The Meeseeks (arguably luckily) are born with purpose. They know their destiny and they do whatever it takes to enact it. Now, the nihilism comes into play when they've completed their task. Think about it: what if, not only did you know your entire purpose in life, but you managed to complete it? What would you do with yourself? Would you be ecstatic that your life had meaning? That you did a good job? Or would you be sad, as you don't have a purpose anymore? Or maybe you'd be angry that the sole task you were born to complete was so easy it didn't even come close to taking a lifetime?
This is the scenario Rick and Morty proposes. Rather than answer that question either, the show elects to have the Meeseeks simply cease to exist. Essentially: if your purpose is over, why exist at all?
The problem in this episode is yet another question: what if we know our purpose, but we can't see it through for some reason? Would this be better than not knowing our purpose at all? When Jerry creates his Meeseek, he asks it to help him improve his golf game by two strokes. Unable to do this alone, the Meeseek creates another Meeseek to help it complete its task. When Jerry still doesn't improve, the Meeseeks become feral and angry, resorting to threatening others' lives if Jerry doesn't improve.
Another example of this nihilism is in the (perhaps more well-known) episode Get Schwifty, where the entire Earth is captured by Cromulons - godlike, planet-sized heads that "feed on the talent and showmanship of less-evolved lifeforms." The Cromulons run a TV show called Planet Music, where they force entire planets to compete against each other to see who has the best musical talent. The kicker is: the losers (i.e. their entire planets) are disintegrated. The Cromulons, being so immensely powerful, don't care about lower lifeforms: they're just a source of entertainment.
This is an example of the more common variety of nihilism shown throughout the show. "Why should I care?" If you had the power to destroy entire planets with a though, why would you care about the several billion individuals on it? They're insignificant.
It's in these examples and many, many others that Rick and Morty shows its overwhelmingly nihilistic outlook on the universe. However, there are also plenty of cases when even Rick himself - the smartest man in the multiverse - is shown to care about things.
..
Other final reports:
https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-cave-matrix-final-report-1st.html
https://cophilosophy.blogspot.com/2017/11/hobbes-and-knowers-ofchrist-god-is.html
The show is "about" nihilism, you say. But is it advocating, or resisting? And what exactly do YOU mean by nihilism, in this context? To the question "Why should I care?"-well, why shouldn't I? Why is the possession of power, in itself, thought to be sufficient grounds for indifference to life? Even Nietzsche contended that the greatest expression of power is restraint and control.
ReplyDeleteAnd to the question "if your purpose is over, why exist at all?" Well, from a narrowly biological perspective our purpose is to procreate and then nurture our successors until they can function independently. After the age of fertility we are of no further use, in that regard. But fortunately, there are other perspectives that generate other purposes.
Maybe you'll next discuss the connection with existentialism, pragmatism, or other alternatives to nihilism?
I love the pure simple comedy in Rick and Morty. I love how the Meseek's only exist to serve and that when they serve they die. I find this comical, if a bit morbid after I read what I just wrote.
ReplyDeleteI like how you said that even though Rick tends to be perceived as selfish and harsh, there are plenty of times when it is obvious that he does care about those around him (at least some of them). I also liked the example of the Cromulons relating to nihilism. That's probably one of the best examples because the Cromulon are basically like "I didn't like that and I have the power to destroy it regardless of the billions of people there" simply because they have the power to do it just about anything else is irrelevant.
ReplyDelete