argument and creates his own narrative representation of the movement of intellect and will, but with each being a whole character rather than just in a foot. Understanding each of the characters as either intellect or will, or at least as dominated by one of these characteristics, allows me to conclude with an interpretation of OTGW based on that knowledge: OTGW depicts the necessity of overcoming intellect in order to bolster the will to move. Keywords: Over the Garden Wall, The Divine Comedy, intertext, intellect, will
Over the Garden Wall and The Divine Comedy: McHale's Modern Vision of Purgatory
Textual or Investigative
This paper discusses how the allusions to The Divine Comedy in Patrick McHale’s mini-series Over the Garden Wall (OTGW) influences one’s interpretation of the series. Building off the work of other OTGW scholars such as Willsey and Camacho & Menchero as well as pop culture commentators such as Trey the Explainer, I highlight parallelisms within OTGW as well as reference comments from the creators in order to demonstrate how theoretical concepts in The Divine Comedy shape the understanding of OTGW. Specifically, one such theoretical concept involves Dante’s philosophical belief that the intellect and the will must work together to create movement, a concept fleshed out by Dante scholar Freccero. McHale, by subtly illustrating an impediment on both of his protagonist’s feet, references Dante’s argument and creates his own narrative representation of the movement of intellect and will, but with each being a whole character rather than just in a foot. Understanding each of the characters as either intellect or will, or at least as dominated by one of these characteristics, allows me to conclude with an interpretation of OTGW based on that knowledge: OTGW depicts the necessity of overcoming intellect in order to bolster the will to move. Keywords: Over the Garden Wall, The Divine Comedy, intertext, intellect, will
