Rick And Murty Essay

The quality of television shows has improved a lot in recent years. Shows like Lost and Game of Thrones have incredible production value while shows like The Sopranos have complex plots with multiple narratives that, even just 35 years ago, were unheard of. These are welcome changes, but I think the most important change to television in the past few decades is an increase in emotional honesty. Television shows are far more intelligent and complex in the ideas, emotions and characters they portray than ever before. One of the best examples of this is Rick and Morty, a brilliant cartoon that explores the philosophical concerns of our 21st century society.

Rick and Morty is an American animated science fiction sitcom that airs on Cartoon Network’s adult-oriented late night programming block, Adult Swim. It follows the surreal, interstellar adventures of cynical, alcoholic mad scientist Rick Sanchez and his anxious grandson Morty. The show is crude, bizarre and satirical yet its defining feature is that it confronts and comforts many fears that arise from living in our 21st century society and participating in its culture. We don’t relate to the protagonists of the show singularly. Instead we see them as aspects of our own personalities - our cynical, nihilistic, self destructive tendencies

The show presents Morty’s character as weak and unintelligent but we find ourselves sympathizing with his all too familiar fears more often than we’d like. Morty is constantly thrown into unfamiliar situations and confronted with decisions that he has no idea how to handle. Rick treats him as a nuisance but it’s obvious that without Morty and to a degree the rest of the family, Rick’s life would be miserable. We see that Rick’s family is what makes him truly happy - despite how dysfunctional their relationships