Esin Coskun

Professor Alvarez

Justification Letter

8 May 2018

This project focuses on using a Feminist perspective while watching the television show Rick and Morty. The main goal Feminists have is to have gender equality. Rick and Morty demonstrates the inequalities of gender in the specific episode, Raising Gazorpazorp. This was included in my blog posts. Also, the post go in order so the Brief Overview is first, then Raising Gazorpazorp, then Summer's Famous Top, lastly Rick and Morty Dives Into Our Reality. By reading it in order, the ideas will be easier to read. I tried making the post double spaced, but could not figure it out. My overall experience with this project was somewhat stressful only because finding primary sources was difficult for such a new topic. Secondary sources were obviously a lot easier. I believe the sources I chose elevated my ideas and help support them. I usually am not allowed to use any sort of creativity in some classes and I am really happy you allowed us to do whatever we wanted. Since I made a blog, I did have a good time finding gifs to add to it!

My first blog post that introduces a Feminist outlook is called Raising Gazorpazorp. It explains the idea of the episode which was essential for viewers who have no seen the specific episode. After talking about what happened in the show, I looked at one of the first scenes. Rick and Summer get swept up into a unknown planet and Rick blames Summer just because she’s a girl. Of course this is not a reflection of the creators of the show because in my last post it is clear they treat women equally. They do use Rick as a stereotypical narcissistic male who things women just get in the way of things. He literally blames their predicament on her breast. Clearly, Summer’s chest has nothing to do with why they are stranded on his planet. She is just the easiest scapegoat for him. Ricks manly character continues to be shown when he sees figure’s in long cloaks. He assumes they are men because it is pliable that men run most civilizations. When they reveal themselves he is shocked to be amongst a matriarchal society. I guess this is how most men would act because throughout our world history, women were never seen as powerful leaders. If anything we had less rights and were seen as properties to men. Seeing a matriarchal society was uncommon for Rick and he continued to play the role of a misogynist male.

In my second blog I talked about women’s clothing. This was not originally what I was going to speak about, but after rewatching the episode, Summer’s shirt was mentions so many times. I first talk about the aggressive sex-crazed male Gazorpians who see Summer as an object which could be a reflection of how in reality men act towards women. Rick being male, tells Summer to cover up so that they do not get distracted. I compared this to how women feel uncomfortable at work and in school because their outfits are a ‘problem.’ When I was writing about if Feminists are bothered when they are complimented, I thought about how you shared a story that related to this. I believe you said a coworker wanted to compliment you, but she was not sure if it was rude if she did because you were a Feminist. You did not think that compliments were rude or demeaning. I took this idea and applied it to Rick and Morty. Summer did not feel discouraged when others commented about her top. She payed a lot of money for it, so of course she would not mind if someone admired it. 

      Lastly, thanks to your suggestion, I incorporated the harassment of the women writers. Maybe men misunderstood that episode (Raising Gazorpazorp) and thought Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon were making fun of females, but they made jokes about both sexes. The point was to use satire to show how unfair our world is when it comes to gender inequality. These fans blamed the two women writers, not because of their talent, but because of their gender. It is unbearable that in 2018 situations like this still occur. I really liked writing about this post because I thought it was the most important factor to my Praxis Project.