WP #3 Rick and Morty in Croatia
The humoristic and adventurous TV show Rick and Morty is rapidly increasing in popularity around the world. The genius minds behind Rick and Morty are Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon; two Americans who came up with a great concept for an animated show. The TV show follows drunk and crazy scientist Rick that takes his innocent and his less intelligent grandson Morty across the whole universe. The show’s humor is based on mocking everything and everyone they come across. Rick and Morty quickly became popular around Croatia’s young population. Many would argue Rick and Morty is a too americanized and westernized show for Croatians to understand it and like it, but it’s actually taking over Croatian’s younger population rapidly. The humoristic approach and mockery to today’s world and cool scenes across the universe with cool equipment are really appealing to young Croatians. In Croatia everyone kind of makes fun of Americans and its modernity in comparison with us; this show shares the same way of view as Croatians have for America, so I think that’s the reason for its popularity in Croatia.
Rick and Morty is an animated TV series that came out in 2013 and since then a lot of people have been obsessed with it. The TV show is about a nihilistic scientist and alcoholic Rick, who has seen everything and knows everything, who takes his grandson Morty, who is still “green” and inexperienced, around the whole universe on adventures. This show involves some really bizarre scenes and characters such as “Abradolf Lincler” that is a mix of Abraham Lincoln and Adolf Hitler or a planet where chairs are alive and sit on people. Rick always has a nihilistic view on all these planets and other cultures which makes the show humoristic, while Morty thinks they are all cool and gets easily intrigued by them. Rick also is somewhat of an existentialist because nothing matters to him and the show promotes the idea how nothing is relevant and that we as humans are so small in this huge universe. This transcends well into the humor of mocking everyone. This combination of both personalities of Rick and Morty is a perfect example of an average Croatian.
Croatia as a country has only been independent for only 30 years now. Throughout history, it has always been a part of another country. Because of that Croatia has been influenced by many cultures, but recently it has been mostly influenced by the Western, mostly American, culture. Croatians really like the western culture, but we would never fully be influenced by it. We accept the culture and see the benefits, but we also mock it in a way. I would say that Croatians think of Americans as people from the future, while we as Croatians are more like traditional people and we don’t like changes that happen too fast; We need more time to process a change as a nation. We can see this if we compare the social media usage of Croatians and Americans. According to “Pew research center” more than 70% of Americans use some kind of a social media platform while in Croatia according to an article from “Mreza” only 50% use social media. Most Croatians when they see Americans think of them as people that are dependent on the latest technology and all of other inventions. We Croatians mock Americans, but deeply inside I could say we are a little jealous of them and all their advancements because we are really behind them in every way. This article from “Slobodna Dalmacija” shows that Croatia as a country has one of the worst economies in the world; so by mocking others, it kind of makes us feel better in some way. We could now actually see that Croatians share both traits of Rick and Morty that I have previously explained.
There is this specific episode in Rick and Morty that could serve as a perfect example of Croatians and Americans. In the episode Rick and Morty got captured in an almost perfect simulation of earth that was made by some aliens. At first they don’t recognize they are in a simulation, but after some time Rick figures out something is wrong in the world and immediately goes to pick up Morty from school. Morty is at first confused and begins to freak out when he realizes where he is. On the other side, Rick really doesn’t care and makes fun of the aliens’ technology and all their work they did to get some information from him. Rick, while making fun of it, proceeds to figure out and destroy all of that technology they made. In the end he tricks them and destroys their whole spaceship and flies back home. There are many other episodes that have the same concept like this one. Croatians can find themselves in Rick because they share the same opinion on all these new technologies. We really find it humoristic and funny because we sometimes also make the same jokes with friends and family mostly about American culture. On the other hand, we also deep down share some of the characteristics of Morty. Morty in this particular episode is scared because he respects the aliens and all their advancements. In other episodes Morty can also get amazed by other worlds and their inventions. Deep down we are like Morty because we are kind of jealous and amazed of American culture. We would also want to have all these latest technologies, but we mock them in front of our friends because we don’t want to admit we are behind them in everything.
Rick and Morty is really a genius TV show and I could see it being around for a long time. While being really americanized, other cultures could also enjoy it and understand it because of the way it was made.Other cultures might not have the same impressions as Americans on Rick and Morty, but I think that’s what makes Rick and Morty so genius. A lot of various cultures enjoy it throughout the globe for various reasons. I think Croatians love it because of all these similarities I have described about TV show’s characters and Croatians. Because of that Croatians can find themselves in the show and enjoy it even more. I think the popularity would be even higher in upcoming years because that’s the kind of humor that Croatians enjoy to watch.
