An interesting marriage trope has emerged in television, particularly animated series. Toxic relationships have become noticeably common, where the mother/wife carries heavy loads of emotional weight with no return. She denies bad treatment and internalizes the toxicity. On the other hand, the husband is moronic, blind to the toxicity, and reliant on his wife. All of these patterns hold true for shows such as The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Rick and Morty. Like Marge and Homer in The Simpsons, Beth and Jerry married because of pregnancy and like Lois and Peter in Family Guy, Beth and Jerry married young to the disappointment of their parents. Like both Marge and Homer and Lois and Peter, Beth and Jerry have an incredibly unfulfilling and toxic relationship.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

However, Rick and Morty does slightly stray from these tropes. For one, the unhappiness in their marriage is very open, almost a running joke throughout the show. For instance, in the episode “Rixty Minutes,” Summer sardonically comments: “It’s a real treat to be raised by parents who force themselves to be together instead of being happy.”

​

Not only is the toxicity of the relationship out in the open, but the characters take action to remedy it, unlike the relationships in Family Guy or The Simpsons, where marital problems are ignored and never resolved. First, Beth and Jerry seek marriage counseling in a distant galaxy. On this planet, the marriage counseling service creates physical manifestations of how Beth and Jerry view each other. Beth’s view of Jerry is basically a floppy worm, representing his masculinity in crisis. Jerry’s view of Beth is a roaring, destructive monster. This plays into a fear of female power that has existed for centuries; a woman with power is immediately seen as a threat to masculinity and the hierarchy that is supposed to shove women to the bottom.

​