“Gravity Falls” (2012-2016): Deeper Than A Children’s Cartoon

Initially released on June 15, 2012, Gravity Falls (( IMBD. Gravity Falls. 2021. )) quickly became one of the most popular cartoon television shows of the 2010s. Airing first on Disney Channel and then later moved to Disney XD, the show featured lovable characters such as the Pines Family, Wendy, and Soos. For two seasons, the gang went on adventures around Gravity Falls, Oregon, attempting to figure out the mysteries hidden within the seemingly normal town.

Although it is categorized as being a children’s show, that does not limit the incredible complexity and depth that the plot holds, including topics of growing up, dealing with the absence and neglect from a parent, and even developing a first crush.

Who’s Who

Mabel and Dipper Pines were twelve-year-old twins whose parents sent them to Gravity Falls with their Great Uncle “Grunkle” Stan for the summer. Mabel was overjoyed at the opportunity to be in a brand new place with brand new people and saw it as a chance to see more of what the world has to offer. Dipper, on the other hand, became instantly suspicious of the town he was staying in, and this curiosity was encouraged by a journal he discovered hidden in the woods. After reading more about the strangeness of Gravity Falls, he began to go on adventures with his sister, where he was able to get up close and personal with some of the weirdest creatures he could have imagined. Grunkle Stan, however, thought it was ridiculous for them to be wasting their time on what he believed were just figments of their over-active imaginations. Luckily for the twins, they had plenty of other people to help them on their investigations, such as Wendy and Soos — the Mystery Shack’s only two employees. 

One of the more interesting and stranger characters in the series was Bill Cipher. Unlike the other main characters, Bill was not human; he was a Dream-Demon. Despite his witty remarks and seemingly helpful attitude, Bill later went on to become the most dangerous creature the twins would have to fight against.

The Journals

In the first episode, Dipper discovered a journal filled with information on the mysteries of Gravity Falls. Unfortunately, there was no known author of the book, and there were minimal clues to who the mystery writer may be. The only information he really knew at the start pertaining to the author was that he had six fingers (from the six-fingered handprint on the cover) and that since the journal he had was labeled “3,” they must’ve written two other books prior to that one. Dipper’s quest to finding the author stayed in the background of the plot for a while, and the story mainly stayed centered on the adventures that the twins went on, but as the show progressed further, it became more focused on solving this ultimate mystery.

Part of the reason why the series had even been so successful was because of the Journals themselves. Much like the rest of the show, there were little codes and smaller mysteries mixed into the pages, as well as quickly shown at the ends of the episodes while the credits rolled. These were left as details for fans and just viewers, in general, to pick up on as they watched. Since they weren’t ever directly addressed within the show, it was left up to fans to figure them out on their own. This provided more interaction and engagement with series, growing and strengthening the fan base.

Unlucky Number Two

The Mystery Shack’s main competitor in Gravity Falls was a boy named “Lil” Gideon Gleeful, who ran the Tent of Telepathy, where he made a business off of performing his “psychic powers.” After an intense falling out with Mabel after a failed attempt at a relationship, it is revealed that Gideon is the owner of the Second Journal, making him even more of a dangerous enemy to be dealing with. The Journals held information that could be treacherous if they fell into the wrong hands, such as Gideon’s. This was an early instance of when the twins were faced with the realization that they really could not trust many people within the town and that it was very easy to be deceived.

Mr. Alzamirano Ramírez

The twins are faced with a different type of mystery than there used to when their surprise birthday party for Soos turned out to be a total failure. When they were planning it, they didn’t take into account the fact that Soos hated his birthday, and no one knew why. So when Mabel and Dipper take Soos to play laser tag, the twins end up traveling back in time and meet Soos as a child.

Mabel and Dipper spied on young Soos’s birthday party, which seemed to be going well until Soos received a postcard that made him upset. The twins then learned that it was from his father, writing to let him know that he would be missing another one of his birthdays. Soos’s father had left when he was a child, but Soos still kept on hoping that he would come back for his birthday, but he never did. Parental absence is a topic that is generally not talked about in most children’s shows, but Gravity Falls did a good job at displaying the pain a child goes through in having to continue to grow up after a parent leaves. It also showed that family does not have to be connected by blood, which is displayed in how Soos found his true place with the Pines family, despite not actually being related to them.

Vending Machine Mysteries

At the start of the series, Stan was shown entering a secret passageway hidden behind the vending machine in the Shack. However, this is not addressed again until the end of season one, when it is revealed that he is the owner of the first journal and has been using it to rebuild what appeared to be an interdimensional portal in the basement.

The events in the basement began to uncover more of Stan’s character that was hidden behind is his normal goofy and fun personality. Despite spending the majority of the summer doing what had appeared to be simply doubting the twins and all of their adventures they had gone on that they described to him, he was pushing them further away from the truth so his true motives could remain secret. What he hadn’t taken into account, however, was that the more he lied, the more he was putting Mabel and Dipper at risk. They, especially Dipper, became more committed to figuring out who the author of the journals was, which lead them to put themselves in positions of danger. Dipper struggled with Stan’s betrayal significantly because he learned that he really couldn’t trust anyone left in the town at that point. Although this impacted the viewers in the sense where they had to figure out whether or not to continue to trust Stan, it also connected to earlier themes involving trust in the show.

Stan and Stan

Once the portal was opened, a man who looked identical to Grunkle Stan emerged. This caused immediate confusion to the other people witnessing this event, forcing Stan to reveal that the man was actually his twin brother. He and Stanford “Ford” Pines explained that Ford had moved to Gravity Falls and started exploring all of the weird mysteries within the town and documenting them in his journals. Eventually, Stan came to join him, and together they were able to create a gateway between dimensions, but there had been an accident that ended in Ford being pulled through the hole in the universe. Stan decided that to get him back; he would have to drop his birth name, Stanley Pines, to take over his brother’s identity.

Stan had gotten in trouble with the law before and didn’t have any place to go, and in order to have the best chance at getting Ford back, he needs to stick close to Gravity Falls. After converting Ford’s home into the Mystery shack, he was able to begin a new life under the name “Stanford Pines” rather than his true name of Stanley and was able to work on bringing his brother back. Once both of them were reunited and they got everything sorted out, Ford joined Stan, Mabel, and Dipper in living at the Mystery Shack while he resumed his work that had been interrupted by his disappearance.

Although it is revealed that Stan had a brother seemed to be a major plot twist in the show, many fans had already figured it out themselves by the time the episode had come out. Unlike many children’s shows that have a storyline that jumps around, Gravity Falls ensured that every element would connect to the other, so there would be few inconsistencies as possible. A few hints that had dropped along the way included Stan’s license plate (which read “STNLYMBL”), differences in past appearances, the glasses, and several more. So, despite Stan having a brother seemed like a major reveal, there had been clues along the way that made it seem less out of the blue the more thought viewers put into it.

Better Late than Never

Throughout Stan’s entire life, he was pretty much consistently selfish. He wasn’t a bad guy by any means, but at the end of the day, he tended to look out more for himself than anyone else. When he spoke about his childhood growing up with Ford, he explained that he always felt like he was living in his genius of a brother’s shadow. His parents didn’t pay much attention to either of the boys but seemed to care even less about him. He felt alone the majority of his life, and because of this, he had to learn how to take care of himself and became more defensive around other people. It seemed that if no one was making an effort to be there for him, he didn’t feel like it made sense to be there for anyone else. Things began to change for him when he started to take care of Mabel and Dipper when they arrived in Gravity Falls. He had to start looking out for them instead of himself because suddenly he was responsible with two kids he realized he really loved.

At one point, Stan tried running for town mayor of Gravity Falls to impress the twins and prove that he was just as good as his brother. During the debate, as he was getting closer to a chance at winning, he threw away the race to save Dipper and Mabel, who he had spotted in danger. This was a good representation of his character development, showing that he was willing to give up a chance to show everyone that he was capable of doing more than crime to help his family.

Getting Over Growing Up

People handle growing up differently, and Mabel and Dipper perfectly demonstrate this, and they got ready to turn thirteen. Dipper had always been in a rush to grow up. He had a crush on Wendy over the summer and constantly wanted to get her attention and look cool to her and her teenage friends. He even went as far as to lie about being older than he was so that people would see him as a twelve-year-old boy. Mabel was quite the opposite of Dipper in this situation and was terrified of growing up. She hated change, and she hated it even more because Dipper was acting like he didn’t care at all when she needed him to be there for her so she would know that even though they were getting older, some things were never going to change. They ended up sorting everything through, and it all ended up being okay, but growing older and experiencing life changed is something that everyone has to go through, and it is often not easy.

This was a crucial topic to be incorporated into a children’s show. Recently, kids are either forced by someone else or are just pushed by society to grow up quicker than they have to, and once they are matured, to never return to their childhood bliss and interests. It is common to want to seem older to fit in with other people who might seem better or cooler, which Dipper experienced. He wanted to fit in with everyone else so badly that he rushed through growing up for a while, not spending time enjoying be a kid. At the same time, Mabel was trying her best never to grow up, which prevented her from moving on and experiencing new things. It is imperative for children not to be afraid of growing up and seeing the world, but at the same time, love the time and feeling of being young and not ever completely letting go of that sense of happiness.

See You Next Summer

Gravity Falls is an incredibly well-made show in many various aspects. It keeps the fun and exciting energy of a classic children’s animated show while still carrying a strong and complex plot. The way it was written and created made it so that it could entertain an audience of all different ages and keep them wanting to see more of the story. Even though some of the scenes seemed outrageously silly or strange, the show touched on many important topics that are not usually put into children’s programs, despite being good to talk about.

Gravity Falls was not only entertaining but was still able to communicate many messages in a certain format where even young kids could learn and be educated on how to be smart and deal with certain issues they could potentially face in life.