The Big Picture: You Are Wrong About Pickle Rick

[Anthony J Agnello]

Can someone love the show, not be an arsehole, and also not be smart enough to fully "get it"?

Because I'm pretty sure that's me. The arsehole part is debatable.

Anyway, one thing that often seems to go unremarked upon by people who consider Rick something to aspire to is that for all his basically superpower-level genius, he's fundamentally unhappy. Didn't one episode end with him making an earnest attempt to commit suicide and only failing because he was drunk?

Yup. There are actually multiple episodes that focus on precisely how miserable Rick is most of the time. It's part of the reason I was so shocked that there are people who think he's an aspirational character. He's hilarious and entertaining but he's also a monster. Heck I thought that was the point of the whole thing?

 

[webkilla]

Can someone love the show, not be an arsehole, and also not be smart enough to fully "get it"?

Because I'm pretty sure that's me. The arsehole part is debatable.

Anyway, one thing that often seems to go unremarked upon by people who consider Rick something to aspire to is that for all his basically superpower-level genius, he's fundamentally unhappy. Didn't one episode end with him making an earnest attempt to commit suicide and only failing because he was drunk?

I don't think anyone of consequence would judge you for just enjoying the show

I certainly wont - and even with bob's analysis here, then I doubt any of us would lose much sleep if bob thinks less of us for not fully understanding the deep deconstruction meta-themes of the show

 

[Schadrach]

I don't know anything about its reportedly toxic fanbase. But after watching the first season, I found myself describing Rick and Morty as the show that asks the question: "What if The Doctor was a nihilistic, alcoholic misanthrope?"

I always preferred "What if the Doctor was Dr. Gregory House?" instead.

The off-handed reference to Sherlock Holmes reminds me of a Facebook meme that went by a few weeks ago, wherein the ghost of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle visits Steven Moffat and profusely thanks him for accomplishing what Doyle could not -- make people hate Sherlock.

The comparison to House also didn't go unnoticed. I used to watch that show quite regularly, and found myself puzzled by House's increasing tendency toward petty vengeance and self-destructive behavior. House was clearly a profoundly brilliant man, and a profoundly unhappy man, and his inability to will himself into happiness with his brilliance likely just compounded the problem. In this sense, I think House bears the strongest resemblence to Rick.

It's worth noting that the original pitch for House was essentially "What if Sherlock Holmes was an American doctor?" That why his name is a synonym for a homonym of "Holmes" and he has a doctor friend whose name starts with W, ends with -son and serves primarily to humanize him. He also lives at apartment 221B on Baker Street. They were really trying to spell that connection out to people.

1) Claiming that there's a "tragically oversized" population of nerd culture fans who think they're free to be colossal pains in butts about their fandom

I just watched a youtube that actually addressed the topic of toxic fandoms, and the logic it has is quite sound - even if I don't agree with the examples it used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCKF2_-Zsw0 - the "pains in butts" Bob is talking about, are but loud minorities.

2) The rick & morty fandom's sauce incidents... as with the above - that was AFAIK a tiny minority of R&M fans who were insane enough to do that.

I get that it has given the entire fandom a bad rep - but someone as "fandom-savvy" as Bob has to know that you do actually have the option of simply dismissing such episodes, instead of apologizing for it. "Ya that was some fringe crazies, so what?"

Both of these allow him to invoke "toxic masculinity" while remaining otherwise within his wheelhouse. For the same reason he won't talk about the Steven Universe fanbase which has done far nastier specifically because it would make him some variety of bigot because the groups he'd be attacking aren't considered an acceptable target.

 

[Darth_Payn]

So, why no new Big Picture today? Crap, he didn't get fired again, did he?

 

[Nickolai77]

I've not really met any Rick and Morty fans who wouldn't agree Rick is an arsehole- the whole point about his character is you have someone who is so intelligent he can overcome anything but is limited by having a terrible personality and making bad decisions which harm others. If he was a good character, he'd basically be massively overpowered and the show would get boring quickly.

You can still like Rick though, as a character.I think he relates well to certain people who either are, or think they are, geniuses frustrated by the limits society puts on them. Fans may also be envious or admire the sheer amount of freedom that Rick has- he is able to pull all sorts of shit and get away with it. Psychologically I think a lot of people would like to have that freedom but are constrained by things like jobs, their personality, culture and social etiquette.

In the end, Rick's a fun indulgence into a consequence free lifestyle, but the show's creators could well be right that that it would turn you into a complete arsehole- and in the end the vices you'd accumulate turn into your own limitations, as happens with Rick.