over the garden wall essay

Comfort in the Unknown: ‘Over the Garden Wall’ and the Aftermath of Death

Every Halloween for the last decade or so, I’ve been tasked with explaining my contradictory feelings on the holiday to those around me. Is Halloween one of my favorite holidays? Yes — the entire autumn season is my favorite time of year. At the same time, the Halloween season is often the time of year where I feel the most lost. In the weeks leading up to Halloween and on the holiday itself, I typically try to avoid Halloween-themed media. This isn’t because I’m not a fan; I love the nostalgia something like It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown brings, and I think horror is one of the most interesting genres in all of film. Despite generally loving Halloween, it is also a reminder of my dad, whose birthday fell on the same day and who passed away in September of 2008. Every year since, Halloween has carried a weight to it that I haven’t known what to do with, instead of the joy that I want to feel. Last year, however, I finally took the advice of some friends and watched Over the Garden Wall . For the first time in a long time, watching a Halloween-themed piece of media was not only enjoyable, it was therapeutic. 

Over the Garden Wall , Cartoon Network’s 2014 miniseries from Patrick McHale, has quickly become a Halloween and autumn viewing essential. Everything from its gorgeous visuals and folksy, addicting original soundtrack to the eerie, eldritch story voiced by a cast including Elijah Wood and Tim Curry quickly made the show a critic and fan favorite. Over the Garden Wall is strange, and it was that charming strangeness that drew me in. What kept me there, however, was the way the show depicted death, familial responsibilities, and finding comfort in the unknown — literally. 

At some early point within Over the Garden Wall , I got the feeling that this was a world I knew, both physically and emotionally. The landscapes and visual designs of this world dubbed “The Unknown” were so reminiscent of the New England autumns I grew up with: searing reds and oranges, houses that have been standing for centuries, and areas with trees so dense you can lose yourself. I saw aspects of myself in Wirt, the melodramatic, easily overwhelmed older sibling to Greg, the younger child who is prone to outbursts in song and whose personal and creative expression is undeterred by those around him — a mirror of my own younger brother. On a deeper level, I could empathize with Wirt’s struggle with his responsibility for his young sibling. Every time an adult reminded Wirt, ‘You’re the elder child — your brother is your responsibility and any slip-up is therefore your responsibility as well,’ I cringed in recognition. I’ve lost track of the times I’ve had that same conversation, with both adults and myself. One of the most compelling and comforting aspects of the sibling dynamic in Over the Garden Wall , however, is not only in how Wirt embraces his responsibility for his brother, but how over the course of the series the siblings become a team. In the face of death and fear of the Unknown, they encourage one another, laugh and sing together, and protect and sacrifice for the other. While Wirt still assumes responsibility for his younger sibling, they’re on this journey together. 

As I watched the shifting dynamic between Wirt and Greg on screen, it reminded me of my own relationship with my brother. I’ve heard horror stories of siblings torn apart by the death of a parent, of older siblings who couldn’t handle the parental responsibility that was thereafter thrust upon them. The fear that that would happen to me and my own brother, that we would lose one another somewhere along the way, haunted me. But as I watched Wirt not only care for his younger brother, but develop a supportive, loving, and healthy relationship with him as well, I allowed myself to recognize the love and support my brother and I have given one another over the last twelve years. I took great solace in knowing that, while I will always feel responsible for my younger sibling (eldest daughter syndrome got me good), we have spent the last decade travelling through the winding woods of our own Unknown, and we’ve done it together.

One of the most intriguing installments of Over the Garden Wall is the second episode, “Hard Times at the Huskin’ Bee.” As Wirt and Greg attempt to find their way out of the Unknown with the help of a talking bluebird named Beatrice, they come across what appears to be a quaint village of people adorning pumpkins on their heads in preparation for the upcoming harvest. After Wirt and Greg mangle some crops and interrupt the harvest celebration, the people of Pottsfield begin to question the children on why they’re there; they’re “too early.” Because they’ve destroyed the property and disturbed the peace, the town punishes them with a few hours of manual labor, and Wirt sighs in relief; this won’t be too bad. The kids spend their time harvesting more pumpkins and shucking corn, until they reach their final task: digging two holes in the ground. When Beatrice snarks that they’re probably digging their own graves, Wirt tries his best to ignore her, a method that works until Greg announces jovially that he’s discovered a skeleton in the hole he has dug. As Wirt panics and tries to find a way for them to escape before the townspeople approach, two skeletons climb out of the ground, don pumpkins and corn, and are greeted joyfully by the other townspeople who, Wirt realizes, are all skeletons. Wirt and Greg take their leave, and Enoch, the leader of the town, reassuringly tells them that they’ll join them someday when they’re ready. 

Out of the ten excellent episodes of Over the Garden Wall , “Hard Times at the Huskin’ Bee” was one of the ones that stopped me in my tracks. It wasn’t because I thought it too dark for a children’s program (there are plenty of episodes darker as the series progresses), but because it’s rare to find media that celebrates the event of death in such a light and positive way. Death is one of the few things that will happen to every living being, and it is still one of the most devastating, taboo topics of conversation, especially in Western society. Pottsfield (potentially a reference to potter’s fields filled with unmarked graves) is perhaps the most joyful and compassionate place that Greg and Wirt come across in the Unknown, and, ironically, it’s filled with dead people. But that’s exactly the point: Wirt and Greg (mainly Wirt) may be fearful of the people of Pottsfield, but they have no reason to be. They weren’t digging their own graves; they were setting the dead free, allowing them to join the celebration as members of the town who are loved by their community. I couldn’t help but be reminded of my dad, who loved cemeteries and graveyards. When I was a child, we would often park under the giant white oak tree in one of our town’s graveyards and just sit peacefully. My brother and I were permitted to play, as long as we did so carefully. Over the Garden Wall echoed those lessons he taught me: graveyards should be respected and cared for, not feared. Be mindful of the land and those buried there and keep the peace, and you have nothing to be afraid of — we’ll all be there one day too, and there is a certain air of reassurance to that fact. 

By the time I reached the end of Over the Garden Wall , I realized that not only had I made it through a piece of Halloween-related media without feeling the typical weight of grief that I usually do, but that it had helped me celebrate the life I had with my dad and the life I’ve lived since he passed. The death positivity and realistic yet heartwarming depictions of sibling dynamics and responsibilities that play out through the miniseries allowed me to engage in a form of catharsis that I needed. It gave me the reassurance that it’s okay to still love Halloween, even if it reminds me of someone I’ve lost. In fact, it should give me all the more reason to celebrate his life while honoring not only his death, but the feelings that the aftermath has left me with. To take comfort in things we fear such as death or the unknown can be liberating. 

Halloween is only a couple weeks away — and I can’t wait. 

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Over the Garden Wall is a Fairy Tale Journey Out of Darkness

Nearly every bit of children’s media that adults also happen to enjoy inevitably gets twisted into some darker story: Ash Ketchum is in a coma, Hogwarts is an imaginary sanctuary for an abused child, and My Neighbor Totoro is really about a horrific crime.

The difference between media that embraces this temptation rather than having that temptation thrust upon it by adult fans is that the former allows the story to go to dark places and venture out of them (just as the characters of Over the Garden Wall do), whereas the latter makes the darkness the journey. Interpreting Harry Potter’s time at Hogwarts as an imaginary refuge even within the confines of fiction robs the story of any message other than that life is painful and nothing matters. Over the Garden Wall instead allows both ideas to be true—life is dark, scary, and sometimes painful, but there are also people and stories and wonderful things there, too.

Over the Garden Wall anticipates attempts to turn the story into one of bleakness by using one of its primary characters, Wirt, to voice the overdramatic nihilism of a poetry-obsessed teen, but doesn’t sacrifice ultimate message of persistence. Wirt’s flowery, deterministic monologues (“I am lost, my wounded heart resides back home—in pieces—strewn about the graveyard of my lost love,” for example) aren’t devalued or dismissed as incorrect, but he is repeatedly shown that that isn’t the only way to think.

Like the fairy tales that inspire its aesthetics, the miniseries and comics are enraptured with darkness, but with a modern, less dire twist. These aren’t stories that warn of the perils of venturing outside, disobeying your parents, and being curious—instead, they’re concerned with the problems of pessimism, of nihilism, and of letting fear paralyze you into inaction.

The show ends with the revelation that the two nearly drowned, with the Unknown representing a liminal space between life and death. A small detail in the final scene of the miniseries confirms that, despite the storyline’s explicit connection with death, the two kids are indeed alive, brought home not by divine intervention or left in an ambiguous state—they live, and the Unknown is real.

In the liminal space of the Unknown, they travel through multiple fairy tale-inspired parables that push them down a path not of pure, unthinking optimism—even Greg has lessons to learn—but of perseverance despite their fear. The danse macabre of “Hard Times at the Huskin’ Bee,” the revelations of “Into the Unknown” and the way that Wirt blames everybody but himself for his inability to act; these are the tests they must endure to learn that inaction in the face of fear and despair is a kind of disastrous surrender.

Over the Garden Wall is a completely story—there seems to be no need for comics to flesh it out, as the boys have traveled through the woods and learned the valuable lesson they needed to learn. But the central theme of perseverance isn’t something that’s overcome once, and the comics, written and illustrated by a variety of creators, expand on the world of the Unknown by allowing Greg and Wirt to return at night and live out even more fairy tale-esque adventures in their dreams.

Where the comics, both the “Into the Unknown” limited run and the ongoing series, do best is flesh out the world of the Unknown into a place that’s not just a vehicle for Wirt and Greg’s much-needed lesson learning, but also a living, breathing space whose characters are more than the archetypes they appear. It’s revealed at the end of the miniseries that the Woodsman’s erratic behavior and wood gathering is an attempt to keep his daughter’s soul alive in the lantern, but the comic takes it a step further—like Wirt was never truly a pilgrim, the Woodsman was never a Woodsman. A city man, trapped by fear of the unknown, he knows nothing of how to live in the woods, especially after his wife dies and leaves him and his daughter, Anna, alone. When Anna sneaks out to gather firewood after dark, he believes she’s lost forever to the Beast–in fact, they missed each other in the woods and the Beast uses the Woodsman’s fear to trap him, tasking him with gathering edelwood to power the lantern that keeps the Beast alive.

As much as we romanticize fairy tales today, the fact remains that they are largely stories of death and horror, usually to warn children of the world’s dangers. Over the Garden Wall , then, is a fairy tale, but not in the obviously traditional sense. It warns not of monsters or wolves in grandmother’s clothing or murdering husbands, encouraging us to stay indifferent and obedient, but rather of the dangers of inaction and pessimism, which keep us trapped in a destructive cycle. Traditional fairy tales teach us patience, restraint, and fear; Over the Garden Wall teaches us to forge ahead anyway, because inaction and apathy are the true dangers.

It does this not in spite of its creepy aesthetics and occasionally dark humor, but because of them. Episode two, “Hard Times at the Huskin’ Bee,” makes no secret of the fact that this is a town of death, with its inhabitants being skeletons wearing pumpkins and gourds. Numerous characters tell Wirt that he’s not ready yet, that people don’t tend to pass through the town of Pottsfield (aptly, and not subtly, named for potter’s fields—places where poor people were buried, often en masse ), and that someday he’ll join them there, but the key word is always yet .

Without deliberate storytelling, such a message could feel wishy-washy. Be positive, but not too positive. Be realistic, but not too realistic. Be just afraid enough. But because everything in Over the Garden Wall is written with the intent to subvert and surprise, and its characters themselves are genre-savvy, the result is instead surprising, fresh, and fun. The playfulness of the art styles in both the miniseries—sometimes drab and autumn-toned, occasionally bright and unnervingly Fleischer-esque, other times straight out of realistically-rendered trypophobic nightmares—and the comics, though the use of multiple illustrators, lend even its darkest moments a feeling of levity, a reminder that not everything is as dark as it appears at first glance.

Melissa Brinks

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Over the Garden Wall: Contextualizing "Babes in the Woods"

• Anna Villeneuve Media and Performance Production

Over the Garden Wall: Contextualizing "Babes in the Woods"

My video essay for Dan Simpson’s FILM 456’s scene analysis assignment aims to contextualise episode 8 of Over the Garden Wall entitled Babes in the Woods by analysing its visual, audio, and narrative decisions and comparing them to early animation and western colonial storytelling. Over the Garden Wall uses sound, colour, shapes and animation style to masterfully execute a stylistic and narrative homage to not only early western and colonial stories, but to the origins of the medium it's telling these stories in, that being animation.

Through the use of rubber hose animation style, its colour scheme, and its stylistic editing the episode is a visual homage to early animation such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1923). A musical montage inspired by the song “Babes in the Woods” not only is a narrative nod to the series as a whole, but pays homage sonically to western folklore. Narratively, the dream sequence is inspired by greek mythology and odyssey with references to Boreas and the Onieri. These aesthetic and narrative decisions masterfully, overtly and subtly pay homage to the serie’s predecessors and make for an effective tribute to the art of storytelling as it’s come before.

Author Biography

Anna villeneuve, media and performance production.

Faculty Supporter: Daniel Simpson, PhD Candidate, Film and Media

Authors who publish with this journal retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication of the work.

 Inquiry at Queen's Undergraduate Research Conference Proceedings is Queen’s University Library's Journal Hosting Service . ISSN: 2563-8912

                                   Why Greg is...

                                   Why Greg is the True Hero of Over the Garden Wall

        In the series "Over the Garden Wall" Greg is the hero. Why do we think Greg is a hero and think the other characters are not? Greg is the youngest brother of the Wirt. He is wearing a white shirt with ribbon, faded green overalls, the black shoes and a teapot. He kind of looks like an elephant. Wirt and Greg jump off the train tracks just in time to avoid the train both roll down a large hill and fall into the lake and blackdown. He and his brother's  wake up in the Unknown Place. He traveled in The Unknown and learned about The Beast who is the creature monster who manipulates the other people to scare. He learned the Beast looks like the shadow. The beast wants Greg and his brother's to become the Edelwood so that they may later create the oil to keep his lantern. "By the end of the miniseries, Wirt became Childish to the hero because Worried about the brother, He saved the many characters, and was guilty about lying.

     In the last episode we see Greg is saving the brother who was turned into the tree by the beast. He tried his best to brother happy. He helped her brother to convince the crush with sarah. He helped to give the type types to his brother's crush. He jokes about his brother's crush around wearing the look like elephant costume to his brother. In the last episode he gives to the frog the Wirt and says name after him. In the last episode he says that this happened because of me that I stole the rock in the lady's garden.

       In the "Made love" episode he helps Quincy Endicott to not scare the ghost and give the confidence to fight the situation. And helps to meet his crush together because he believes he is the ghost. He also helps the Schooltown follies teacher who teaches the animal student her boyfriend was missing so he helps the accident to hit the bear who is her boyfriend wearing a costume but by accident he does not take it off. And at the end the costume takes it off. He also helps the resident who believes that bear is gonna eat it but accurately he is struggling with the costume. 

     And in the "made love" episode we see Endicott and he believes he is a ghost but not her ghost. He and she give the money to Greg for helping to meet two together but he threw away money in the foundation because he is guilty about lying that he and his brother are his nephew. In the last episode we see that he says that he stole the rock from the old lady's garden. That is why we reach the unknown and say this is my fault to be here in the darkest forest and guilty about stealing the rock in the lady's garden.

    In the conclusion we see that Greg becomes the hero to rescue the brother and other characters and be honest to people. Learn from Greg not to lose confidence and never be sad in any situation. We also learn that love to the animal and helps the other people to be happy. 

 This is my essay can you please check the essay and rewrite the essay. This is essay was about the over the garden wall the cartoon Amination.  

Answer & Explanation

Greg is Wirt's younger half-brother, and Collin Dean provides Greg's voice. He serves as a sort of upbeat counterpoint to Wirt because he is enthusiastic and creative. He is small and chubby and is sporting a white blouse with a ribbon over a pair of faded green overalls, matching black shoes, and a brown backpack.

             In the series "Over the Garden Wall" Greg is the hero. Why do we think Greg is a hero and think the other characters are not? Greg is the youngest brother of the Wirt. He is wearing a white shirt with ribbon, faded green overalls, the black shoes and a teapot. He kind of looks like an elephant. Wirt and Greg jump off the train tracks just in time to avoid the train both roll down a large hill and fall into the lake and black down. He and his brother's  wake up in the Unknown Place. He traveled in The Unknown and learned about The Beast who is the creature monster who manipulates the other people to scare. He learned the Beast looks like the shadow. The beast wants Greg and his brother's to become the Edelwood so that they may later create the oil to keep his lantern. "By the end of the miniseries, Wirt became Childish to the hero because Worried about the brother, He saved the many characters, and was guilty about lying. The series' deuterogamist is Greg. He is Wirt's younger half-brother. Through a series of stupid and obviously preventable errors, Greg and Wirt land themselves at the bottom of a river, where they both wake up in the Unknown. 

            Greg spreads his positivity throughout the Unknown throughout the series, much to Wirt's displeasure. In addition to acquiring a pet frog that he later names Jason Funderburker (not to be confused with Jason Funderberker the person), he frequently shows kindness toward animals. He also befriends Beatrice, a bluebird who proves useful to their mission. It's important to note that after Beatrice sold them to Adelaide, a mischievous witch who sought to enslave them, he forgave her pretty much right away. As winter sets in, Wirt and Greg eventually find themselves in the bitter cold. As they drift off to sleep, Greg has a strange dream in which he defeats a wicked cloud monster and protects a kingdom in the sky. Greg is given a single wish by the queen, and he requests that he and Wirt return home. The queen asserts that it is not conceivable because Wirt has been abandoned by the Beast and is therefore doomed. Greg wakes up and sets out with the Beast because he wants to take Greg's place.

           In the "Made love" episode he helps Quincy Endicott to not scare the ghost and give the confidence to fight the situation. And helps to meet his crush together because he believes he is the ghost. He also helps the Schooltown follies teacher who teaches the animal student her boyfriend was missing so he helps the accident to hit the bear who is her boyfriend wearing a costume but by accident he does not take it off. And at the end the costume takes it off. He also helps the resident who believes that bear is gonna eat it but accurately he is struggling with the costume.  And in the "made love" episode we see Endicott and he believes he is a ghost but not her ghost. He and she give the money to Greg for helping to meet two together but he threw away money in the foundation because he is guilty about lying that he and his brother are his nephew. In the last episode we see that he says that he stole the rock from the old lady's garden. That is why we reach the unknown and say this is my fault to be here in the darkest forest and guilty about stealing the rock in the lady's garden.  In the last episode we see Greg is saving the brother who was turned into the tree by the beast. He tried his best to brother happy. He helped her brother to convince the crush with sarah. He helped to give the type types to his brother's crush. He jokes about his brother's crush around wearing the look like elephant costume to his brother. In the last episode he gives to the frog the Wirt and says name after him. In the last episode he says that this happened because of me that I stole the rock in the lady's garden.

           In the conclusion we see that Greg becomes the hero to rescue the brother and other characters and be honest to people. Learn from Greg not to lose confidence and never be sad in any situation. We also learn that love to the animal and helps the other people to be happy. He acts as a small beacon of innocence and hope in an otherwise fairly dark and movie short series. He is an all-around selfless, kind, forgiving, and loving child who shows no will to anyone, even with Wirt occasionally unfairly lashing out at and blaming him for their situation. Since that is a rather significant sacrifice for a youngster to make in any work, and I had forgotten that he had used his wish to give himself up for Wirt, I have no doubt that he is admirable enough.

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