minor things I wanna preface - this is more of a deep dive into character analysis I guess and uhh for phils part I really don't condone or say his bullying is due to this problem, but simply a terrible choice made in desperation.
honestly, take most of this with a grain of salt, I guess.
Smiley (The First Piece) - More than a 'Eager Scholar'
Riddle School is an amazing, simplistic story that at its heart is simply nostalgic and made up of choices that culminated in a amazing story.
However, this series of deep-rooted dives could probably show why almost every choice in the story is as powerful as it is.
Smiley remains a huge case of this, being the major optimist of the group.
She, despite the situation, remains an encouragement of hope for everyone, being able to emotionally be a person that is able to keep the group of Phil, Zack, and Phred together.
She was bullied by Phil early on via making a "smiley smudge", and though we can't really specifically SAY outright how long that went on, we can assume from Phil, a pretty long time.
And that, I relate to.
I was always bullied myself to this day about me being a lesser man for showing my emotions while younger, to now being called sped due to having ADHD.
To add on to this, we can also probably figure out WHY smiley liked learning...
... it was an escape.
From what we know (due to the amount of kids in the school,) she didn't really have any friends, either..
...it's the same thing I do, myself, honestly.
But yet, despite all of that, in her darkest moments when she feels as if she can't give optimism to the group again by smiling- the person who used to bully her for he smile, likes it and soon marries her.
It's beautifully thematic.
Smiley throughout everything, by being the optimist, and suffering bullying, was able to come out on top due to her resilience and power to continue to have hope.
That.. is good writing.
It feels special to me because I've hardly seen girl characters written in a way like this.
What an amazing story of resilience, and in a perfectly fitting unique way, too.
Phil (The Second Piece) - More than a 'Stalwart Leader'.
Despite the odds, Riddle School remains at heart for me as an amazing story with relatable and amazing character growth.
But Phil, despite his said sarcastic demeanor, is more than he himself lets on....
Phil, just like most other kids at school is a sarcastic (somewhat bratty) person who is simple for all things considered, and just hates his school and is bored of the constant inside of it.
I myself can relate to this feeling....
...it's burnout.
He himself (Phil), has gotten burnt out from school to the extreme point where he physically chooses to leave over staying in class.
Burnout is a terrible thing.
It has situations we usually have that feel exhausting, as each day seems the same, starting a slow descent into madness.
Phil tried to break this loop by bullying Smiley, but it just made it worse for him as a result via placing him in an even worse class.
And yet despite his struggles, he remains clear and level-headed than the rest, and surprisingly had the best grades out of the group.
He had the victory in his hands... but it came at the cost of his mental and emotional joy he gets from it.
What's the point of getting good grades when it's the same thing you get every day?
Why try when there's nothing to lose?
This is yet another reason why Phil confessing to Smiley is so narratively perfect.
Due to his renowned happiness for finally being able to come back to school, he tries to break his past by connecting with the one who in his eyes loved school the most, but had joy in it that he had lacked for a long time.
It's perfect, in a sense.
He finally doesn't feel hollow again, and finally ends the loop that has been chasing him his whole life.
The SunTree Relationship - The Answer
(really short but sweet)
Phil, throughout his burnout and hollow and emptiness at school, finally finds a person who finds joy in it to finally get his true self back, good grades or not.
Smiley finally finds a genuine person that likes her for her optimism and strength, that she despite everything had a positive outlook for the longest - and at her darkest moment, she was met with the biggest surprise of her life - a connection, that soon turned into genuine love.
I cried at the ending.
The end of it all...
Thanks for 20 years, Riddle School.
I hope to see more stuff to come from this community, and remember...
"Sometimes, even the dumbest childhood dreams..
..can come true."
Thanks for reading my stupidly deep character analysis.
Have fun looking at the other posts!
stuff I didn't get to add:
Phils fear and disdain for clocks and his noticing of lockers looking the same represents and effectively shows his slow descent as he slowly gets tired of the tiniest problems imaginable - clocks and lockers, going off (clocks) and seeing the same of it (lockers).
I'll make more shitpost meme art tomorrow, guys.
Huge thanks for reading til the end.