WEBVTT - Deconstructing the Grinch 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:06.000 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:13.480 Works dot com. Hey you welcome to stuff to goow 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:16.040 your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Bass. 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:19.360 The holidays are upon us, so of course we're talking 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:24.040 about the science of a couple of our favorite holiday entities. 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.800 So we have an episode about Scrooge, and this episode 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:32.480 is about the Grinch. That's right, You're a mean one, 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:36.760 Mr Grinch. Is everybody familiar with that song? They should be. 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:40.400 This is another one that I feel like I watched 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:43.400 and read it so many times as a child, and 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:46.360 then you know, and then it's just all over pop culture. 0:00:46.600 --> 0:00:49.240 And then they made that movie. The less that's said 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:51.200 about the better, But still people are not that movie 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:53.760 is old enough now that people are nostalgic about it. 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:56.960 That's noting like that films like over a decade old 0:00:56.960 --> 0:00:59.960 now the gym Carey, But for me it was all 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.880 ways the old animated version. The head boars karlof yeah 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:05.720 in it and in the book itself by the good 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:09.200 uh Dr Seuss, Yeah, The Grinch She Stole Christmas is 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:12.840 a great literary classic. In the song You're Mean when 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:16.280 Mr Grinch performed by Thorle ravens Croft. Yeah, not Boris 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:22.000 Karlaf some people mistake did the voice of the and yeah, 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:24.560 and in fact Thorle ravens Croft also did the voice 0:01:24.600 --> 0:01:27.280 for Tony the Tiger. But we bring it all up 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:32.080 because this is just great fodder. Great, yes, great fodder 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:35.440 to deconstruct the Grinch. That's our aim today, to find 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:39.840 out what makes him tick mentally and physically, and also 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:43.720 find out why he's so obsessed with stopping Christmas from 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:47.960 coming to Ville. Indeed, you know, the basic scenario is, uh, 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:50.360 it's it's very much like Scrooge in a sense, you know, 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:54.840 the commugon ly old critter who who learns the true 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:56.560 meaning of Christmas and has a big change of heart. 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:59.240 You know, it's a reduntion story and all that, um. 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:01.680 But in the meantime, can't be bothered with all those 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:05.000 do goods and merrymakers right, and just can't stand can't 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:07.560 stand the sound of them, can't stand the idea that 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:10.160 they are down there, and decides, well, I'm just gonna 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:12.280 steal their Christmas. I'll take it away. I'll go down there, 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:14.640 I'll dress the Santa Claus, I'll take everything out of 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:18.280 their houses. Their presence, their food, there, the decorations on 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:22.560 the walls, Like he just completely ravages their culture. That's his, 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:25.280 his thing, and then he's going to destroy it all. 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:29.200 But then something happens. He has an epiphany, and we'll 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:31.320 get to that. There is another character that we're like, 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:33.959 how did he get to that epiphany? Um? First though, 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:37.760 let's take a look at what the Grinch looks like, 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:40.840 I mean with his actual physical characteristics. As we're talking 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:45.480 about a green fur clad primate. Yeah, yeah, some sort 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:50.600 of bipedal critter. Now, I I do have questions about 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:55.880 his primate status because the the world that we encounter 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:59.720 in the Grinch, uh, the who despec is, is filled 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:02.720 with creatures that are just run straight out of our world. 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:05.160 There's a dog, you know, there are mice, but then 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:08.040 you have the primary resident seemed to be the Who's 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:10.840 who haven't who are bipeds as well, but they have antenna. 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:13.680 The Grinch doesn't have antenna, but I will know that 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:17.400 he has very animated eyebrows and these two kind of 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:20.200 horns of hair, which leads me to believe that they 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:22.720 might be antenna. They're simply covered in hair that's just 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:25.560 a loose theory. That's true, it's hard to tell. I 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:27.720 saw that little mop. I kept staring at that little 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:29.959 mom trying to figure out because what could it be. 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:32.120 In the animated version, there's that great scene where he 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.360 gets the idea, uh, and he smiles and it's the 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:40.600 most devious smile ever brought to the moving picture. Now, 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:44.360 from the Whoville Wikipedia, it states that the grinch is 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:46.600 known to be of a different species than the who's 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:51.280 being stated as a what. And moreover, in the story, 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:53.680 the grinch is described as being as strong as ten 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:57.960 grinches plus two, implying that perhaps a grinch is its 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:02.920 own species. To who's call him of what? How very how? 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.120 How very alienating of them to do that to to 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:08.920 who it's who? It's tied up with your identity, right 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:13.760 and what? That's very dehumanizing. Well, keep a handle on that, 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:18.440 because I feel like this will become important discussion fodder, uh, 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:23.120 for when we talk about epiphanies. Now, the grinch is constitution, 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:30.680 as we all know, super grumpy, antisocial, neurotic, aggressive, depressive, 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:36.400 you could even say, vindictive, and possibly even fulfilling a 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:44.400 neurotic need for power by exploiting his companion Max the dog. Yeah, 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:49.480 the relationship between the Grinch and max Is is perhaps 0:04:49.520 --> 0:04:54.160 a little borderline abuse of at times. But but but 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:57.360 he's a you know, it's a service animal. That's that's 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:00.680 that's that's animal. Yeah. I don't see anything on there 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:04.080 that says do not pet. Well, it's implied, you know, 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:06.880 the horn on the head, positioning in the front of 0:05:06.880 --> 0:05:10.559 the sway like clearly. Uh, you know, the Grinch sees 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:13.120 this as an animal that aids him in his endeavors. 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:17.160 He makes a great foil, does now The image of 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:20.520 the Grinch in that cave on a mantaintop really brings 0:05:20.520 --> 0:05:24.760 to mind a jetty or better yet another creature and 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:31.080 I'm talking about from the epic tale bail Wolf. Yes, uh, 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:33.279 this is this is something I just keep thinking about 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.040 this Christmas season. I never thought of it before, but 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:38.120 it it's it comes up every now and then. We're 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:40.800 not the first people to to talk about Grindel and 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:45.160 Grinch as very similar entities, because you have one that's 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:48.480 a cave dwelling monster that haunts the Danish moors, and 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.520 the other lives within the microcosm of the hood despec 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:55.640 one taliens in bloodshed, the other in Christmas Cheer. But 0:05:55.800 --> 0:05:59.400 both stories concern a loan outside or a to quote 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:03.279 the words of authored John Gardner, who who wrote the 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:05.480 book Grindel, which is the story of Baowulf and Grendel. 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:09.919 From Grendel's perspective, uh, the creature is quote a shadow 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:13.200 shooter and earth room roamer, a walker of the world's 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:18.680 weird wall, a perpetual outsider that is uh, that's barely 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:21.919 even a part of the the world of man, or 0:06:21.960 --> 0:06:24.320 in this case, the world of the Who's Yeah, there's 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:27.719 a sense of suffering there. And according to Courtney che 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.960 writing for Humanities three sixty, she says the first and 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:34.480 most apparent similarity between Grendel and the Grench other names 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.800 both begin with a sound Grin the Online Etymology Dictionary 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:42.640 states that the Old English word grenian means to show 0:06:42.920 --> 0:06:46.719 the teeth in pain or anger, and an old Norse 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:51.599 the word crena means to howl indeed, uh And and 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:55.000 you know, in both cases the creature is is just 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.280 really irritated by the noise and the grinch and the noise, 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:01.000 the noise, the noise, and in bow will fuh it 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:04.600 is written, then the mighty war spirit endured for a season, 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:08.240 bore it bitterly, he who bided in darkness. That lighthearted 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.520 laughter aloud in the building greeted him daily. There was 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:15.520 dulcet heart music, clear song of the singer. And uh. 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:21.080 And so Grendel sets out to attack uh the mead 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:23.960 hall of Herod and uh and it's important to know 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:28.400 that the mead hall here is the center of Danish culture. Like, 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:31.160 he's striking at the heart of the Dames. He's striking 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:33.520 at their merriam. And he's starting at the He's striking 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:36.480 at the glue that holds them together through the dark winter. 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:39.200 Right and uh and and the Grinch is doing much 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:41.560 the same thing. He is striking at their Christmas. He's 0:07:41.560 --> 0:07:45.720 striking at their their central belief and their central um, 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:49.040 the very heart of their culture. Yes, there's a merriment, right, 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:52.800 there's the feasting. And when he attacks them, Grendel, they 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:56.960 are asleep from their feasting nuts, unlike the Who's who 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:02.480 lay a snooze exactly. Um. But it had had Cindy, 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:06.440 had Cindy lou Dane woken up and wandered into the 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:08.920 meat hall, she would have met with a very different fate. 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:12.400 She would just be gulped down. There will be no discussion. 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:16.280 Oh yes, torn apart. Now, the biggest difference, of course, 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:20.160 is that Grenville's vengeance and hatred makes them incapable of 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:24.000 connecting with anyone else. Right, He's got different motivations too, Yeah, 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:27.400 and some other issues I think too, don't we all Yeah, 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:29.720 And also I'm you know, theo Wolf is a bit 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:34.040 of a jerk. Well, yeah, so it's not like the 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:36.120 Danes are not doing a great job of reaching out 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:38.440 to Grenville, right, and so he's not going to have 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:42.800 that epiphany like the Grinch. R. Yeah. But nonetheless, there 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:44.959 are so many similarities between the two you can't help 0:08:45.040 --> 0:08:47.960 but mention them. Indeed, Yes, and I would love to see, uh, 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:51.280 some sort of adaptation that combines these two in a 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:55.600 in a more festive manner. All Right, we're gonna take 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:57.320 a quick break on that note, and when we come back, 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:00.560 we're going to discuss the physiology of the because we 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:09.280 know at least one crucial thing about it. All right, 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:14.000 we're back. We're back. And one of the distinguishing physiological 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:16.640 features of the Grinch is of course that his heart 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:20.600 is two sizes too small. Yes, and this seems to 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:25.520 be both a physical and figurative situation. For the most part, 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:27.000 from what we can tell, we have a little X 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:29.520 ray that comes into frame and shows you that the 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.200 heart is is literally too small, and also his love 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:35.160 for his uh, his fellow creature seems to be somewhat 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:38.520 lacking as well. Indeed, so we look to the human 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:41.560 world to try to explain some of the reasons why 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:44.720 this may be so, at least on the physical level. Yeah, now, 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:46.600 I do want to say one quick thing about why 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:49.320 it is definitely a problem. Because the grinch is living 0:09:49.320 --> 0:09:53.040 at a very high altitude, right and uh, and so 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:56.319 he's living in a glow oxygen environment. So if he 0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:00.000 if his species, if you will truly evolve to throw 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:02.800 I have at high altitudes, then that species would boast 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:07.480 slower development, delayed maturity, greater lung volume, and a larger heart. 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:11.360 Has pointed out in the book Essentials of Physical Anthropology, 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:14.680 we find all four of these attributes in lifelong high 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:19.200 altitude human residents. So his heart is too small for 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:22.640 his environment. Well, especially if you consider that the grinch 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:26.600 and the Who's evolved convergently with one another, as possible 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:31.600 that the grinch has a heart that is really better 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:36.920 adapted to um higher levels of oxygen, which would find 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:39.480 on the ground right right, So it's it's hard to 0:10:39.520 --> 0:10:41.880 tell where this is coming from. It could be maybe 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:46.400 the Grinch is actually at lower levels of altitude, but 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:48.920 now as an outsider has decided to live on this 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:53.040 mountaintop and therefore doubt by the Who's, Yes, he's been 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:56.360 excommunicated by the Who's and now here he is with 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:59.360 his heart. She size is too small to deal with 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:02.920 a lack of oxygen the high altitudes. It's okay, I 0:11:02.960 --> 0:11:05.120 like this theory, and it plays into some other arguments 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:07.280 they're gonna make later in the podcast concerning the origins 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:09.880 of the Grinch. But another idea, maybe that's not a 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:13.200 Grench heart in his chest. Maybe it is a whole heart. 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:17.880 Because in in, indeed, when it comes to you a 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:23.199 human heart transplant, transplantation UM underside replatement, replacements are are 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:26.559 certainly an issue of concern because you you know, when 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:29.240 it when it comes to heart availability, you're not always 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.319 able to match up everything perfectly. You know, you're you're 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:35.960 matching across genders, um, you know, ultimately across different people. 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.280 So sometimes the heart is a is a bit smaller 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:41.520 than it would ideally be for that chest cavity. Yeah, 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:45.080 and what you're describing is actually called the Grinch syndrome. 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:52.079 In some cases it is a postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:54.960 And it sounds like one of the things that Who 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:57.880 gets on Christmas Morning one of the instruments. It is 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:02.000 actually um and most patients have a heart that is 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:05.079 indeed two sizes too small. And this effects about five 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:09.040 hundred thousand Americans, primarily young women. So again, this is 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:12.400 something that is really taken into consideration when you are 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:15.720 looking at donors. So if this were the case, Uh, 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:18.280 you could imagine that in all that junk up there 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:20.440 in the mountain, on the top of Mount Crumpet. Uh, 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:23.559 perhaps the Grinch has some sort of automated surgical theater 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:27.320 that performed this procedure once upon a time. And why not, 0:12:27.440 --> 0:12:29.880 I mean, he has a sewing machine. It's true. It's true. 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:34.520 Perhaps Max has has a skill set that we were 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.439 just not privy to in the book or in the film, 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:39.960 or or perhaps the Who's did it themselves before they 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:41.520 shunned him and pushed him up to the top of 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:44.920 a mountain. In any case, you put someone up there 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:47.880 with a heart that's much too small for that altitude. 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:50.160 You're gonna get some dizziness, You're gonna get some very 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:53.199 unclear thinking, You're gonna get a lot of crappiness. Yeah, 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:57.240 it's going to definitely, I think contribute to his his 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:01.240 ill demeanor. Indeed, now not laud is known about his 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:06.000 actual ears. Um. Perhaps they're situated underneath all of that 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:10.360 that for the cladding his body. But it could be 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:13.480 that he's just highly sensitive to noise. And we know 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:18.199 that the human ear canal actually amplifies noises in the 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:21.400 range of two thousand to five thousand hurts um. So 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:25.760 that's why I like things like knives, scraping plates, or 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:29.920 nails on a chalkboard are so terrible sounding, because they 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:33.320 inhabit that range and they kind of ricochet around in 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:36.320 the ear canal. So could it be that all that merriment, 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:39.600 all all of that singing is occupying that same space. 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:42.120 It could be it's hitting the sweet spot for him, 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:46.280 or the spot as it were. Well, the noise, noise, noise, 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:49.199 that's the one thing he hated. Yeah, yeah, and that's ultimately, 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:51.320 I mean, that's that's what makes him decide, Hey, I'm 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:52.839 gonna go down there and I'm going to cut this 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:56.480 noise out, all those fancy bells and whistles they get 0:13:56.520 --> 0:13:59.040 Christmas morning, I'm going to take rid of to take 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:01.000 care of that. And that's ing may do. There's gonna 0:14:01.000 --> 0:14:03.960 be no cause for that either, because I'm stealing everything 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:07.640 that's right. Because when I am perched atop my mountain, 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:10.880 particularly on the edge, and I'm really like leaning down 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:14.120 to here, I know that sound is reflecting off of 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:17.920 really hard surfaces like rock, water, or ice. And I'm 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:20.680 that grinch and I'm mad about this. And that's to 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:23.680 say nothing about what's going on inside that cave. Indeed, 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:27.520 if you think of the ear canal as as amplifying sound, 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:31.200 essentially the cave that the that the Grinch is in 0:14:31.280 --> 0:14:34.040 is another ear canal. It is, I mean, because if 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:36.400 you you look at it, there's hard surfaces that are 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:40.720 surrounding the Grinch, perfect for amplifying sounds, since any noise 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:43.760 that would appear to enter the cave or that was 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:46.000 made inside of it would bounce off the cave walls 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:47.480 and it would be picked up by the ears. And 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.360 in this sense, there's a twin to each noise a 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:52.840 kind of shadow noise, and this gets into a really 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:57.240 interesting area of research called arco acoustics. UM. One of 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:00.000 the main guys behind all of this is a US researchers, 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:04.400 Steven Waller, Uh, and he's looked extensively at at Lascaux 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:08.440 caves in France, these ancient caves, cave art on the sides, 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:11.280 you know, animals, that that kind of thing, and he 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:14.840 believes that the echoes of ritual clapping outside of those 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:18.560 caves would have sounded like hundreds of hoofs drumming on 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:21.560 the ground. So he thinks that the the the design 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.080 of the caves, the positioning of the art, all of that, 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:29.760 um is orchestrated with the sound amplification in mind. Yeah, 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:32.880 these kind of sound illusions that come from it. And 0:15:32.920 --> 0:15:35.760 we were talking earlier, You think that perhaps the hooves 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:39.000 might be behind this. Yes, yeah, it does make me 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:41.960 think that. Um. You know, Weller pointed out quote ancient 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.960 mythology explains echoes from the mouths of caves as replies 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.600 from spirits. Our ancestors may have made cave paintings in 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.520 response to these echoes and their belief that echo spirits 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:54.240 inhabited rocky places such as caves or canyons. Uh. So, 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:57.120 taking this thinking about the Grinch, thinking about the Grinch 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:59.600 is a creature that has been shunned and even placed 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:04.440 there by the Who's Perhaps they also created this cave 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:08.400 so that whoever's occupying that create that cave, whoever is 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:11.840 the Grinch, will steadily be driven mad by the amplified 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:16.040 sounds of merriment far below. Um and and i'll and i'll, 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:19.480 I'll talk more about this as we we progress, but 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:22.600 it's all part of my theory that the grinch um 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:26.840 has an important, crucial even role to play, uh annual 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:30.440 role to play in the culture of the Who's Well. 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:33.120 And in this sense, he's kind of like the cramp 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:36.800 Us that the anti clause, right, So we'll talk about 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:40.520 this a little bit more in the epiphanes Um discussion. 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:42.920 But what I think is interesting is here he is 0:16:42.960 --> 0:16:48.480 sequestered away, completely isolated. Perhaps um he is experiencing these 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:52.480 sound illusions and going a little bit mad from it. Now, 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:55.240 the isolation aspect of this, I think is a really 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:56.960 big deal. Um, we should take a quick break, and 0:16:57.000 --> 0:16:59.240 when we get back, we're going to talk about Grinch 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:06.640 on his only mountain top. All right, we're back. So 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:10.040 there's the Grinch up in his cave up the mount Crumpet, 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:14.240 far far, far from the who civilization down below. Um, 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:16.200 it would seem that he isn't you know, he would 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:20.040 be in a very splendid uh area of isolation, that 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:22.760 he would be far from from any of the sounds 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.720 that might bother him. No, not at all. We we 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:27.400 tend to think that we talked about this in our 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:30.719 episode Splendid Isolation, this idea that if you could just 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:34.040 get some quiet and isolation, and maybe you could even 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:37.840 live like one year completely isolated, that you could finally 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:41.840 sort of unwind and let you the flowers of your 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:46.920 brain bloom. But no, what happens is that those flowers 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:49.520 get all sort of choked together and die off because 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:54.040 you're not having those sort of connections with people and 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:57.240 associations that you need that your brain craves. Yeah, I mean, 0:17:57.240 --> 0:17:59.160 you end up talking to a dog, dressing like Santa 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:03.440 Claus and and breaking into houses. Indeed, according to researcher 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.520 John Caciopo at the University of Chicago, of all people 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:11.200 are unhappy because of social isolation at any given moment. 0:18:11.960 --> 0:18:15.280 So he wanted to know, Hey, what's going on in 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:20.119 the minds of these folks who are isolated and they're unhappy, 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:23.560 And he recruited volunteers to look at some photos while 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:27.680 undergoing f m R I. Now this is this has 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:30.280 such an interesting twist to it. Um Some of the 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:33.479 participants have been identified as having an acute sense of 0:18:33.640 --> 0:18:37.159 social isolation and some were just you know, healthy volunteers 0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:40.560 that they had screened. Now, both groups viewed a series 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:44.280 of images, some with positive connotations like happy couple doing 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:49.119 funhappy things, and others with negative associations, such as scenes 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:54.320 of human conflict. Now, when the two groups watched pleasant imagery, 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:58.040 the area of the brain that recognizes rewards showed a 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:03.119 significantly greater response non lonely people than in lonely people. Similarly, 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:07.399 the visual cortex of lonely subjects responded much more strongly 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:13.119 to unpleasant images of people than to unpleasant images of objects. 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:19.960 This suggests that the intention of lonely people maybe especially 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:23.919 drawn to human conflict, and that what's interesting about this 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:27.480 is that the nominally subject showed no difference here, So 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:31.639 it was the lonely subjects who were particularly taken with 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:34.920 these scenes of conflict, and this this instantly brings to 0:19:35.000 --> 0:19:39.080 mind an image of someone who's isolated themselves inside of 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:42.000 their apartment and they're just watching nothing but but cable 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:44.199 news over and over again and yelling at it yea, 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:47.119 and yelling at it, just glutting themselves on conflict and 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:51.240 engaging with the conflict and really feeling a lot of stress. Um. 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:53.840 There's a two thousand seven study from the University of 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:57.119 Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, and they reported that 0:19:57.200 --> 0:20:00.040 the anxiety and aggression that results from social isol a 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:04.240 trace to altered levels of an enzyme that controls the 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:07.720 production of a brain hormone. The in the two enzymes 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:12.120 in this case are needed for the production of allo pregnantoline, 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:15.840 a brain hormone that acts to reduce stress through regulation 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:19.760 of gabba uh, an important neuro transmitter. So the suggestion 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:23.000 here is that increased levels of isolation, it's going to 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:26.199 impact your ability to roll with stress and regulate your 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:29.439 own stress on a on a on a on a 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:32.960 neurological scale. Right, and um, one of the ways that 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:36.200 you might deal with stress is to communicate with others. Right, 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:39.240 to unburden yourself. And again he does not have that luxury. 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:43.399 Yes Max, Yes, Max, But Max seems and and and 0:20:43.480 --> 0:20:47.639 rightly so a bit reserved. Yes, Max does not speak 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:53.359 despite being a cartoon storybook dog. He merely just rolls 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:55.560 with the punches. Yeah. And you know, we talked about 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:58.960 the dysfunctional families. Just would be the lost child, right, 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:01.359 and one that receives to the shadows because he's like, 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:04.520 forget it. I don't want to raise the hackles of 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:07.440 the Grinch, but you know, I think the stage is 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:10.320 pretty well set here that you have this, this creature 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:19.400 who is tormented UM, auditorially fermented UM and psychologically tormented 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:23.400 and as a result, perhaps having a mental breakdown. Now, 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:27.520 in the BBC documentary alone The Brain Century, Deprivation and Isolation, 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:31.760 six people were deprived of sensory input. They were essentially 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:34.840 put in solitary confinement for about forty eight hours, and 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:38.400 one of the findings is that at around our thirty 0:21:38.400 --> 0:21:42.680 people began to pace back and forth, and a lot 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:44.480 of people who were looking at the footage said, this 0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:48.720 is a lot like animals in captivity. And perhaps one 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:50.880 of the reasons why they're doing this is that they're 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:54.520 trying to create some sort of sensory input for their brains. 0:21:54.560 --> 0:21:56.280 Because we've talked about this before. This is one of 0:21:56.280 --> 0:21:58.360 the reasons why you can't be isolated for a long time. 0:21:58.600 --> 0:22:01.320 Your brain needs something to a non it needs a bone, 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:04.520 and a lot of time other people are those bones. 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:08.960 And again, if you if you have someone who has 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:12.520 sequestered themselves in your brain, isn't getting this sort of 0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:15.920 input that it would normally get. The unconscious has very 0:22:15.960 --> 0:22:20.359 little information to play with and to mold into a story. 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:23.399 And that story of I. You know, we've talked about this, 0:22:23.560 --> 0:22:26.800 the me, the who I am, And that's when you 0:22:26.840 --> 0:22:30.520 begin to see some some aspects of mental breakdown sometimes 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:35.359 because there isn't that cohesive, uh, sense of self that's 0:22:35.400 --> 0:22:39.000 bolstered by others or even mirrored by other people around you. 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:42.639 All Right, So the Grinch, this uh, this miserable creature, 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:47.560 driven half mad by the merriment of the who's, finally breaks, 0:22:47.600 --> 0:22:50.720 finally snaps stresses up like Santa Claus descends down on 0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:53.159 Christmas night while the Who's are asleep in their beds, 0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:58.240 steals just about everything, even raid the refrigerator packs it 0:22:58.240 --> 0:23:00.679 all up on the sleigh, he takes it up and 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:02.840 he's about to dump it, right, He's about to just 0:23:02.960 --> 0:23:06.320 throw it into the abyss and u and wish him 0:23:06.320 --> 0:23:09.520 a merry Christ. But he's waiting, Remember, he's waiting on 0:23:09.520 --> 0:23:12.000 that ledge. He's waiting for them to wake up and 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:15.320 realize that all of their little goodies have been stolen 0:23:15.359 --> 0:23:17.840 from them. Right, that's the ultimate reward, more so than 0:23:17.880 --> 0:23:22.080 just the material theft involved here. He wants to break them, 0:23:22.119 --> 0:23:26.600 to break who culture itself, and just send them into despair. 0:23:27.640 --> 0:23:30.640