Squirrel of the Month--June 2012

I know it's a day late, but at least it's not a dollar short. At the request of my daughter, the Squirrel of the Month for June 2012 is S.I.M.P. from Phineas and Ferb.

S.I.M.P., or Squirrels in My Pants, is a song from the first season of Phineas and Ferb, which is one of my daughter's favorite shows. I wholeheartedly approve of the show. It's very age-appropriate for my daughter and has a good mix of fantastic fantasy (the implausible) and inspirational fantasy (encouraging creativity and curiosity).

The song itself is from the "Comet Kermillian" episode in which Candace attempts to spend time with Jeremy (her obsession/boyfriend), but is thwarted by his evilly cute little sister Suzy. Of course, Jeremy never really sees the evil side of his cavity-inducing sweet sister. She saves that for Candace (and Buford the bully, as alluded to in another episode). Suzy is very jealous of her time with her brother, so she does everything she can to push away Candace. In this case she slingshots an acorn into the rear of Candace's jeans and a pack of squirrels chases after it. Candace "dances" around with the squirrels, shrieking and cavorting in an attempt to get them out. I can only imagine what her legs would look like with all the scratches if this were a live-action scene. In her writhing, Candace enters an open space in the park where 2 Guyz N the Parque--a pair of street rappers--are performing in front of a small crowd. They use Candace's plight to ad-lib a song/rap called S.I.M.P. It's a catchy tune, and it's a little funny to see just how many unrelated rhymes they can come up with to keep the song going. In the end, however, the squirrels escape, presumably with acorn in hand, and Candace is free to fear anything else Suzy might devise as torment. The rappers are disappointed to find that the squirrels were real, though, and this represents the first instance in which the "public" mistakes a real concern of the main cast of characters as a metaphor of some kind (other examples are "There's a platypus controlling me!" and the notion of "busting my brothers" being misinterpreted with some deeper meaning that never existed). After her ordeal, just when she thinks she can take a breather, Candace is shown a group of squirrels--held by the tail--by Suzy. She screams and runs away, much to the bemusement of Jeremy. Yay for classical conditioning! (I'm a psychologist, remember.) Don't worry, though. Her fear of squirrels does not seem to develop into a phobia, as it's never really brought up in any other episodes.

So, thank you S.I.M.P. (Squirrels in My Pants) for showing us that 1) it is possible to come up with deep philosophical B.S. for things even if there is no deeper meaning and 2) squirrels can be used for good and for evil, but they themselves are not inherently evil.