The Psychology of Rick Sanchez: Intelligence does not equate to Happiness

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Rick and Morty is perhaps one of the greatest shows of the modern day and its popularity is in no small way thanks to the titular character Rick Sanchez.

Rick is the smartest guy in the universe, there’s no denying that. What began as a crass parody of Doc Brown from the ‘Back to the future’ series has since evolved into a modern pop-cultural icon, in a show that on the surface seems to be comprised of dick and fart jokes.

But it doesn’t take many episodes for you to realize the show takes on so much more.

Without hyperbole the show is one the most well written and smartest shows out there, tackling themes such as existentialism, nihilism and family dynamics all masked by the above mentioned dick jokes and the Mad scientist Rick acting as the focal point of all the inter-dimensional chaos.

Now Rick himself is arrogant, alcoholic, manipulative and selfish beyond reason and yet has become a fan favorite with a near cult like following. So let us try and understand him a bit better.

Only Human

The first reason that people relate to Rick in the same reason people like ‘Batman’, the fact that he is human. Yes, I know a lot of characters are Human, What I mean to say by that is in both cases the world is filled with cosmic beings, supernatural monsters and literal gods a mere mortal not only constantly challenges them head on but also, nearly always comes out on top.

This makes them the natural underdog in any given situation which makes us root for them on instinct. But in the case of both Rick and Batman, they are underdogs with one amazing advantage: their intellect.

At least as intelligent as a guy in a giant rubber bat-suit can be

Humans have a strange habit in believing that they themselves are clever. Even if they themselves don’t consider themselves to be the smartest person in the world they will always consider themselves to be smarter than the average person.

For a simple experiment think of the dumbest person you know and ask yourself if they think of themselves as dumb.

This phenomenon of thinking you are better than you actually are  or rather better than the average person is called ‘Illusory superiority’ and can be seen across in many common skills such as driving, language fluency and of course intelligence.

Now how this comes into play regarding a character like Rick is in that the audience too believe themselves to be quiet intelligent (regardless of how smart they actually may be) and immediately end up relating to him or any character that is able to outsmart one’s foe.

Here what Rick acts as is a self-insert for the viewer into the story like any other power fantasy. Only instead of an action hero with amazing physical traits and strength we get an intellectual one.

In fact Rick’s intelligence is so unquestionably overpowering that it leads to one of his fatal flaws which is…

The God Complex

Imagine being stuck in island filled with idiots; imagine having to explain the things that just come naturally to you over and over again to the people that surround you. This is the constant state that Rick is stuck in.

He is unquestionable smarter than the rest of the world by many degrees, to the point where the rest of the world seems slow and boring to him. He is constantly frustrated and angry because the things that just appear clear and logically to him naturally seem to be beyond the grasps of the people around him.

Needless to say this can create a feeling of superiority in anyone, but Rick Sanchez isn’t just anyone. He is the smartest creature in the galaxy, able to take on entire galactic governments and gods using only his brain. This creates an ego to match his intellect i.e. a god complex

How does one measure said intelligence? Take away superficial things such as university degrees and IQ tests and  in a real world scenario, the easiest way to know if some is smart is for them to predict the outcome of a situation and see if they are right.

And in Rick’s case he is always right. So much so that he is able to come out on top no matter what the outcome,   even in the few situations where he does mess up he is still able to win by out-smarting his opponent or changing the scenario himself so his outcome becomes right. So here we have a character that never truly loses no matter what, which leads Rick to see himself as the closest thing to a god…

But he is also smart enough to know that he is not. And here’s the kicker, despite all his achievements, in his quieter moments we see just how broken a man he is. He knows he is not a god, nor does he want to be.