Finding Philosophy in Unlikely Places: Honesty, Contentment, and Two Really Stupid Cartoon Characters

photo-1527224857830-43a7acc85260.jpg
When I was a kid, the scary television show that all the parents were warned about (I am going to "date" myself here) was Beavis and Butthead. "The crude humor and irresponsible actions of these two characters will corrupt the minds of your children" the squares said back in the early 1990's. "You're not allowed to watch that show" my mom told me the first time that she saw it on the screen. I watched it every time that it aired, of course. My parents were too busy with their own activities to stop me and the "taboo" that was placed on it had only motivated me to seek it out even more. I found something of value there, too (though I would not know that until roughly two decades later, as I sat here, rewatching my Mike Judge's Beavis and Butthead Collection DVD set). I noticed that there is an interesting philosophy that seems to guide Beavis and Butthead on their journey through small town life and it is far more "positive" than those outraged parents would have believed. They were too busy being upset about the characters subverting authority and saying (rather tame, by today's standards) "dirty words" to notice there were some "good" lessons to be learned from how those characters lived their lives. That is to say, Beavis and Butthead followed a rather respectable philosophical code of behavior which caused them to be contented, to be effective communicators, it allowed them to find humor in everything, and it drove them to reject the validity of "undeserved" authority. Obviously, these messages were not always apparent on the surface of the show and the medium (a adult comedy cartoon) required certain situations to play out in certain ways that may cloud the philosophical message but it is there and it is valid, in my opinion.

The defining characteristic that Beavis and Butthead share is their constant giggling and that indicates their perpetual contentment. My mom sited their laughing as one of the reasons for disallowing me from watching the show. "They sound like idiots" she said, not understanding that their idiocy is what made the show entertaining. However, upon rewatching the series, as an adult with a somewhat interpretive mind, I saw a deeper meaning in the characters' laughter. They did not simply laugh at things that they thought were funny. They laughed at everything. They laughed as they sat in their filthy foodless house, they laughed as they were beaten, and they laughed as they were humiliated by their teachers. Those are some dark things to chuckle about but it always seemed to express the ease with which Beavis and Butthead are able to find contentment. They don't need a nice house to be happy. They don't need safety to giggle. They don't need respect and recognition to be at peace with themselves. All they really want are some gas station nachos and a few bad 90's music videos to (not surprisingly) laugh at. They seem like people who can be happy with life, regardless of what it throws at them. When we broaden that out, it begins to appear as though it is a rather positive personality trait. If we do not need material comfort or social praise to be happy, we can be happy most of the time.

20181007_165849.jpg

Some may argue that the laughing is their defense mechanism and there could be truth to that but I would consider it to be a valuable skill for people to cultivate. There are lots of ways that one can deal with the horror that exists in the world and mocking it is one of them. Those of us who possess the ability to do that, have something to fall back on in times of adversity. When we feel like we have reached a breaking point, we can crumble or we can laugh. While some may say that this sort of dark humor is "inappropriate," it provides a greater level of stability to an individual. Beavis and Butthead embody that characteristic to an extreme. They have a lot to be depressed about but they are never depressive. Their ability to laugh allows them to endure the constant hardship that is their lives and that is an ability that few of us have the mental fortitude to possess.

Beavis and Butthead stood on their principals and refused to bow to authorities even in the face of force and that is an admirable quality. I believe that this trait is what made the show particularly offensive to authority figures of the time. "Those boys don't respect their elders" said every angry parent and teacher who saw the series as existing to undermine their authority. Beavis and Butthead did not comply when they were faced by the authorities of their world (their teachers, their boss at "Burger World," and various mall security guards), even when resisting caused them harm (they were weak so they got beat up a lot). Some may say that this aspect of their characters was a result of their stupidity and, in the context of the show, it was but I also see it as an act of being true to their principals. They think that the authority figures are "stupid" and not worth listening to (that is actually true within the context of the show, too). They know that they have no power to protect themselves (that is apparent because they show fear when they encounter a threat) but they choose to disregard the authorities and suffer the consequences anyway. Few real people are willing to act in the same manner as these characters (the outcomes would likely be severe if they did) and that makes Beavis and Butthead's commitment to their worldview a rarity that should be treasured.

20181007_183444.jpg

Because Beavis and Butthead have no respect for authorities and the rules that they put into place, they allow themselves to be far more honest than a regular person. Rules, customs, and manners are the result of the societal structures that we live under but they can hinder our communication. Is their a nice way to tell someone that they smell bad or that they have a piece of food stuck in their teeth? If there is, it is still uncomfortable for most of us to say. We are left with the choice between staring at the piece of read bell pepper hanging out of a crevice in our coworker's mouth or facing the awkward moment of bringing that thing to that person's attention. Beavis and Butthead do not have that problem. They respect rules and manners as little as they respect the authorities and this frees them. They are brutally honest when they announce that "this sucks" or "that's stupid" without the slightest shame. There is no awkward feeling for them and that makes them highly effective, though somewhat rude, communicators.

photo-1522148543752-8cdaa654a796 (1).jpg

While I would not recommend that anyone go out and act like Beavis and Butthead (you will get shot or arrested, if you do), I think that the things that they have to teach us are valuable. We laugh at them because they do silly things and because they are complete idiots but that is only what we see on the surface. The series was always, at its heart, a satire and, that being the case, Mike Judge (the creator, writer, director, and voice actor) provides us with an extreme reflection of reality. Beavis and Butthead are our heroes and they embody positive traits but they are taken so far that they become ridiculous. However, if we dial those aspects of their personalities back, they become characteristics that we could benefit from imitating. Maybe we should be a little more honest. Maybe we shouldn't demand so many prerequisites before we can be happy. We could all benefit from being able to laugh in the face of hardship. I see a deep irony when I look back on the outrage that surrounded this show. Parents worried that their kids would turn out like Beavis and Butthead but they did not understand that there are far worse "role models" for their children to take after.

Peace.

Except for the pictures of my DVD case (which I own), all the images in this post are sourced from the free image website unsplash.com.

Sort:  

Funnily enough it was their laughing at inappropriate things that actually started me watching them. I always used to wonder why my now husband watched it, then one day I paused to watch with him. The episode was where they were at the golf course. Beavis got hit on the back of the head with a golf ball and knocked face down into the shallow water. I was almost horrified by Butthead laughing at him, presumably drowning, until it showed Beavis laughing too, with it bubbling from the water. My amazement at them finding such a thing so funny, got me hooked.

To this day I can usually make hubby giggle with a Beavis and Butthead reference. "Yeh, huh huh, no" is usually a favourite. We have a DVD collection and when our daughters were puzzled by us giggling over these strange references we told them to watch the DVDs. Now they get it.

Another thing that used to amaze me was how you could say of Mike Judge's characters: "I know someone like that!" I'd like to say that they were an exaggerated version of the people they imitated, but they generally weren't! Okay, maybe Beavis and Butthead themselves were exaggerated.

Posted using Partiko Android

Haha I love that golf episode.

"Another thing that used to amaze me was how you could say of Mike Judge's characters: 'I know someone like that!'"

That is something he is really great at. I kind of wish a studio would just throw a bunch of money at him and let him make whatever he wants.

"Many balls look the same, sir" 😆

I never watched the show during my younger days up to now but I would tend to agree on your take about the characters' laughing at everything. It takes guts and very positive attitude for people to do this, and is rare with most. Many people are more inclined to whining and complaining instead of finding the bright side of the situation.

While I look at people who stand on their principles with high regards, I do not agree to the characters not heeding to authorities. For me, this should be on a case to case basis. If authorities are abusive then I am up to the challenge but if I realize I am at fault then I would not aggravate the damage.

Thanks for sharing the positive side of what seemed to be not. So have you become that guy laughing at everything?

Haha Well I do catch myself giggling at people who say things like "wood" or "very hard" so I guess I picked up a little bit of that lol.

What's with wood and very hard? But I guess that is fair enough. Just make sure you are not giggling alone for no reason and on a regular basis. 😂

haha those are the types of words that they would laugh at because they are juvenile. I guess I never grew out of it either

Maybe I should also come up with my own words to laugh at. 😂

I used to watch beavis and butt-head too and my parents hated it also.

It really was such a great show and I was pretty pissed when it ended but King of the Hill helped to fill a void.

There was a lot to look at in that show too. It would be really easy to make it come off as though it was anti-redneck or something but I think it treated the subject matter very fairly.

Along with Ren and stimpy, and sometimes Rocco's Modern Life, Beavis and Butthead was out of the question in my house as well (thankfully King of the Hill was permissable so I got to enjoy some of Mike Judge's work). I am really surprised that I didn't work to rectify this earlier, but I have really not seen any significant amount since becoming an adult. I know what my next gift to myself will be.

The philosophies that you identified in the show really resonate with what I consider to have been my initial mindset, but I allowed to be subverted by faux authories you reference. I have put in a lot of work to unlearn the people pleasing tendencies that replaced my skeptical, internally-fufilling tendencies that spelled trouble for the education, parental and religious systems I was raised in. Systems that advised self-interest as immoral, demanded unconditional respect, among other assaults on reason and liberties, pose much more danger than kids pulling their shirts on top of this head and talking about their bungholes. Here's to not shying away from the truths of life and realizing our perceptions create our reality, so might as well laugh ;*

I think I found that set for like $20 and it came with all the seasons and the movie. They are edited kind of weird because some of the music videos are removed because Viacom (I think that is who owns MTV) lost the rights to run them as part of the show so they come on a separate disk. You can still find some on YouTube though.

Haha Yeah I got away with those other two but Beavis and Butthead always had to be something that I watched in secret. The references are a little dated now (they did a reboot for one season in 2011 so that one isn't too bad) but the comedy really holds up.

I loved King of the Hill too and I have been buying the seasons slowly over the last few years. Mike Judge really produces some great content as long as the networks/ studios allow him to do what he wants to do. Office Space is still one of my favorite movies and Silicon Valley is a solid show too. The only thing that really failed for him was The Goode Family and I think it was Comedy Central that really screwed it up.

Your review and thoughts about this shows speak more about you than they do about the show itself. Things are like we see they are, our opinions make them like that. You have taken a silly little show and concluded some great things from it. It is not about the show, it is about you. It always is but I am glad that this triggered it. This was an absolutely lovely read. Thank you for sharing it with us. 💚

Insightful as usual, good work.

Hi artisticscreech,

This post has been upvoted by the Curie community curation project and associated vote trail as exceptional content (human curated and reviewed). Have a great day :)

Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.

I have never watched Beavis and Butt-head, but I saw it shortly while flicking the channels. I believe the appearance of those guys does not help too to like them as you know we just on external appearance in the first instance, therefore seeing them people just automatically develop antipathy, even without giving them a chance and listen what it is about. I can understand your parent but I can understand you too. I believe for children, first of all it is entertaining and that makes them laugh, so they like it. Again the meaning of everything and understanding comes later like you say when you watch you see it with other point of view.

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.35
TRX 0.12
JST 0.040
BTC 70601.11
ETH 3576.21
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.78