A Lesson on Character Building
Case Study: “Rick and Morty vs Dungeons & Dragons”
Reading time: 5 minutes
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Photo by Michael Marais on Unsplash
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The Book Oversimplified
To impress a girl, Morty needs to learn how to play Dungeons and Dragons and asks Rick for help. Rick creates a simulation that goes wrong and, after involving the entire family, they travel to a D&D dimension where Rick’s technology is powerless, turning him into a muppet of himself while everybody else gets to have fun and grow as a character.
A lesson on character building: when subverting expectations goes wrong
I don't like mentioning books I didn't enjoy, because I would like my blog to be a place of growth and celebration, not of spite and criticism. I also want people to read more, not less, which is why you’re not going to see a lot of bad reviews on this website; but I'll make an exception for Rick and Morty vs Dungeons & Dragons because the lesson hidden in its structure has been invaluable to my writing.
Plus, I'm literally addicted to Rick and Morty. To me, Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland's masterpiece is a bit like pizza. Even bad pizza is worth eating.
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Bad writing is like being God, good writing is like being a parent
Contrarily to what common knowledge dictates, writing is not like playing God. Especially good writing. And that's why I believe this particular Rick and Morty adventure is a doughnut without the hole. Apart from the licensed brand, it has very little to do with Rick and Morty.
The premise is there; Morty wants to hit on a girl and he's too lazy/socially awkward to learn how to play Dungeons & Dragons before his date, so he asks for Rick's help. The first deviation from the classical formula of the show happens here; to the point of being inverted. Generally, Morty would get what he wants before finding out the excruciating price he has to pay for it, but not in this case. In fact, Rick invites some old friends to play an actual game of D&D while Morty's afraid there won’t be enough time for him to learn. And that’s so damn boring. Its only function is to show us that D&D is such a great game, even Rick likes it the old way. Which is not the Rick we know and love.
Once this section is out of the way, there is a middle part featuring a D&D simulation before getting to the real adventure.
The entire family is involved (another unusual feature in the show) and they end up in a D&D dimension where an omnipotent being strips Rick of all his technology.
The bigger fans of the show will remember that something similar happens in the Slut Dragon Episode (S4E4); when Rick, Summer and Morty follow the dragon in his dimension, they find out that physics doesn't work over there. This is the same problem Rick has to face in the D&D world, but in the show, Rick finds a way to be himself even in that environment, never accepting the fact that Morty could have the answer to their problems- in that case, the book of spells.
In the comic book instead, Rick loses his character and becomes a passive entity, while everybody else gets to grow and become an awesome fantasy creature. As icing on the cake, Jerry gets to explain to Morty that Rick has never been cool. It was just his technology to be cool. You only need to take his gadgets out of the equation to see how miserable he actually is.
This couldn't be further from the truth, as the show has proven over and over again. And that's where I learned an important lesson about writing characters.
Respect your characters and they'll write the story for you
What's cool about Rick? Is it his gadgets or is it his personality? If you've ever watched the show, you don't need me to answer this question.
Rick is cynic, destructive, self-destructive, an alcoholic, impulsive, knowledgeable, manipulative, deep and, in rare cases, affectionate. Reducing him to the extension of his sci-fi stuff is nothing short of a crime.
The story wants to convey a message, and it does it quite successfully, I must admit, but at what price? As Margaret Atwood said in her Masterclass Course, the distinction between a plot-driven and a character-driven story is fake. You can gift a plot with a message and expect it to deliver it, but you always have to remember that plots are moved by characters.
To use a simplistic metaphor: you can put your message, your theme in the boot of your plot, but only the characters can turn on the engine and drive it to destination. If you change the core nature of a character, it's like swopping the tyres of your plot with big, heavy stone cubes. You might still get there, but oh boy, how painful is the journey.
This is not to say that a character cannot change. Characters following an arc are supposed to change; but in a consequential and emotionally logical manner. Sometimes, even flat characters can develop if the circumstances require so, but never, never to accommodate the plot or the theme. It should be the other way around.
Everything I wrote about Rick is also valid for Jerry and, on a smaller scale, for Summer.
There is a thin line between showing the reader a new aspect of a character's personality and emptying them of their soul to fill them with whatever you need to advance the plot. Please, please, please, never cross that line.
Alla prossima!
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Get the book on
Amazon (UK) or Book Depository!
