There’s something about Mabel I want to bring up. (Something that I probably should have brought up last year when this episode came out but oh well better late than never)

This is from The Golf War, and I don’t remember a lot of people talking about this line, and the when this line was brought up, it was taken as “Oh poor Mabel, she doesn’t have confidence in herself! She doesn’t think she can beat Pacifica!”

Okay, yes, this line does imply that, and that is something that’s a little concerning. But read it again, it implies something else too, something that I personally think is much more concerning.

This line implies that Mabel thinks  that if she’s not the best, she’s not good at all. We all know this isn’t true. I mean, we all saw the episode, she’s great at mini golf. Just because someone might be a little better than you doesn’t make you bad at something. There’s always going to be someone better than you. What’s concerning is that Mabel truly believes that if her mini golf skills aren’t the best (or “Da Best” I should say haha), then she has no skills. This is obviously not a healthy mindset to have.

And this parallels Pacifica. Given that Pacifica’s dad said “Remember Pacifica, winning is everything.” and “Whatever happens, just remember, you’re a Northwest. Don’t lose.” it’s probably not a huge stretch to say Pacifica has a similar mindset of “If I don’t win, if I’m not the best, then I’m not good at all” 

The difference this idea was put into Pacifica’s mind by her parents. Mabel doesn’t have any jerky family members telling her that winning is the only option. Quite the opposite actually. She has a family who only told her how great she was, “She’s been amazing at [mini golf] since we were kids!” -Dipper, “Someone in our family actually has talent!” -Stan, and even when she lost, her family still told her she was amazing “As far as I’m concerned, you’re still better than anyone else in Gravity [Falls]” -Stan. This shows that this idea is naturally how she thinks, this is naturally how she sees herself, and the fact that her family said all those things about her, and she still says “Time to scratch mini golf off my talents list” is extremely worrisome to me.

There’s something about Mabel I want to bring up. (Something that I probably should have brought up last year when this episode came out but oh well better late than never)

This is from The Golf War, and I don’t remember a lot of people talking about this line, and the when this line was brought up, it was taken as “Oh poor Mabel, she doesn’t have confidence in herself! She doesn’t think she can beat Pacifica!”

Okay, yes, this line does imply that, and that is something that’s a little concerning. But read it again, it implies something else too, something that I personally think is much more concerning.

This line implies that Mabel thinks  that if she’s not the best, she’s not good at all. We all know this isn’t true. I mean, we all saw the episode, she’s great at mini golf. Just because someone might be a little better than you doesn’t make you bad at something. There’s always going to be someone better than you. What’s concerning is that Mabel truly believes that if her mini golf skills aren’t the best (or “Da Best” I should say haha), then she has no skills. This is obviously not a healthy mindset to have.

And this parallels Pacifica. Given that Pacifica’s dad said “Remember Pacifica, winning is everything.” and “Whatever happens, just remember, you’re a Northwest. Don’t lose.” it’s probably not a huge stretch to say Pacifica has a similar mindset of “If I don’t win, if I’m not the best, then I’m not good at all” 

The difference this idea was put into Pacifica’s mind by her parents. Mabel doesn’t have any jerky family members telling her that winning is the only option. Quite the opposite actually. She has a family who only told her how great she was, “She’s been amazing at [mini golf] since we were kids!” -Dipper, “Someone in our family actually has talent!” -Stan, and even when she lost, her family still told her she was amazing “As far as I’m concerned, you’re still better than anyone else in Gravity [Falls]” -Stan. This shows that this idea is naturally how she thinks, this is naturally how she sees herself, and the fact that her family said all those things about her, and she still says “Time to scratch mini golf off my talents list” is extremely worrisome to me.