Rick and Morty - Flaws and All

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supersoftly renehta: Rick Sanchez, Don Draper, and BoJack Horseman are three examples of a popular male character trope: the intelligent, talented, toxic, disconnected, detached man who fails to connect with others and is consistently and wildly self destructive in his quest to fill an emotional void with anything but human connection. The problem with this character archetype is that a lot of people, a specific subset of men in particular, miss the entire point of the character They're so easily sucked in by the flashy veneer of masculine bravado on the surface of these damaged characters that they fail to understand why the characters are presented this way: you do not want to be like them. You are not supposed to identify with them or find them relatable, you are not supposed to sincerely root for them, they are antiheros. In spite of being the protagonist Rick, Don, and BoJack are almost never the "good guy" in any given scenario, they are almost always selfishly motivated, and explicitly harming innocent people for their own gain. Idolizing and lionizing these characters as an ideal or something to aspire to entirely misses the concept of the characters, and worse, celebrates behavior that is explicitly shown to be toxic. If you identify as "a Rick" then the entire concept of the show has gone completely over your head. Finally, a nice comparison to get some perspective. OP is incorrect. For a character to work, you have to identify them and relate to them on some degree. Being incapable of doing so means you have no emotional attachment to the character Every single human being is selfish and harms others for their own gain. It is part of human nature. Even if it is as little as disregarding somebody's emotional plight for your own sanity, you're still being selfish and letting somebody twist in the wind People can relate to that, even if its taken to an extreme degree. Everyone understands the feeling of being the smartest person in the room on a subject and feeling like they're surrounded by idiots. Everyone has or had their own personal Jerry and wanted to act like Rick to him. Every have a customer you wanted to turn around tell them explicitly why they're a f------ moron? Jerry. Rick. Nobody WANTS to be Rick or Bojack. They're miserable individuals. But everyone can understand misery. Everyone has been that miserable as some point in their lives. It isn't about wanting to be Rick or Bojack. It is about fulfilling that selfishness you want to fulfill. Its wish fulfillment. Is Rambo a nice guy, shooting all those people dead? Or are harlequin romance novel protagonists the model of female behavior? No. They're exaggerated fantasies. One for being badass, one for being swept off your feet. Rick and Bojack being d---- indulges the human, selfish side of people in the same way. If you identify as a Rick, you're miserable by your own hand. But you might also simply identify as somebody who WANTS to be like Rick but can't bring yourself to. Sometimes, you just want to tell somebody to "f--- off and die" but your filter is in place. People like Rick for the same reason people like a------ characters like Deadpool or enjoy insult comedians. They live vicariously through them, to be somebody who doesn't give a s---. They're still bad people. The moral still is intact. But don't imply that relating or identifying with these characters means you "don't get it".

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Top Comments

Greyblades

Sep 23, 2017 at 06:52AM EDT

I think people want to satisfy the urge of telling people to fuck off because of the catharisis it would bring but dont actually want to perform the action because they dont want to cause harm to themselves and others, hence why they would seek it out a substitute in a fantasy that is intrinsically free of real world consequence.

That unwillingness to do harm is why I disagree with the idea that they are bad people.

+18

thegreato

Sep 22, 2017 at 07:07PM EDT

Then again, anyone who does identify with any of these characters for the reasons given…well, they are dicks.

I don't like anyone who would love to engage in the fantasy of being a selfish prick who tells everyone to fuck off due to their personal reasons. I'm sorry but how you conduct yourself with others speaks a lot about your character.

+14

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