I feel as if a certain aspect of the American secular society is reaching a tipping point of nihilism, atheism, and abyss-watching. It feels like it has come to a peak, or at least new heights, in the Adult Swim TV series Rick and Morty.
The show reflects the fears of their producers, Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland. These fears are seen in multiple places, both in the show and in interviews:
- Many characters have visceral reactions to the insanity of the multiverse. Beth and Rick drink heavily. Morty repeatedly freaks out, and his voice, supplied by Roiland, is a shrill, ever-climbing howl of madness. The insanity that they witness is, at times, Lovecraftian in nature, due to the influence of HP Lovecraft on sci-fi and horror, but it is just one metaphorical flavor of the infinite.
- In an interview, the creators talk about how the questions and topics posed in the show "keeps them up at night".
- They have minor characters whose characteristics include existential pain or angst, such as Mr Meeseeks or the butter-passing robot.
- Rick's repeating phrase of "Don't think about it" is similar to the nihilist band-aid of unrelated distractions that are nearly the entirety of an nihilist's life. This is opposed to the "related" distractions that directly address the problem, such as religion, spirituality, searching for purpose, and tribal politics.
I tend to see undercurrents of this fear in witty, science-related (or at least fully in agreement with materialism) pieces of entertainment: Bojack Horseman, pop-science YouTube channels Kurzgesagt and Exurbia, and anything directly produced by Adult Swim. It seems to me that without belief, a subset of Americans are banging their head against the absurdity of mere existence, and that that is beginning to attract a wider audience.
Hey, I like Rick and Morty, and can even appreciate the nihilistic themes, but at the same time I am a Christian. Observing this phenomenon and myself in it, I have come to the conclusion that it is not a person's belief per se, but rather a type of person, that would cause one to gravitate toward these types of shows. I can understand shouting "Wubba lubba dub dub!" though I should have no (spiritual) need to do so myself. Perhaps this angst is universal, something that defines the purpose of faith, but I could not speak for others.
So where are these types of people going? I assume people as a whole will eventually find peace from existential horror, through faith or distraction, and the allure of the show will decline with age, except as nostalgia. I believe that each person cannot avoid finding an answer to the horror, in their own way. Creating a fetish out of existential angst is a young man's game, made for those who have not yet been worn down. Not only that, but even this particular technique of fetishization itself will become passe, as all fads do. Will Rick and Morty grow with its audience, or is it a relic of its age? I believe it will eventually end as all TV shows do, and then be brought back 15 years later as nostalgia. Those watching it will have come to peace in some way. Even a memory of the worst panic attack in the world can become wistfully nostalgic once enough time has passed.
