Revisiting The Scratchansniff-Warners Relationship

Revisiting the Scratchansniff-Warners relationship

Last year I wrote an analysis of the Warner siblings' relationship with their p-sychiatrist, Dr. Scratchansniff. I outlined how their relationship progressed episode-by-episode in the original series and how it all inexplicably went downhill by the end. That post was more of an overview than anything really in-depth, and in the time since I've done some more thinking on this topic, and I think there's more to explore here. (epic Outer Wilds reference)

So, welcome to part 4 of "overanalyzing the Warners". Well, welcome to part 1 of part 4. This writeup became so long that I decided to split it into two parts.

Part 1: Scratchansniff as a character, why he sucks as a psychiatrist, and what he should've done instead

First, I want to really get in deep with the character and concept of Scratchansniff. The first surface-level thing you might notice about him is his really juvenile name. Everyone in the show treats it like a completely normal name, with the Warners nicknaming him "Scratchy", so if you watch the show it also starts to sound normal to you. This doesn't really have any deeper meaning. I just like to mention it because I find it funny reading and writing serious stories with a man named "scratch and sniff" in them.

Well, maybe it's not entirely meaningless. It does give some insight into what his character was initially supposed to be. He is a man who takes himself and his surroundings completely seriously, but he isn't a serious character. He's a normal, mundane person who finds himself trapped in a cartoon world with extremely absurd situations happening to him on a regular basis. I've seen him compared to Squidward in this way, and the comparison is extremely apt. They are both characters who take themselves seriously in a world that is completely non-serious, regularly interacting with other characters that have no regard for rationality or common sense. In doing so, they often find themselves actually acting more childish than the childlike characters around them, making a fool of themselves as they try to project some sense of normalcy on a world that rejects it out of hand. Their appearances are even quite similar, with their thin figures, big bald heads, and big noses. I wouldn't be surprised if Squidward was in some ways directly inspired by Scratchansniff.

Now, there's a question I've been throwing around in my head, and I can't come to a solid conclusion one way or the other. Is Scratchansniff meant to be incompetent? The answer that immediately comes to mind is, yes, obviously. He does a terrible job with the Warners, after all. We'll come back to that later.

But I was watching the first episode of the show for this post. Besides the intro, Scratchansniff is the first Animaniacs character ever introduced. The first segment of the first episode starts with him meeting with his own psychiatrist, telling his life story. He says he was "one of the most successful psychoanalysts in all of Hollywood." He tells the story of helping countless stars on the Warner Bros. lot, and he clearly says he loved his job. The question can still be asked, though, are we meant to take him at face value? He's shown talking to Ronald Reagan, in his actor days, who tells him about dreams he's having where he becomes president. Scratchansniff writes in his notes- "Delusions of Grandeur, incurable". It's clearly just a joke, I know. But taking it seriously for a second, it seems like he did a terrible job at helping his patient. To immediately write someone off as incurable at the slightest hint of a strange dream, a dream that isn't even all that strange? If that's all it takes to make him give up on a patient, how can he possibly deal with the more serious cases?

He continues, saying that the stars told him all their problems, their secrets, their pain. "It was so much fun!", he says. Ok, hold on. Is a psychiatrist supposed to take pleasure in knowing the secrets and pain of their patients? It seems like Scratchansniff may have been in the business for the wrong reasons. One might even start to think that he deliberately doesn't help his patients as much as he can so he can get more juicy secrets out of them.

Scratchansniff is next shown reacting to the moment the Warners escape the tower. I honestly haven't seen the first episode much, or at least not this part, so what I saw next surprised me. I was always under the impression that Scratchansniff first met the Warners in the 90's, when Plotz made him try to dezanitize them. But what is the first thing the Warners do when they escape the tower? Like, literally the very first thing? They race over to Scratchansniff's office and yell "Did you miss us?" Scratchansniff replies "I hardly even know you." He hardly even knows them. Which means he did know them, at least a little, before the 90's, before they escaped the tower for good. He goes on to ask if they know who he is, and Yakko immediately answers correctly with his full name and title.

Scratchansniff had been at Warner Brothers for 50 years according to him. Quick math says he started there around 1943. It's known that the Warners did escape briefly on a few occasions between the 1930's, when they were locked up, and the 1990's, when they escaped. So, at some point during one of those escapes, the Warners met Scratchansniff, and they seem to have immediately taken a liking to him, as he's the first one they visit when they escape again. Was it just a chance encounter? Was Scratchansniff their psychiatrist before the 90's? No way to know for sure, but what we do know is that their relationship extends farther back than is generally thought, possibly decades farther back.

Soon they start their first session, which goes disastrously. And this is where Scratchansniff's lack of real psychiatry skills comes into focus. He is vague with his wording, unclear in his demands, and very quick to anger, even when the Warners are only being mild annoyances at worst. At one point he says that he will say a word and he wants Yakko to say the first word that comes to mind in response. And Yakko does it, exactly how he was asked to, but the only problem is he starts a little early. Instead of simply adapting to the situation and starting the exercise while Yakko's being compliant, Scratchansniff becomes furious, calls Yakko a "stupid kid", and throws him out of his office. What a great way to start a healthy, trusting doctor-patient relationship.

He is at one point shown studying child psychology to help him treat the Warners. And I think this shows one of his major shortcomings- he's not a child psychiatrist. He treats the major stars of Hollywood. How many of those are children? He has no experience with children, especially toon children. He tries to approach things like he would with adults, expecting a calm and insightful conversation, when any child psychiatrist would know that doesn't always work with kids.

So, back to the big question. Is Scratchansniff bad at his job? Well, I'm going to hit you with a cop out answer. You can interpret the evidence however you want- take it at face value or dismiss them as the clear jokes they are- but the truth is it doesn't matter how good of a psychiatrist Scratchansniff is for most people. For the Warners, he's an awful fit. He has several shortcomings in this regard:

He's not a child psychiatrist.

He's out of touch. Scratchansniff had been a psychiatrist for 50 years. Do you know how much that field changed from 1943 to 1993? They were still doing lobotomies in 1943. Regardless of how well he's kept up with the times, some of his techniques are surely out of date. Not to mention the fact that, yes, he's still practicing in 2022.

He had become complacent with his work and was extremely overconfident in his own abilities. More on this in a second.

He had too short of a fuse and was too uber-serious to see the Warners' mild annoyances as what they really were: just playful mild annoyances.

Scratchansniff sees himself as a super successful psychiatrist, and so does most of the world. I don't think he ever was- I think those are delusions of grandeur. I think Scratchansniff had an "in" with Warner Bros.- maybe he knew someone high up in the company, or maybe his mentor was the previous psychiatrist there and recommended him for the job. Once he got that job, a job he truly enjoyed for seemingly the wrong reasons, he never looked back. He never dared to challenge himself with any truly difficult cases. He never left his comfort zone. When the Warners showed up, they turned his whole world upside down. Instead of the calm monotony he enjoyed, now he had to deal with constant zaniness and three children who were a bit of a harder nut to crack than all of his previous patients. He resented them for this, at least at the beginning.

The main counter argument to all of this is that the Warners are simply impossible cases. There is no curing them, so how could Scratchansniff be blamed for failing to? I don't see it this way. Yes, the Warners are deliberately annoying and difficult. But they're far from impossible patients.

The Warners are extremely intelligent. They are self-aware. Their only big problem is that they're poorly socially adjusted, as would be expected from three orphans who were mistreated from birth and never had a single trustworthy adult figure to guide them in their lives. Frankly, their problems seem to be fairly obvious and self-evident, even to an untrained layperson like me. Any psychiatrist worth their salt would pick up on this immediately and have a field day with patients like this. Scratchansniff doesn't.

The Warners aren't even that hard to make friends with. It's true that they closely guard their emotions with a thick shield of sarcasm and general mistrust toward human adults. On the other hand, it's been repeatedly shown throughout the series, original and reboot, that anyone who gives the Warners the tiniest bit of genuine affection will be instantly accepted by them. Frau Hassenfeffer, Flora Norita, Hello Nurse. They even form an attachment to Mr. Plotz, who never did anything but mistreat them. Scratchansniff has seen this happen right in front of him and he still doesn't realize it.

And it's not like the Warners don't have the motivation to improve. The Warners don't want to be outcasts. They want to be included, as I asserted in more detail in this post. So, if that's the case, why do they act the way they do? Why are they so difficult? I believe they act like outsiders because that's the only way they've ever been treated. It's similar to how I believe that Yakko plays off all affection as cheesy because it protects him from the letdown of genuinely hoping to receive affection and being denied it. The Warners play the part of annoying outsiders because that's the role they've been cast in. If they didn't play that part, they'd have to confront the reality that the reason they're disliked and shunned is simply because of who they are. It's far less painful to believe that people don't like them because they're deliberately annoying. Then it starts to feel like their choice, instead of something forced upon them unfairly (which is what it truly is).

Scratchansniff is completely oblivious to this. He takes their zany charade at face value. There are certain things you have to do as a psychiatrist if you want to solve anything more than the most surface level cases. You have to constantly be trying to dig deeper. You have to be extremely persistent, continuing to attack the problem at different angles even if the patient is being as difficult as they can be. You have to be willing to dispose of your preconceived notions, your natural emotional reactions to things, and try to truly see and understand the patient's real motives for their actions. Yes, the Warners know exactly how to push anyone's buttons to be the most annoying they can possibly be. A good psychiatrist has to rise above petty feelings like annoyance and frustration. Scratchansniff seems incapable of every single one of these things I just listed. It's like he expects every one of his patients to walk into his office as a completely healthy, mentally balanced person with only minor surface-level issues, which is the complete opposite of what he should expect in his position. So, no, the Warners are far from impossible patients. They aren't even really that difficult. There's far, far worse than them. (In terms of difficulty of treatment.)

It might seem like I'm taking this personally. That's true, I am. I care about these funky cartoon children and I do get a little angry thinking about how much they've been mistreated by everyone they've ever known.

Another problem with Scratchansniff's treatment of the Warners is the way he's been forced to approach it, and this is largely not his fault. He was asked by his boss, the CEO of the company, to get the Warners under control. To dezanitize them, make them quiet, "normal", polite, compliant children. In other words, he's asking Scratchansniff to destroy every part of the Warners' unique personality. What Plotz is asking could only be accomplished by a lobotomy.

I'm not saying the Warners don't need treatment. They do have problems and could benefit a lot from competent psychological treatment. That, though, would look a lot different from what Scratchansniff has been ordered to do. Effective treatment for the Warners would not seek to change who they fundamentally are. They would be allowed to remain zany, remain silly, keep the things that set them apart from everyone else. But they would be taught the things they were never told about the world and their role in it. Shown when it's appropriate to be all-out zany and when they might want to consider bringing it down a notch, and, most importantly, they would be told why these distinctions are important. Their self-esteem would be boosted, they would be shown that it's possible for them to exist in society and be accepted by others around them. They would realize that they can be comfortable simply being who they are, that they don't have to act out and amplify their zany traits to protect themselves from judgement and disappointment. All of this can be accomplished through just a few easy steps:

Make the therapy sessions feel like a learning environment. The Warners enjoy learning, they like the feeling of knowing stuff. If you make them feel like they're under a microscope, that there's something wrong with them you're trying to fix, of course they'll become defensive and uncooperative. You have to make it feel like a collaborative effort where you're simply showing them things about the world that they had missed before.

Make them feel accepted, both in the psychiatry office and outside of it. This step is the hardest because you have to get Plotz and WB leadership on board. Make sure the Warners know that you fully accept them, everything about them, and that they can talk about anything without judgement. They might make fun of you if you directly say this to them, but it's important that they know. Even if they don't seem like they're listening, they are. Then, make sure the rest of the studio lot is also an accepting place. Don't make certain areas off limits to them just because you think they'll annoy others. Let them out of the damn tower whenever they please. Teach them certain social norms that will allow them to more easily interact and feel accepted outside of the lot as well.

Gently make them aware of how their own behavior contributes to their marginalization from society. Be very careful not to point the finger at them, lest they become defensive again, and emphasize that none of the abuse they've suffered is in any way their fault. However, somehow they must become aware of how their actions can be off-putting to humans, why some people may find them annoying, and how it doesn't make their situation any easier. They probably already know on some level, but they have to become consciously aware. They also must be reassured that they are completely in control of their own actions. In the past, humans have given them the impression that they're nothing more than zany robots who have preprogrammed comedic reactions to things. Make sure they realize they're more than that, that they are intelligent, thinking people with complete agency over themselves. Allow them to detach their self-worth from their comedic skills, from their status as toons. This is a later-stage step that should only be undertaken once the Warners are comfortable with you and willing to be open and honest about themselves.

Never go back on your word or betray their trust in any way. This is one of Scratchansniff's major mistakes, possibly his biggest single mistake with the Warners. The Warners have simply been betrayed and misled too many times- they will turn their back on you and run away (metaphorically) the second they feel like you haven't been completely honest with them. They don't easily give others their trust. It has to be a slow process, building up trust over time, never taking a step backwards or giving them a reason to doubt that it's all worth it. It's like trying to build a relationship with a skittish wild animal. If you make any sudden movements, they will flee and your chances of befriending them take a major hit.

If everything goes well, the end result will not be three quiet, conformist children. They'll still be the Warners in all the ways that matter. But they'll be self-assured, confident that there is a place for them in society, willing to take social risks and open themselves up to people outside their little familial bubble. And all of this will have the side effect of ending most of their destructive, so-called annoying traits, because they'll simply have no need to do those things. People that feel connected to the world around them, that care about others and have others that care about them, will be much less likely to harm it.

To conclude this first part, I'll bring the focus back to Scratchansniff. If you still have any doubts that the Warners are not an impossible case, here's the strongest proof I have- even for all his many, many faults and missteps, Scratchansniff still managed to make progress with the Warners. He came close to earning their total trust and did form a close relationship with them, despite all the reasons they had to doubt him. But, in the end, Scratchansniff was simply unsuited to help the Warners in a way that would actually benefit them. He didn't have the tools. What Plotz should have done, if he truly cared at all about the Warners, is hire someone who had actual practical experience working with children, preferably even someone with experience working with toons (I assume such people exist in a world where toons live alongside humans in everyday life). The Warners could have been tamed. If you want do that, though, taming them cannot be your primary goal.

The next part will talk about the positive side of Scratchansniff's relationship with the Warners, and how it eventually all went wrong.

UPDATE: Here is a link to part 2.