The Perils of Penelope Pitstop: Overcoming the Damsel in Distress

This is SO corny, but during my senior year of high school, I started getting into cartoons designed by Hanna Barbera, who created Scooby Doo, Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, and The Jetstons. But it wasn't until later in life that I became obsessed with one of Hanna Barbera's characters, Penelope Pitstop from Wacky Races, who drove her beauty salon style car, the Compact Pussycat. I especially became obsessed with her spin-off show, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop!

For those who remember the show, and to give those who haven't seen the show an idea, Penelope Pitstop was a damsel in distress who fell time and again into the clutches of her archenemy, the Hooded Claw, who unknown to her, was truly her own guardian, Sylvester Sneekly, who is determined to kill her so he can obtain her family fortune. In every episode, the Claw puts her in a number of complex deathtraps; however, Penelope either escapes the traps by herself or her ever-present protectors, the Ant Hill Mob, come to her rescue.

I tend to feel as though I'm Penelope Pitstop herself, a damsel in distress continuously facing the Hooded Claw and his many deathtraps. And when I think about it, all girls and women are damsels in distress in their own ways, and the deathtraps they face are not those that involve explosives, sharp steel spikes, or falling ceilings; but life problems of their own.

An example of one of the deathtraps in life that women, including myself, face is envy and jealousy of others. No, I'm not talking about jealousy in a relationship (Ok, that's one example of a deathtrap in life, but that's different), I'm referring to jealousy meaning consistently wishing you had what another person or people have and comparing yourself and your life to others. It especially does not help when your're using social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) and come across a status or picture of someone getting engaged, getting married, having a baby, getting a great full-time job, someone with a nice house, great social life or gorgeous summer body, and you get jealous and frustrated because you wish that was you with all that.

In this case, we can refer to social media as one of our "Hooded Claws" with his deathtrap of envy that tries to do us in, just like the Hooded Claw's deathtraps in the show, by making us jealous of the people who seem to have it all and leading us to believe that they have better lives than us and that their lives are perfect because they have what we are desperate for.

Even though people seem to have perfect lives on social media, this is not true in reality. Even though we can't see it, they fall into life's deathtraps and have struggles and bad days. That girl with the skinny summer body may have anxiety and depression. The girl who got a great full time job may have been beaten or abused in the past. That girl who got married before her classmates and had an awesome wedding might have been an outsider in school. The girl who had a baby and posts numeric posts of her baby, her father might have walked out on her when she was three.

Yes, I know Penelope Pitstop is a cartoon, but some of us women and girls who have seen the show might have secretly wished we were Penelope Pitstop and might have even been slightly jealous of her. Who wouldn't be? Penelope's skinny, blonde, and gorgeous, she's rich, travels all the time, and gets to ride in a fancy car named Chuggaboom who has a cute personality and can do anything.

Despite this, Penelope is still a typical human and does not have it all like we'd sometimes may think so. It's seen when the Hooded Claw and his henchmen, the Bully Brothers, frequently capture her and try to do her in. Also, we can see that her mother and father had died and that her own so-called "trusted and devoted" guardian is really the villain behind the mask trying to eliminate her so he can gain her fortune.

Penelope Pitstop's life may seem perfect amidst the perils, but we'll never know what she goes through outside the show and how these constant perils may affect her. Maybe Penelope has nightmares of the Hooded Claw and his traps. Her parents had died so the grief must've been hard for her. Maybe the Ant Hill Mob are her only friends. Perhaps sometime after the series finale, she finally discovered her guardian was the Hooded Claw after all and it really hurt and frightened her. No one knows what a person who seems better than us is going through behind the scenes.

Another example of life's many deathtraps include disorders, both physical and mental disorders. Physical disorders include but are not limited to blindness, deafness, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, epilepsy, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophies, and paraplegia (paralysis of the legs). Mental disorders include but are not limited to anxiety, depression, eating disorders, Bipolar disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and Autism/Autism Spectrum (Aspergers).

As a child, I unfortunately fell into the clutches of Autism (one of my Hooded Claws) and was diagnosed at age 3. Just like the Hooded Claw ties Penelope to a variety of deathtraps, Autism tied me to a deathtrap of sensory issues, communication trouble and behavioral problems and at 14, I was diagnosed with Aspergers. Even though my Autism and its symptoms from my childhood lessened greatly, my Aspergers still tied me to a deathtrap of obsessions, social akwardness, sensitivity, learning struggles, and the desire to live a normal life.

In the show, Penelope usually finds a way to escape the Hooded Claw's traps on her own through creative methods such as using a nail file to cut the ropes tying her to the line of a runaway trolley and using bird calls to summon a Bald Eagle to pull her from a mud pit. I refused to let Autism defeat me through spending time with good friends, taking part in dance class and school clubs, working extra hard in college in order to maintain good grades and earn my degree, finding a variety of hobbies to express myself, and working towards my goals of moving out. I was also dealing with another Hooded Claw, anxiety, during my final semester and was put on Sertraline medications. I managed to escape the clutches of anxiety through deep breathing and thinking positive thoughts.

Other "Hooded Claws" in many girls and women's lives are bullies and mean girls. I am fortunate to have not been the victim of bullying or have a mean girl or two say negative things about me (at least not to my face); however, a lot of other girls have to deal with being bullied, put down and backstabbed more than once. Even though, again, this has never happened to me at school, it has made me more cautious about others and I knew who and who not to hang around.

Though I was never betrayed by a friend at school or bullied, I was stabbed in the back by a manager at a dog grooming place I worked at for a week and a half. It was one of the hardest experiences to go through, but I pulled through it with help from my family and my boyfriend, who were positive people to surround myself with in difficult times like this. 

Anyone who is a victim of bullying or girl drama should turn to real friends and other trusted people, such as a family member, a teacher, a counselor or therapist, or even a pastor at church, all of which are positive people in one's lives.

Penelope's best friends and protectors, the Ant Hill Mob (Clyde, Yak Yak, Softy, Snoozy, Dum Dum, Zippy, and Pockets) constantly arrive at the scene to rescue Penelope when the deathtraps she gets tied to are more complex and harder for her to escape. Sometimes they succeeded, and sometimes they'd goof up and Penelope would have to save them as well. All in all, the Ant Hill Mob always has Penelope's back and they never fail to put her first in order to protect her. They are examples of positive people to suuround yourself with in difficult times, for Penelope feels joy being with them during her life of perpetual peril just like I feel joy being around my family, friends and boyfriend when hardships threaten to knock me down!

One last example of Hooded Claws and deathtraps in life is, well, life in general. This can be anything in life, such as paying bills and rent, high school, college, moving and many more.

In the show, Penelope's guardian, Sylvester Sneekly, acts like a kind and caring man who has Penelope's best interests at heart, but that's only when he's around Penelope as Sylvester Sneekly. Even as Sneekly, his wickedness shines through behind Penelope's back, and Penelope only sees it when he's the Hooded Claw tying her to his deathtraps.

That's exactly what life is like for every single person on this Earth. Life will either be kind to us, or it will tie us to deathtraps of hardships and stress. Things in life that stress us out include but are not limited to exams, homework, interviewing for jobs, losing jobs, poverty and money struggles, raising children, divorce, fighting for custody of children, maintaining a clean house, deaths of loved ones, wedding planning, health issues, and pressure from family and society.

Penelope, despite the stress of the Hooded Claw's frequent captures and deathtraps, knows to stay positive and calm and figure out how to escape the stress though her own creativity or with help from the Ant Hill Mob. It's very important to find ways to manage stress in a healthy manner to get through life's hardships, whether it's through deep breathing, exercising, taking showers or bubble baths, watching movies, or spending time with friends, family and pets.

It's easy to feel like I'm the only girl with struggles and that everyone else is better than me and that I'm Penelope Pitstop facing the Hooded Claw and his deathtraps, however, I realize that every girl and woman is Penelope Pitstop and they have many Hooded Claws and deathtraps they have to face. 

But we girls and women can overcome our inner damsels in distress! Just as Penelope Pitstop uses clever methods to escape the clutches of the Hooded Claw, even with help from the Ant Hill Mob, we too, can use our own methods to escape the clutches of our life problems!