Careercow Dan Harmon - Creator of Community, co-creator of Rick and Morty, and barely functional alcoholic

[Magnum Dong]

However, if I remembered correctly, [Harmon's] basically the cocreator and a lot of the shows development follows his snobbish ruleset based on the storytelling rules of Greek epics. I love the show, but if he's enforcing this constantly I can see it rotting into insignificance fairly quick since epics from the olden times and a show about dimensions and farts aren't one and the same.

Then again, that's just what I think. I just watch what I like and don't think too deep into it.

Although it's certainly pretentious as all fuck that Harmon's "created" his own narrative framework (the "Story Circle"), I don't see the problem with the fact it's based on existing storytelling rules. All that these techniques do for a writer is provide them with the bare bones of a structure, from which they can do whatever they want. These things are pretty adaptable, plus widely taught in creative writing circles, so it's probable that a lot of your other favorite sci-fi dick-and-fart shows are rooted in the Hero's Journey, Aristotilian structure, or other methods too, without losing quality.

Getting back to Harmon's Story Circle though, what's funny to me is that it basically is literally just the Hero's Journey (a theory less than 70 years old, mind you), only watered down enough that it's broadly applicable in works, enough that one can see the Story Circle in almost anything and pretend for a moment that he's come up with something insightful.

 

[MarvinTheParanoidAndroid]

Getting back to Harmon's Story Circle though, what's funny to me is that it basically is literally just the Hero's Journey

Are there any other story telling "frameworks" other than the Hero's Journey? I refuse to accept that there's only one way to tell a story and that one size fits all.

 

[KimCoppolaAficionado]

Are there any other story telling "frameworks" other than the Hero's Journey? I refuse to accept that there's only one way to tell a story and that one size fits all.

Yep! For example, the Aarne-Thompson classification system has over 500 literary patterns that folktales fall into (although many stories fall into several groups at once).
EDIT: Looked it up myself, and there are over 2500 possible story patterns and archetypes recognized by the A-T classification system, so the people who go "There's only one story, and it's the Hero's Journey" are just full of shit.

 

[Lurkette]

hey sorry to interrupt but could someone explain the punchline to me

yeah I know everyone makes jokes about their hardships, humour makes it bearable but Roiland puts some molestation shit in pretty much everything he produces. there's a difference between making jokes to feel better about what happened and having an unhealthy obsession about it to the point it becomes almost your only joke, it's neither the pinnacle of comedy nor shockingly dark like he seems to think. I'm just like "yeah Justin we get it you're edgy"

I couldn't care less if he's a pedo or not, I just find it :autism: and cheap that he puts it in everything, it really seems to be his "special interest"

an example, a comic he posted on his twitter just a week ago:

Spoiler

actually could you explain the setup too
and how this is suppose to make me want to donate
thx

 

[KimCoppolaAficionado]

hey sorry to interrupt but could someone explain the punchline to me




actually could you explain the setup too
and how this is suppose to make me want to donate
thx

It's a shitpost sketch he threw on Twitter. Y'all are acting like he literally drew a lovingly-detailed image of Morty sucking off Rick or some shit. The dude's just an edgy shitposter.

 

[Lurkette]

It's a shitpost sketch he threw on Twitter. Y'all are acting like he literally drew a lovingly-detailed image of Morty sucking off Rick or some shit. The dude's just an edgy shitposter.

look i've laughed at some dumbass shit, everytime i think of that "slotherin" sloth picture i giggle for like five minutes straight, so i can appreciate a quick, dumb, cheap joke, but i'm legit confused as to what i'm suppose to get out of this
my first thought was that his skull was bashed in because the dude was offended he was called a pedo, but that's more of a punchline then he seemed to come up with
it's not even that edgy either
maybe if he put more detail into the gore but...wait how did the top of his head get crushed when he fell forward?

 

[MarvinTheParanoidAndroid]

my first thought was that his skull was bashed in because the dude was offended he was called a pedo, but that's more of a punchline then he seemed to come up with

He tripped on his shoelaces and bashed his head open on the pavement, I think.

 

[Magnum Dong]

Are there any other story telling "frameworks" other than the Hero's Journey? I refuse to accept that there's only one way to tell a story and that one size fits all.

There's absolutely other shit as well (see: Aarne-Thompson classification, variants on the basic five-act structure, and oodles of other indexes, frames, "rules", etc.). This is just conjecture, but I suspect Hero's Journey in particular is influential among people like Harmon for two reasons: 1) it's uncomplicated compared to other ideas while also being specific enough that recognizing when it applies to a work doesn't feel like stating the obvious, and 2) it provides the talking point of "This exact structure inspired lots of modern genre fiction which at first all seem like unique stories, but it turns out it's all the same, man" which makes dumb nerds feel smart and enlightened for some reason.

IMO it's safer/more conventional than having no structure at all and it won't hurt your story most of the time, but it's definitely not the best or only way to do things, and anyone who says it is is either lying or delusional.

 

[Star Stuff]

Although it's certainly pretentious as all fuck that Harmon's "created" his own narrative framework (the "Story Circle"), I don't see the problem with the fact it's based on existing storytelling rules. All that these techniques do for a writer is provide them with the bare bones of a structure, from which they can do whatever they want. These things are pretty adaptable, plus widely taught in creative writing circles, so it's probable that a lot of your other favorite sci-fi dick-and-fart shows are rooted in the Hero's Journey, Aristotilian structure, or other methods too, without losing quality.

Getting back to Harmon's Story Circle though, what's funny to me is that it basically is literally just the Hero's Journey (a theory less than 70 years old, mind you), only watered down enough that it's broadly applicable in works, enough that one can see the Story Circle in almost anything and pretend for a moment that he's come up with something insightful.

The problem isn't that he's respecting a storyteller's rule and, in fact, if that was the problem alone then it wouldn't be much of a problem. The issue is that it's the only ruleset he'll acknowledge and such a stance inevitably makes for repetitive shows. Repetition of almost any kind is tedium and tedium is poison to a show.

 

[Michel]

This reminds me of an interesting video on the series and how Harmon and Rick might not be so different afterall.

Lol nice channel faggot

 

[OtterParty]

Lol nice channel faggot

not hers

This reminds me of an interesting video on the series and how Harmon and Rick might not be so different afterall.

Apparently the creator spergs among us

 

[Michel]

@oddish nice channel faggot

 

[oddish]

This reminds me of an interesting video on the series and how Harmon and Rick might not be so different afterall.

Oh hey das my video
sup YHE

@oddish nice channel faggot

yes thank you I am a faggot

 

[Captain Smollett]

Okay, so I know "no celebrities" is a rule, but I think we can make an exception here. The most recent pages of my Rick and Morty fandom thread have mostly been dedicated to showcasing what a colossal piece of shit Dan Harmon is, and it made me realize that the guy definitely deserves a spot of honor in the Lolcow Hall of Fame.

I'm just gonna go ahead and quote some of the posts in the Rick and Morty thread that give you an idea of what we're dealing with:
















Tl;dr- Dan Harmon is an alcoholic mess who consistently chimps out on Twitter and blocks every person who tries to breach his echo chamber. The #HarmonBlock2017 hashtag is full of examples of such incidents. He also has a nasty reputation in the entertainment biz as being impossible to work with.

You know, I wouldn't be surprised the next time he orders fast food, it would come with "extra ingredients".

 

[cow4prez2024]

Goddamnit, Dan.

 

[Uncle Warren]

Oh right, I forgot about that. Thing is, Jerry was completely in the right about that situation as I recall before his kids forced him to admit to being a bigot.

Ya know I got pretty pissed about that line too. Like I get it, Jerry is a whiny sack of "pity me" crybaby, but that line was not only completely out of the blue but way out of character for both of the kids.

 

[AnOminous]

You know, I wouldn't be surprised the next time he orders fast food, it would come with "extra ingredients".

Some very special special sauce.

 

[Darwin Watterson]

Why would they get married then? I don't know how long it took to make the episode, and unless one of them was under the assumption marriage would fix their problems (lol), it makes no sense to assume this.

They got married sometime in late 2014. November, I believe. That episode aired in August of 2015. Assuming it was produced six months in advance, that'd mean it'd have begun production sometime in February of 2015.

It's pretty easy. Harmon keeps his shitty personality to a minimum around Erin because they're an item. They eventually decide to get married. Once that happens, Harmon begins to feel that he's already got his hooks into her so he no longer has to try. His usual personality begins to show. A few months into the marriage, their relationship begins to deteriorate, around the time the episode would be entering production.

It requires a lot of assumptions, but things DO line up reasonably well.

And it's not like that kind of thing never happens. Someone can be as sweet as can be while they're courting you, but once they feel that they're at a point where they've "got you," they start showing their true, ugly selves because they feel they can get away with it.

 

[mdrop22]

This thread is infuriating to read. I'm not a fan of Harmon's other works so I had no idea what a giant shit stain he was.

To me, the people who thought they "were Rick" or identified highly with Rick were missing the point of the show. No one is supposed to be Rick, because no real human would come close in capability or intelligence. But I guess I'm the retard here because Rick is just Harmon's shitty self insert and Harmon really DOES think the best parts of him are Rick. wow

 

[QB 290]

This thread is infuriating to read. I'm not a fan of Harmon's other works so I had no idea what a giant shit stain he was.

To me, the people who thought they "were Rick" or identified highly with Rick were missing the point of the show. No one is supposed to be Rick, because no real human would come close in capability or intelligence. But I guess I'm the exceptional individual here because Rick is just Harmon's shitty self insert and Harmon really DOES think the best parts of him are Rick. wow

The only person supposed to be rick is Dan, except replace his comical exaggerated sociopathy with alcoholic autism and credit stealing