PEPSI Screening: Helga Pataki

Bryson Atud

March 26th, 2017

EDU 220

PEPSI Screening

Helga Pataki
PEPSI Screening: Helga Pataki

One of my favorite television shows that I watched growing up was a show called Hey

Arnold. Aired on the Nickelodeon Channel back in 1996, Hey Arnold was about the everyday

life of a fourth grader named Arnold as well as his friends and family. What makes Hey Arnold

special is how the show displays all the eccentric characters and what they go through, with

Arnold coming in and giving them life advice which strengthens the character. The show

displays amazing character development that most animated (and even live shows) fail to do at

times; however, despite this, most of the characters in Hey Arnold are pretty one sided when it

comes to personality, including Arnold himself. There is one character, however, who is very

complex, who displays multiple personalities, and who develops throughout the course of the

show. She is one of my favorite characters in the show and resembles what some children are

experiencing in their own household. As the female lead of the show, Helga Geraldine Pataki is

one of the most intriguing character that the show offers and is one of my favorite characters.

Being nine years old in the fourth grade like Arnold at their school, P.S. 118, Helga embodies

what most girls her age go through growing up. One characteristic about Helga, however, is she

acts like a bully to the children at school, most she mostly picks on Arnold. Helga has a secret

crush on Arnold, so constantly bullying him is a way to both hide her affections towards Arnold

and to get close to him. There is a lot of different factors about Helga Pataki that makes her an

interesting character to watch, which is why I chose her for my PEPSI screening.

As mentioned before, Helga is nine years old and is in the fourth grade. While her weight

and height is not determined in the show, Helga has a slender appearance, so she is lightweight,

possibly around 90-100 pounds. She appears to be taller than most of her peers. On average,

fourth graders are around 4 feet, so being one of the tallest kids in the fourth grade, it is safe to

assume shes about 5 feet. It is quite hard to determine Helgas physical development based from
PEPSI Screening: Helga Pataki

her parents genetics as the show displays her parents with different personalities and physical

attributes. In Hey Arnold, Helga is described as a tomboy, a girl who embrace their masculine

side, often coming late or never to traditional feminity. (Showfety 2008) Because of this,

Helga often acts like shes one of the guys, despite being seen wearing a pink dress and pigtails.

At her age, Helga loves playing sports, particularly football with the boys. According to an

article by Brooke De Lench entitled Sports Benefit Girls in Many Way, Lench stated that

sports teach girls commitment, respect for others, how to relax, concentrate under stress, set and

achieve goals, accept responsibility and failure and be gracious winners. (Lench) While the

show doesnt quite show the effects of Helga after playing football, some episodes do show

Helga being an achiever in her academics. Also, sports is another way for Helga to keep her

mind from personal issues, such as her home life with her family. Helga is physically tough

against others outside of sports as well. While she is not tough against bigger kids, Helga is able

to beat up people, particularly against fourth grade student Brainy, who has a crush on Helga.

This type of characteristic is what classifies Helga as a bully at her school. Helga is known to be

very antagonistic towards everyone, especially Arnold, whom she bullies the most. Nobody

really knows why she bullies people, not even Helga herself. Most bullying in schools comes

from young girls, and there is a reason why. Susan Davis article on the WebMD website entitled

Mean Girls: Why Girls Bully and How to Stop Them, she writes, the topic of girl bullying is

not new. Dozens of lay books and scholarly journals have explored the ways relational

aggression tactics such as exclusion, rumor mongering, and Internet harassment can damage

girls self-esteem. (Davis) She also writes how girls are impacted to bullying, stating that some

characteristics of a girl bully are jealousy, feelings of superiority, poor impulse control, and lack

of empathy. (Davis) Helgas backstory was not fully explored until later in the series, but most
PEPSI Screening: Helga Pataki

of these qualities, such as jealousy and low self-esteem are what makes Helga the bully that

everyone sees.

Helgas emotional development is quite intriguing, which is why she always steals the

show. She is a snobby, sarcastic, and a bossy girl who lacks any feminine qualities. However,

Helga does contain hidden emotions that nobody has ever seen. For one, she is very affectionate

and caring towards people that she loves, including her crush Arnold. But this personality is

never revealed to the public; instead, she shows her cold-sided personality to everyone, causing

everyone to either fear her or be disgusted with her. She bullies Arnold the most, but after

insulting the young man, she goes someplace private to release her true feelings for him,

expressing her love for him and regretting ever acting cold to him. This type of trait in which she

displays both these vastly different personalities would diagnosed Helga with Bipolar Disorder.

A bipolar disorder is a mental illness marked by extreme shifts in mood ranging from mania to

depression. (Legg 2016) Timothy J. Legg of Healthline.com also writes in his Bipolar Disorder

article that people with bipolar disorder may have trouble managing everyday life tasks, at

school or work, or maintaining relationships. (Legg 2016). This is very true as Arnold is the

only person that she thinks about. She can never concentrate in class because shes thinking of

Arnold, she writes poems about him, she carries a locket with a picture with him, and she even

created a shrine of Arnold hidden in her closet (she makes this with fruits). Helgas affections

towards Arnold is more than just a simple crush, its almost an obsession. Its safe to say that

Helga most likely has Borderline Personality Disorder. Symptoms for BPD includes recurring

pattern of instability in relationships, efforts to avoid abandonment, identity disturbance,

impulsivity, emotional instability, and chronic feelings of emptiness. (Bressert) It appears that

Helga cant quite live without Arnold because he is the person that keeps her emotions in check.
PEPSI Screening: Helga Pataki

There was an episode in the show where she seeks help from a psychic to help her keep her mind

off Arnold; however, this proves to fail as it makes Helga emotionless. In some ways, bullying

Arnold seems like a good thing because it helps Helga get close to Arnold and helps her connect

with him in ways she was not able to before.

One of my favorite episodes in Hey Arnold is called Helga on the Couch. This episode

was considered as one of the best episodes on the show because it sheds a lot of light on Helgas

character unlike any other character. In the episode, a psychologist named Dr. Bliss arrives to

P.S. 118 and takes an interest in Helga. She offers Helga to meet with her to talk more about her.

This episode essentially sets up Helgas philosophical, and moral development, explaining why

Helga became who she is based off life experiences, and the things she has done right or wrong.

Life growing up in the Pataki household was difficult for Helga as she was neglected by her

parents. Her father, Robert Bob Pataki is a pager salesman, but his job prevents him from

spending time with Helga. Helga does somewhat have a close relationship with her mother,

Miriam Pataki, as she is a stay at home mom providing for the family. Miriam, however, is

neglectful to her daughter as well as she appears to be an alcoholic and is mostly seen sleeping

and acting confused (since this is a childrens show, the creators uses smoothies as a metaphor

for alcohol. Miriam would make smoothies at times when she needs to drink). Parents that are

neglectful have little emotional involvement with their kids. While they provide for basic needs

like food and shelter, they are uninvolved in their childrens lives. The degree of involvement

may vary considerably. (Cherry 2016) Helgas parents arent completely neglectful as they do

involve themselves in her life, such as Bob supporting Helga in the spelling bee and being her

partner during the Parents Day events. Regardless, her parents still do ignore Helgas needs and

wants; such as in one episode, Helga tries her hardest to create a perfect Thanksgiving for her
PEPSI Screening: Helga Pataki

family, but they completely ignore her and concentrate more on their own needs. Helga also has

an older sister, name Olga Pataki, who is in her early twenties and goes to college out of state.

Like Helga, Olga is an overachiever. She has straight As, loves playing the piano, and is very

involved in many charitable type programs, like the Big Sister Program, where she acts like a

sibling to a lonely child. Olgas achievements foreshadow Helgas, and their parents takes notice

of Olga more and favoring her over Helga, causing Helga to be jealous of her big sister. Jealousy

is very common in children, but it can lead to dangerous effects. Jacqueline Curtis of Money

Crashers covers child jealousy in her article How to Help Your Kids Overcome & Deal with

Jealousy 4 Causes. She states, a jealous child cant escape the constant presence of a sibling

who seems more accomplished, cooler, or smarter, or who is more attention-seeking. Envy left

unaddressed can fester and taint an otherwise healthy sibling relationship. (Curtis) She also

writes, Sibling jealousy is completely normal, but parents can add fuel to the fire by using

improper language or discipline. (Curtis) The effects of jealousy can cause a child to have

lowered self-esteem, aggression toward other kids, a feeling of helplessness, bullying, and

isolation. (Curtis) This right here is the root to Helgas personality. All these qualities are what

creates Helgas character in the show. It was her parents love for Olga that causes Helga to be

aggressive towards others. Near the end of the episode, Helga on the Couch, Helga explains

that when she was in pre-school, her parents ignored her when she needed to go to school and

instead focused on Olga. This lead Helga to walk to school alone in the rain, which is very

dangerous for a young child, getting wet in the rain, getting her lunch stolen by a dog. It was one

of the most eye opening and heartbreaking moments for a parent. Helga may have lack of

attention from her parents, but there was one person who did give her the attention that she so

long craves for. When Helga finally arrives to preschool, somebody covered her with an
PEPSI Screening: Helga Pataki

umbrella from the rain and complimented her outfit. During lunch, one of the kids stole her

crackers and this young boy gave her his crackers. This young boy was none other than Arnold.

This kind gesture caused Helga to fall for Arnold, but when the kids laughed at her for having a

crush on another kid, this triggered Helga to become aggressive to the other kids, including

Arnold. However, she still has feelings for him and hides in places to profess her love for him in

private. Helgas affections for Arnold is characterized as Limerence, or obsessive thinking

about the object of your affection. (Sarkis 2012). However, Helga fears rejection, which is why

she has yet to reveal her feelings for Arnold, fearing that Arnold might not share the same

feelings for her. Stephanie Sarkis on her article Limerence: In Love, Obsessed, or Both?, she

states that the cruel side of fate is that your affection may not be felt by the other party. You

may tell yourself, He/she hasnt called because they are so busy. While this may hold true for a

couple days, if you havent heard back from your intended beloved for a week or two, its time to

reevaluate the situation. (Sarkis 2012). Aside from this, Helga does respect Arnold, loving how

he helps other kids and even seeks help from him in rough situations. Arnold is the most

important person in Helgas life as he basically helps develop her own moral standings. It was

Arnold who would teach Helga the rights and wrongs; such as in one episode when she, Arnold,

and their friends left a restaurant without paying. This was because Helga had a coupon for a free

dinner for four that was meant for a different restaurant. Arnold assures her she must apologize

to the owner for the inconvenience, in which she does, despite the consequences, but Arnold

calls her a classy lady for that. This in turns helps Helga to help Arnold as well, but without his

knowledge. One example of this is during the Christmas episode. Arnold tries to help Mr.

Hyunh, one of his friends that lives in the boarding house with him, to locate his daughter, whom

he never seen since their life in Vietnam. Arnold seeks help from a gentleman at a government
PEPSI Screening: Helga Pataki

office to locate Mr. Hyunhs daughter. The man makes a deal with Arnold, if he can do his

Christmas shopping, then hell help locate his friends daughter. Arnold fails to finish the

Christmas shopping, as the one item the man needed, a pair of snow boots, was sold out. Luckily

for Helga, her mother got her the snow boots for Christmas, which puts her to the ultimate test,

to help Arnold and help make him happy on Christmas, or be selfish. She made a tough decision,

and decided, from the bottom of her heart, to give the snow boots to the gentlemen at the

government office and they managed to find Mr. Hyunhs daughter. Although Arnold never

knew it was Helga who help reunite Mr. Hyunhs daughter, this type generosity displays that

Helga is a kind person inside than she appears outside. No matter how guilty she feels, whether

its cheating on a test, or humiliating another student, Helga will always do the right thing, and it

turn, it will make her a stronger person. Michelle Sowey of The Guardian states in her article,

Teaching Philosophy to Children? Its a Great Idea, she states that its important to teach

philosophy to children because, by setting children on a path of philosophical enquiry early in

life, we could offer them irreplaceable gifts, an awareness of lifes moral, aesthetic and political

dimensions; the capacity to articulate thoughts clearly and evaluate them honestly; and the

confidence to exercise independent judgement and self-correction. (Sowey 2013) Helgas

psychiatrist, Dr. Bliss, informs Helga that she does not have to tell Arnold right away her

feelings about him; instead, she can tell Arnold when she is ready. As for her philosophical

development, Dr. Bliss seems to accept the way Helga lives her life, but pleads her to be easy on

the kids, especially Brainy.

For somebody who is very headstrong and aggressive, Helgas social life is pretty

average. Helga does communicate with others, even if she doesnt get along with certain people,

and she always displays good sportsmanship when playing sports with the other kids. Referring
PEPSI Screening: Helga Pataki

to Brooke De Lenchs article, she gives more insight on how sports gives a girl a better social

life, stating that girls who play sports are more socially well-adjusted than girls who dont: entry

into an achievement-based social network, greater popularity among peers, and more community

involvement as adults. (Lench) She may not be the most popular girl in school, but the kids

allow Helga in their team as she is a very good player, despite being a girl. Helga has one best

friend, Phoebe Heyerdahl, who at times acts like Helgas secretary. Helga trusts Phoebe more

than anyone at P.S. 118, with Phoebe helping her in bizarre situations, such as when Helga has

sleepwalking troubles and Phoebe was tasked to watch her. Helga even trusts Phoebe with her

biggest secret, which is her crush on Arnold. Helga also displays great leadership among the kid.

One great example of this is when Helga was tasked to direct a play about healthy foods.

However, Helgas attitude made a lot of the kids not wanting to participate, including Arnold and

his friend Gerald, in which both almost ditched the play completely. Another example is when

she was part of a jury when one of the students is guilty of pulling the fire alarm. Helga oversaw

the jury, but instead of taking the innocent until proven guilty phase, she immediately

convicted the plaintiff guilty without considering the evidence and the scenario of the crime until

Arnold stepped in, making her a bit ignorant. In an article by Jared Zane Kessie entitled

Leadership Qualities: Teaching Kids to be Leaders, he states that a good leader will have

many qualities (Kessie 2016) and some of the qualities he displays are communication,

confidence, integrity, work ethic, and humble & teachable (Kessie 2016). Helga displays two

out of the five qualities, failing with integrity, work ethic, and humble & teachable. But these

qualities would come into play in later episodes, like how she purposely lose the spelling bee

after learning her father bribed Arnold to lose the competition, when she worked with the others

to help save their teacher who almost fell off the roof when trying to get home during a massive
PEPSI Screening: Helga Pataki

flood, and when she teaches Arnold that most people are not who they are inside than they do on

the outside in Valentines Day, when she disguises herself as Arnolds French pen pal.

Helga is a very intelligent girl. In one of the episodes entitled The Aptitude Test, Helga

received a perfect score on the test, and was the first to get it since her very own sister, Olga. But

what is an aptitude test and what does it determine? Dawn Rosenberg McKay of The Balance

explains that when a career description lists an aptitude among the qualifications one needs to

work in an occupation, it is referring to a natural talent or an ability an individual has acquired

through life experience, study or training. (McKay 2016) Helga is a very talented girl, having

the ability to write beautiful poems at a young age. Although most of her poems are about

Arnold, the fact she is about to creatively write poetry shows the type of skill set she has for the

future, a god given talent. However, Helga isnt necessarily as smart as see seems, receiving

average scores. There are moments where she failed math tests due to lack of motivation or

focus. However, thanks to her poetic nature, Helga excels well in literature. She remembers the

lines to Romeo & Juliet in one night when she was given the role of Juliet the last minute as well

as being praised by her teacher, Mr. Simmons for her literary work (even though Mr. Simmons

doesnt reveal her name in class due to Helga not wanting to be embarrassed in the class). Judith

Keinfelds article, Student Performance: Males versus Females states the research on gender

interaction in the classroom does not feature studies conducted in literature classes or in foreign

language classes, areas of female strength. In these classrooms, girls may well participate more

than boys. (Keinfeld) Where boys are more academically excelling in math and science, girls

excel well in literature, and Helgas lack in mathematical knowledge and her excelling in

literature is a prime example of that.

PEPSI Screening: Helga Pataki

Television shows are not meant for entertainment, but they reveal real life situations and

how they are handled. They create characters who are based off someones personal life or

embodies the typical life of a child or an adult. Helga Pataki is the embodiment of what most

children are going through in their lives. She grew up neglected by her parents and being

overshadowed by her older sister; with that lack of attention, it creates a jealous persona and

causes her to bully others. She very aggressive to the other kids as she does not want to be

judged or made fun of, and emotionally, shes very angry. However, if it wasnt for Arnold, most

of the positive qualities in Helga would disappear. She does the right thing in the end when she

makes bad decisions, shes very kind to the people she loves, she goes above and beyond to

make someone she loves happy, and furthermore, shes a caring person. Regardless of the

neglect, her family still cares for her, such as when she left during Thanksgiving, they did what

they could to get her back home safely. Helga is a relatable character to the youth, which is why

she is the most popular character on the show.

PEPSI Screening: Helga Pataki

Helgas Development Graph

PEPSI Screening: Helga Pataki
PEPSI Screening: Helga Pataki

References

Bressert, Steve. Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms. Retrieved March 20, 2017 from

https://psychcentral.com/disorders/borderline-personality-disorder-symptoms/

Cherry, Kendra. (2016, June 7) Physical Developmental Milestones. Retrieved March 20,

2017 from https://www.verywell.com/physical-developmental-milestones-2795119

Cherry, Kendra. (2016, May 9) What Is Uninvolved Parenting? Retrieved March 20, 2017

from https://www.verywell.com/what-is-uninvolved-parenting-2794958

Curtis, Jacqueline. How to Help Your Kids Overcome & Deal with Jealousy 4 Causes.

Retrieved March 20, 2017 from http://www.moneycrashers.com/help-kids-overcome-deal-

with-jealousy/

Davis, Susan. Mean Girls: Why Girls Bully and How to Stop Them. Retrieved March 20,

2017 from http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/mean-girls-why-girls-bully-and-how-

to-stop-them#1

De Lench, Brooke. Sports Benefit Girls in Many Ways. Retrieved March 20, 2017 from

http://www.momsteam.com/successful-parenting/sports-benefit-girls-in-many-ways

Kessie, Jared Zane. (2016, April 20) Leadership Qualities: Teaching Kids to be Leaders.

Retrieved March 20, 2017 from https://wehavekids.com/parenting/Leadership-Qualities-

Teaching-Kids-to-be-Leaders

Kleinfeld, Judith. Student Performance: Males Versus Females. Retrieved March 20, 2017

from http://www.judithkleinfeld.com/ar_studentperformance.html

Legg, Timothy J. (2016, September 27) Bipolar Disorder. Retrieved March 20, 2017 from

http://www.healthline.com/health/bipolar-disorder
PEPSI Screening: Helga Pataki

McKay, Dawn Rosenberg. (2016, September 24) What is Aptitude? Retrieved March 20,

2017 from https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-aptitude-526175

Sarkis, Stephanie, Ph.D. (2012, September 14) Limerence: In Love, Obsessed, or Both?

Retrieved March 20, 2017 from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/here-there-and-

everywhere/201209/limerence-in-love-obsessed-or-both

Showfety, Sarah. (2008, September 1) Field Guide to the Tomboy: High Heels and Pink? No

Way. Retrieved March 20, 2017, from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200809/field-guide-the-tomboy-high-heels-and-

pink-no-way

Sowey, Michelle. Teaching Philosophy to Children? Its a Great Idea. Retrieved March 20,

2017 from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/21/teaching-philosophy-

to-children-its-a-great-idea