The Allure Of Rick and Morty

Whenever someone asks about the allure of “Rick and Morty,” one of the best ways for them to ‘get’ it is to ask them to participate in a thought experiment. Envision that you just grew up with the planet’s tragedies being beamed into your living space by 24-hour cable TV. Your country was at war for much of your life. You graduated from school with a massive quantity of debt, and you entered the workforce during the current fiscal crisis. Imagine, also, the planet’s environmental crisis weighs heavily in your mind, and that you spend as much time online as talking to real people. In the event that you were this type of individual, what TV series would resonate with you?

“Rick and Morty,” the Adult Swim animated humour show by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, just might be the solution. It is dark and nihilistic; absurd; it functions less like a book or sequential drama and much more such as a meme or online video. Additionally, it speaks to the feeling of alienation, stress and doubt that is not unusual among younger people today. Plus it has been revived for 70 further episodes. Adult Swim declared last week as part of an overall deal with the series creators, that Rick and Morty, which totalled 31 episodes in its first few seasons, will be renewed for more than twice that amount. It is also interesting to note that Roiland also provides the voices for both the lead characters, Rick and Morty.

It is a series about an ill-tempered, alcoholic scientific genius called Rick Sanchez and his teenage grandson, Morty Smith. At the start of the show, Rick reappears after a very long absence. He tries to reconnect with his daughter, Beth, but has more of a connection with her son, Morty, who joins him on experiences that take them throughout the multiverse. Rick’s presence pushes a wedge between Beth’s hapless husband Jerry — whom Rick loathes — along with his loved ones. This dynamic changes throughout the duration of the show.

At this point, you might be thinking that this is not too different from the two other pre-eminent animated shows for adults, Family Guy and The Simpsons. However, there are quite a few differences between this and the other two. All three shows are parodies of live-action sitcoms, but Rick and Morty completely demolishes the genre while The Simpsons and Family Guy only subvert it. It is difficult to imagine, by way of instance, both of the latter shows using a storyline where everybody becomes a mutant and both lead characters change into a different form of reality to rescue themselves, like how Rick and Morty did in ‘Rick Potion No. 9’. Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin are likeable fathers and simpletons, whose actions are ultimately beholden to the American ideals. By comparison, Jerry Smith, Morty’s dad, cannot differentiate between his actual life and a shoddy simulation series by a race of scammer aliens in the episode ‘M. Night Shaym-Aliens!’. And Rick, another father figure in the series, is well known to say things like: “what folks call ‘love’ is only a chemical response that compels animals to breed” and”I am not the nicest man on the planet because I am the smartest, and being nice is something dumb people do to hedge their bets.” Rick is also a sociopath, and he’s certainly reckless. He’s regarded as a criminal by something known as the Galactic Federation. So, that is as far from the doting, bumbling fathers that Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin are as can be possible.

Ultimately, Rick and Morty is a science fiction show, of some sort. Rick is a scientist who has created technology that could transfer him and his partners around and outside the known world. He and Morty often encounter aliens and extradimensional beings. In “Pickle Rick,” he transforms himself into a pickle to be able to avoid taking part in family counselling. However, the definition of what type of show it could be is secondary to the message of the show. Episodes, dialogues and setups are usually utilised to demonstrate that our lives are meaningless specks in a vast but indifferent selection of universes and ever-splintering timelines. Or they are set up to show the characters in revealing situations: in “Full Rickall,” alien parasites disguise themselves by putting false memories into everyone in the house. It is demonstrated that the parasites can simply create positive memories, so the household manages to identify and destroy them using their negative memories of each other.

Rick and Morty has had a huge impact on modern pop culture. You might have heard the series’ intentionally silly catchphrases, such as “wubba lubba dub dub” or “pickle Rick!” Or perhaps “get schwifty,” a word Rick coins in a song of the exact same name. He writes the tune to mollify an alien visitor that threatens Earth with annihilation. Additionally, there are a great deal of “Rick and Morty” memes but it’s likely they aren’t the preferred memes of all “Rick and Morty” fans. Further, one of the biggest cultural impacts it has had has been with the McDonald’s Szechuan sauce. McDonald’s resurrected the Szechuan sauce (it was initially made for the launch of Disney’s “Mulan” in 1998) in October 2017 after the series mentioned it in the very first episode of Season 3. But the demand was crazy, with the sauce getting sold out in hours and many fans unable to get their hands on it. Like pricey avocado toast, the “Rick and Morty” Szechuan sauce incident has been used since then to make jokes about millennials. In response to this demand, McDonald’s revived the Szechuan sauce for another time in February, but in much larger quantities. Another example of the impact that the show has had on the wider world, can be seen by the fact that there are actually Rick and Morty-themed games available online. There are even online slot machine games, such as Rick and Morty Megaways, with the show joining the likes of bands such as Black Sabbath and Guns N’ Roses, and some of the biggest TV shows ever made like Game of Thrones, in having online slot games based on them. This is of course by no means an exhaustive list of all the online slots out there, but, it is true that only extremely popular products or cultural icons are picked up by the companies that make these online slot games, since the aim is to drive their fans to give these games a shot.

However, all is not all rosy and goody-good with the show and its fandom. Rick and Morty fans have developed a reputation because of their obnoxious self-regard. It has led to a huge number of memes that mock their egos. More disturbingly, a section of the show’s fans responded negatively when four female writers were added to the team for Season 3. At least two of those new authors, Jane Becker and Jessica Gao, were trolled online following the airing of episodes they wrote in 2017. Mr Harmon reacted to the harassers in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, stating, “I despise these people.” Back in January, Mr Harmon apologized to Megan Ganz, a former writer on his sitcom “Community,” for mistreating her during their time on that show.

So yes, millennials are the show’s biggest fans, even though they do not call themselves millennials – the only people who use that term are the ones who coined it and the ones who are most afraid and threatened by the younger generation. But yes, they do enjoy it. Season 3 of “Rick and Morty” delivered the highest ratings in Adult Swim history, and according to Nielsen, it was the most-watched comedy series for 18-to-34-year-olds in America in 2017. The news that it has been renewed for 70 more episodes was met with a great outpouring of joy from the show’s fans, with none of them ready to bid goodbye to the mad time-travelling scientist and his long-suffering grandson just yet.

So, if you are one of those who has not seen this show yet, Seasons 1 and 2 are available on Hulu, while Seasons 3 and 4 can be found on Adult Swim’s website. This is, of course, pertaining to the US – there are countries where the entire show is available on Netflix, for example, so do check out your streaming services to see where the show can be found for your viewing pleasure. But yes, it is one of the most culturally-impactful shows of recent time, especially for an animated show, and even though the memes and the catchphrases are what people enjoy, it is also a deep-rooted look at the human condition and the ultimate futility of life itself. So yes, it is dark and moody, but covers that up in gross humour and visuals, so do check it out if you enjoy either of those, or even if you’re just looking for a laugh in these troubled times.