231155 Cricktical Morty Tojerry: Practicing Critical Theory with Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith (BS) (SoSe 2025)

"A better understanding of the world in which we live, it seems to me, automatically comes along for the ride when we study literature, and the study of critical theory makes that enterprise even more productive." -Lois Tyson

Despite talking about literature, Tyson's sentiment certainly applies to cultural production in general. The mechanisms of the human mind are capable of taking various messages out of a cultural product in order to learn more about ourselves, the world around us and their possibilities and boundaries. In this course, we shall aim to hold the prism of the critical theory spectrum to the abundance of input that the series Rick and Morty provides. Sometimes off-putting, sometimes thought-provoking, the show (and others like it) challenges the boundaries of good taste, but, as science-fiction often does, also holds up a mirror to the society that produces it and reveals unusual things about the space and place in which it was created. In this block seminar, we shall attempt to identifiy some of those revelations and look at them in the context of various critical theories.