I love this summary of Rick and Morty's relationship
Towards the beginning, you seem to question to what degree Harmon is _aware_ of this dynamic where Morty's whole character is being shaped by Rick's moods and whims? But I don't see how he could write this show without being very explicitly aware of it.
There are a number of nods that feel very explicit and intentional:
You already pointed out the Morty's Mindblowers episode where Rick is shown to be erasing Morty's memories.
There's the episode where Morty's consciousness gets split between billions of people in a video game and they need to be re-unified, and the part that Rick doesn't get back in the end is the part that's the most rebellious against him.
There's the episode which turns out to be an elaborate scheme of Rick's to kill Morty's love of heist movies and shut down his Netflix pitch.
Then there's the running question in so many episodes of why Rick doesn't take Summer along instead of Morty. She's generally smarter and more capable than Morty. But it seems like Rick just wants someone who won't fight back who he can bully and take out all his shit on. (There's also the thing from that one episode about Morty's stupidity being a cloaking device, but I feel like we're not supposed to take that seriously)
Oh yeah Harmon et al are clearly aware that Rick's relationship with Morty is toxic in various ways. I'm just not sure if they're aware that it's "normal" in that Rick actually behaves a lot like the median American parent, just with *slightly* less restraint and *slightly* more efficacy. i.e. I'm not sure whether they're trying to say "whoa, look, if someone did this it would be super fucked up" versus whether they're trying to say "y'all ARE DOING THIS and it IS super fucked up." Fantasy vs. satire.
Woah!
I love this summary of Rick and Morty's relationship
Towards the beginning, you seem to question to what degree Harmon is _aware_ of this dynamic where Morty's whole character is being shaped by Rick's moods and whims? But I don't see how he could write this show without being very explicitly aware of it.
There are a number of nods that feel very explicit and intentional:
You already pointed out the Morty's Mindblowers episode where Rick is shown to be erasing Morty's memories.
There's the episode where Morty's consciousness gets split between billions of people in a video game and they need to be re-unified, and the part that Rick doesn't get back in the end is the part that's the most rebellious against him.
There's the episode which turns out to be an elaborate scheme of Rick's to kill Morty's love of heist movies and shut down his Netflix pitch.
Then there's the running question in so many episodes of why Rick doesn't take Summer along instead of Morty. She's generally smarter and more capable than Morty. But it seems like Rick just wants someone who won't fight back who he can bully and take out all his shit on. (There's also the thing from that one episode about Morty's stupidity being a cloaking device, but I feel like we're not supposed to take that seriously)
Oh yeah Harmon et al are clearly aware that Rick's relationship with Morty is toxic in various ways. I'm just not sure if they're aware that it's "normal" in that Rick actually behaves a lot like the median American parent, just with *slightly* less restraint and *slightly* more efficacy. i.e. I'm not sure whether they're trying to say "whoa, look, if someone did this it would be super fucked up" versus whether they're trying to say "y'all ARE DOING THIS and it IS super fucked up." Fantasy vs. satire.