The Paradox Lurking Inside Rick And Morty

nobody exists on purpose nobody belongs anywhere everybody's gonna die come watch TV a couple of months ago I sat down and watched all of Rick and Morty and it took me rewatching it again to begin to understand why I found a show so interesting interesting enough to re-watch in its entirety it is a strange show to say the least the show that started with a bit of high effort trolling Justin roiland created Back to the Future the new official Universal Studios cartoon featuring the new Doc Brown and Marty McFly as a humorous middle finger to the bigger studios to copyright law to universal it's the absurd trend of remakes sequels and properties being dug from the grave for soulless hundred million dollar films he waited for the cease and desist and instead ended up with a terrible idea that had the potential to be a bigger maybe less terrible thing it was the very thing that would become Rick and Morty and what that was was as creators Dan Harmon adjuster Berlin put it a science fiction adventure are juxtaposed with a domestic family drama but it didn't get that much less strange and somehow we the viewer have to be invested in all of that and upon completing that rewatch of the final Rick and Morty product I think it's obvious but the one thing Rick and Morty is doing better than so many other shows has almost everything to do Rican Morty treats its characters as vehicles for understanding or lenses through which were meant to understand what's happening in front of us this starts with Morty rollin and Harmon believed they needed a character that saw the world as we do a character that could as they put it be the way to which we understand this world's developments Morty is our voice and that voice shifted as our perception did as more two discovers the world as he begins to have his own morality and understanding of the universe tested he responds like the writers expect us to in a general sense the shock of seeing the unknown the confusion of trying to make sense of this if we were fed Rick's adventures without that filter without Morty's voice that soundboard of sorts it would normalize the absurdity the show would lose its edge and worse yet we'd be less incentivized to question the morality of Rick's actions we'd be less inclined to question Rick's actions in general undermining anything the show actually had to say and rollin on the writers understood this over the course of three seasons we see Morty go from this but I think I'm mounting in suspicion of you well what are you gonna do I'm gonna remember everything everything Morty had stayed that starry-eyed fearful sponge for three seasons we would adjust to this fictional world before he does and that lens would disappear but he doesn't his vision of this world is futility its lack of structure and consistency shapes Morty it changes him and he slowly begins to normalize the things he's seeing as we to begin to expect them from the show Rick and Morty wants us to view their world subconsciously or even consciously the way Morty does at least for the most part and because it's successful with this Morty becomes a grounding figure in these less than grounded adventures but it's Rick that shapes this world when you know nothing matters the universe is yours and I've never met a universe that was into it if Morty is the vehicle by which the writers want us to understand the developments of the show Rick is the entity by which we question them Rick is a nihilist he believes to his core that nothing truly matters and if you've seen a second of the show this isn't a revelation the show is fueled by cosmic ism a Lovecraftian philosophy that states that humans aren't governed by a god and instead they're just specks in a much larger painting a stroke in a filled frame see Morty as the writers put it accepts these things as he sees them throughout the show he rationalizes them and every way he can Rick on the other hand doesn't want to rationalize anything he's a ticking time bomb of self-loathing and mental illness what Rick and Morty often becomes then is a balancing act that Rick creates again royland harmon wanted to create a sci-fi family drama and rick is the fabric holding those two things together he's also the very thing tearing apart the link between those two ambitions or worlds because the only reason we care about either of them Rick is the source of the development that thing Morty is written to help us understand and react to Jerry starts as a brutally bland doormat for his family his position as a patriarch is questioned by his family and the viewer the threat of Rick's presence as a more important and paternal figure is the very thing that gives the writers the opportunity to create and complete Jerry's Redemption or if you can call it that Rick's presence also exposed to Jerry's position in the family to Beth which leads her further coming to terms with her dissatisfaction with her life her happiness her reasoning for staying in his position again questioned by her and the viewer thanks to Rick but Rick and Jerry's relationship in turn creates her [Music] sociopathic Discovery Rick almost as written and functions as a villain what he is the conflict that creates resolution and growth Rowland at one point said that he wanted Morty to be that reactionary vehicle but he didn't want us to like Rick or maybe even Morty to like Rick the writers accomplished that very thing but also managed to avoid creating that villain we don't hate Rick we just don't love him and the fact that he can act so consistently as The Insider of the issues without being that the villainous character is an accomplishment of writing yeah it really makes you appreciate how little time we all have you know one minute you're falling off a roof three months later BAM [Applause] [Music] but while Rick and Morty's leads are written with very specific individual purposes I think it's actually better in Jerry that do the best job of grounding the show there is nothing at all relatable about Morty and Rick's offworld adventures in fact these adventures seem determined to do nothing but drive home the nihilism rick is so firmly entrenched in there's humor but the humor in these moments mostly comes from shock comedy it has to it by definition according to Rick is meaningless so where Morty is used to ground the connection between the family Rick the writers use Beth Jerry and summer to ground the story to make sure the narratives still resonates to make sure it's still at least in some way relatable there the opposition to Rick's nihilism they're the people that believe that things can often do matter so the writers have them deal with tiny versions of Ricky's problems but they have them do it often enough in a place we recognize their home a place we can relate to while Rick is questioning his existence in space the Smith family is defending their existence on earth and what this duality does for the viewer is make sure that the Smiths don't feel disconnected from Rick and Morty's view and perception of this universe even when the way they view the world is different and make sure that they're exposed to some of the same things which makes their more hopeful and optimistic sometimes optimistic positions much more believable it's not just oh you haven't seen Rick seen it's oh you have and while you may not comprehend it quite as much you still care and so when the show becomes that family drama when Jerry and Beth fight when Rick loses his place in their home when summer struggles with who she is an identity it feels like narrative that's directly tied to the same things that Rick and Morty have and are experiencing there's little disconnect Rick and Morty this show uses characters sometimes instead of stories to keep you invested in their world no matter how separated they become and from a writing perspective that's what separates bad shows from the better ones the quicker Morty is not a perfect show it's reception being a clear indication of that but one thing that Rick and Morty understands better than a long list of shows that preceeded is how to write characters or maybe more succinctly how to develop a group of characters if you remove a single one of the five main characters from Rick and Morty with maybe sometimes the exception of summer the show ceases to have the same resonance as it does now you lose an important portal designed from the ground up to show you a different side of this world what justin roiland and dan harmon and the writers have created is a self-contained universe the treats eats character with a level of understanding the to many shows lack and they ask you to understand them as well and they've built characters that have grown or regressed with the audience bad characters or title characters static characters are viewed passively and thus their impact is lessened say what you will about these five characters but they are the vehicles for some of the most interesting writing on television Wow Hey look you guys the sun's rising plus there's this that's a wrap on today's episode of hearthstone if you enjoyed it as always press that like button down below if you haven't done so press subscribe as well also the little Bell makes the subscribe button just notification bells I always say it just make sure you're actually notified when I put out a video so hit the little bell too and it's always on your screen right now are two more episodes of neurologic you can click on either of those to see more from me in this channel and I will see you guys in the next video

Channel: Nerdstalgic

Views: 1,160,944

Rating: 4.9082789 out of 5

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Id: 0jcPA6qBpcI

Length: 9min 19sec (559 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 13 2020