Donald: Turning Raw Anger Into Unconditional Love
Frank, you weren’t kidding about how good this Donald episode was going to be. The inspiration he took from really enjoying A Goofy Movie, mentioned in a previous Tumblr answer toward an ask, shows in its true emotional beauty here, as we get a conclusive statement for why Donald has so much anger and it’s an excellent explanation for his behavior. Jones’ monologue overlapping with Donald’s build of anger was a real nice touch of poetic cinematography.
I found the source of his anger.
Donald’s anger issues stem from a fear that the world is out to get him and that no one understands him, quite literally.
His tendency to lash out was wildly unfocused, until you kids came along.
He came to me wanting to be the best parent he could, so he channeled that anger into protective instincts. Every outburst is Donald wanting to protect his family.
He loves you so much the very thought of anything bad happening to you infuriates him!
This insight of Donald going to a therapist for his anger issues was great, as it adds another very interesting layer to his characterization from this takeaway. He’s lived a life of never feeling understood nor sympathized with for whatever bad luck gets dumped onto him in life. Besides that classic bad luck of his, losing Della in the process caused a mountain of strong insecurities for himself once the triplets were born, since Donald realized he can’t just be lashing out anymore carelessly, like back in the old days when him and Della were still hanging around with Scrooge at the mansion before the Spear Of Selene tragedy happened. Donald, no doubt, viewed himself in a more negative light from that day forward after Huey, Dewey, Louie hatched, struggling to keep his emotions under control and not throw it onto them in an abusive manner. Donald had to change for the better, despite the depression he was going through of trying to cope with Della’s “death” and extreme bitter anger toward Scrooge. I mean, I don’t see why I never stopped to think that Donald ever had therapy or not and I absolutely adore that DuckTales 2017 explored this concept of an idea because it opens the flood gates for so many things that happened off screen, while he raised the children. Just picture it, Donald had to take care of Huey, Dewey, and Louie for the past decade while seeing the mannerisms they inherited from their mother which crushed him internally. As much as Donald probably wanted to say something, he kept quiet because not only didn’t he want their hearts getting crushed by the painful truth, but also he was still obviously coping with Della’s “passing”. There were most definitely nights where Donald cried himself to sleep, once the boys finally went to sleep. He struggled with so much self doubt of being a reliable and caring parent that the thought of failing probably kept him up many nights, too. That’s another likely factor for why that bulky folder contains so many filed session recordings from him, which is beyond heartbreaking in hindsight for how insecure Donald is in general. Knowing that anger management sessions of this therapy magnitude aren’t cheap is another reason why Donald struggled hardcore with the boys financially to boot. He threw lots of money into ironing out these problems of his for their sake, equivalent to what Scrooge did for trying to track down Della with an expansive search team.
Seriously, this episode deserves a large round of applause from Donald fans around the globe, for how poignant a new take it was on Donald’s struggles. It’s a perfect message for not only kids possibly struggling with anger issues, but ESPECIALLY adults as well. If I could ever meet Frank & the crew, I’d want to shake each of their hands for how much justice they’ve done for Donald’s character arc in this reboot. They keep finding new ways to surprise me with their writing and don’t want this joy ride to ever stop dead in its tracks.
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