What Would Sonic Do?

Last weekend, Sonic the Hedgehog was released in theaters to a whopping debut of $54 million, reviving interest in the market of video game adaptations. The SQD team had to go check out this phenomenon before commenting on it, but we were pleasantly surprised at how well it was executed, especially given the…er…incident.

Was anyone else kinda hoping they kept the original Sonic? That really scary creepy one with fingernails and human teeth? No? Just me…?

Besides the stellar story line, excellent graphics, and epic fan homages to Sonic’s origins, one element of Sonic’s character that appealed to me during the movie was that Sonic talks to himself. A lot.

At first, it took some getting used to. Most of his dialogue prior to interacting with Donut Lord are with himself. This simple act of full blown conversations helps Sonic alleviate his crushing loneliness. This character is supposed to appeal to the audience through his perseverance and endearing commentary, but his dialogue encourages us to look at the act of talking to ourselves as not completely weird but normal.

Most of us have engaged in this behavior at some point and experts like Dr. Jessica Nicolosi agree that it is perfectly normal. She tells NBC News that “If we speak out loud, it forces us to slow down our thoughts and process them differently because we engage the language centers of our brain,” explains Dr. Nicolosi. “By talking to ourselves we become more deliberate, and this creates a slower process to think, feel and act, instead of being bombarded by our thoughts.”

“By talking to ourselves we become more deliberate, and this create a slower process to think, feel and act, instead of being bombarded by our thoughts”

Others report that talking to yourself is actually a secret to success, allowing you to critical think about a task you are working on or a plan that you are formulating. Psychologist Gary Lupyan even says that you can surprise yourself in unexpected ways when you choose to verbalize your thoughts to yourself. “You don’t know everything you’re going to say – you can even surprise yourself” he states. Other psychologists report that memories and language skills can be improved through talking to yourself out loud. 

“You don’t know everything you’re going to say – you can even surprise yourself”

The fact that talking to yourself out loud also slows down thought processes evokes the theory that Sonic’s brain could actually be working at a faster speed relative to humans. Even when Sonic is around people, he can still be found discussing options to himself. So, the real question is: Is Sonic a super genius who has to manually slow his brain power down to function on earth or is he a normal, alien hedgehog with abnormal speed powers who just likes to talk to himself to process his loneliness and choices?

Note: If you choose to talk to yourself, great! I do it all the time. However, if you begin having conversations with hallucinations, please go see a doctor.