Critics of Rick and
Morty are the first to scream, “Copy cat, copy cat,” about every aspect of
the Adult Swim show from the characters to the plot lines to the stylistic
aspects. In the most obvious vein, Rick and Morty are subverted characters from
Back To The Future and the show even
takes its contemporary sci-fi theme from the movie. But to truly understand Rick and Morty and all of the pop
culture references, it’s important to start from the genesis of the series.
Rick and Morty was
originally a short film on Channel 101 called “The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti.” The short film was filled with crude humor and written by
Justin Roiland making it perfect for Channel 101, which was originally
co-founded by Dan Harmon. Adult Swim later picked up the show with Dan Harmon,
a writer on Community, and Justin
Roiland, who voices both Rick and Morty, as the main writers. “The Real
Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti” was later changed to Rick and Morty to avoid litigation for copyright infringement from Back to the
Future.
Since the airing of the series, critics have complained that
the animators stole stylistic elements as well as ripped off characters and
storylines. Well, clearly, these points have salience. We can see that here
with stylistic aspects from Adventure
Time, Ren and Stimpy, and The
Simpsons.
The Simpsons influenced Rick and Morty so much so that there's even a crossover bit.
We can see influences from Ren and
Stimpy in the way Morty displays his emotions, with the upside down W shaped frown.
And the way that that, ugh, *burp* vomit is drawn.
We can also see allusions to Jurassic Park in an episode where Rick builds Anatomy Park inside of a homeless man.
And Pirates of the Caribbean, where Rick pitches a ride inside of Anatomy Park called Pirates of the Pancreas.
An episode “Lawnmower Dog” was an allusion to the 1992 movie
Lawnmower Man, a movie where a mentally
disabled man takes pills and uses technological enhancements to make him smarter. Through his newfound
intelligence, he sees the ways others took advantage of him. In “Lawnmower
Dog,” Rick makes the family dog a device that gives him sentience and sees
the ways his owners manufactured his subservience (e.g., cutting off his balls) and the dogs then
take over the world.
There's a reference to Raising
Arizona in the episode “Raising Gazorpazorp,” where Morty fathers a child
with a space robot.
Rick and Morty make many references to the movie Zardoz, but the most obvious one is also
in “Raising Gazorpazorp.” In Zardoz,
Earth is ruled by Eternals, an advanced group of beings who reign over the
Brutals, the savage majority of the population. In “Raising Gazorpazorp,” women
rule from a far removed Utopia and men live on the ground, in the ruins of the
city, fighting to mate with sex robots.
In this scene, Rick
and Morty uses the plot from Stephen King’s book Needful Things, in where
an old man gives out relics to ameliorate specific problems, like if you can’t run fast
enough, have arthritis, etc., but the customers don’t pay with money, they pay
with their souls.
In an episode of Rick and Morty, they incept Morty’s math
teacher to give Morty good grades. Through a series of events, they end up 6
dreams deep into the inception, where Morty says their actions are stupid and
complicated. Rick then says, “It’s like Inception
so if it’s confusing and stupid, then so is everyone’s favorite movie.”
Adventure Time,
duh. Justin Roiland voices not only Rick and Morty in Rick and Morty but also in Adventure
Time he played The Earl of Lemongrab. Some of Lemongrab’s famous lines even
made it into Rick and Morty.
And obviously Back to
the Future.
Now I think you get the point.
So why the criticism? It seems there is a certain societal
notion that stealing material, or even borrowing or learning from it, is a
crime punishable by harsh criticism (or worse, dun dun dun). And why do we feel this way? Maybe since
we were little we’ve been told to look at our own papers and never plagiarize
so when we see ideas and tropes and dialogue stolen from other shows and put
into other ones, it’s a little disconcerting.
But the point of Rick and Morty isn’t to steal material,
it’s to remix it, to remediate it, to revive old pop culture references and
bring them into a new light for newer generations to enjoy as well. Dan Harmon
and Justin Roiland also use these pop culture references and tropes in order to
subvert them and criticize the state of media. Stealing material shamelessly is
a staple of art, Steve Jobs said it, Pablo Picasso said it. So it must be true,
right? But don’t take it from either of those people, take it from indie film
maker Jim Jarmusch:
“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates
with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music,
books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations,
architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and
shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If
you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is
invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don't bother concealing your
thievery -- celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what
Jean-Luc Godard said: "It's not where you take things from -- it's where
you take them to."
Ideas are made concurrently and pop culture isn’t
hermetically sealed. It’s made within the sphere of other pop culture, which
begets more pop culture, which begets more pop culture. Thus is the cycle of
media, and affords people like Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon the opportunity to
not only laud and emulate the things they consider good media, but also allows
them to criticize media and pop culture tropes.
![]() |
Taken from an interview here. |
Through Rick and Morty,
the audience gets the stylistic qualities from popular shows like The Simpsons, Adventure Time, and Ren and Stimpy, but also the optimistic nihilism
from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
and Doctor Who. Combine those with
pop culture references to movies like Inception
and Jurassic Park, and Rick and Morty
makes for one of the most accessible shows in television. Learning, borrowing,
and stealing from other media lead to authentic and enjoyable new media.
And I think if Rick were real and if Morty were worrying about the critics (like we know he would), Rick would say,
“Look, Morty. Who cares? The universe is a really big *burp * place and
sometimes ideas happen at the same time, Morty. Just gotta go with the flow,
Morty, because sometimes stealing material makes better material happen, Morty,
especially if the original stuff is shitty, Morty. We’re gonna make all kinds
of wonderful things from stealing people’s stuff, Morty.”
Works Used:
All screenshots of Rick and Morty taken from http://www.adultswim.com/videos/rick-and-morty/.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zardoz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lawnmower_Man_%28film%29
Works Used:
All screenshots of Rick and Morty taken from http://www.adultswim.com/videos/rick-and-morty/.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zardoz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lawnmower_Man_%28film%29