Since the end of the third season, Rick and Morty have been at the top of the headlines.
The show follows Rick Sanchez, a scientist who can invent anything that comes to mind, and his grandson Morty, who he basically uses as his “guinea pig” for all his experiments.
Looking into the family communication style of the Smith-Sanchez family (Jerry, Summer, Morty, and Beth), it is clear that the family dynamic follows a toxic strategy of high communication with low authority since Sanchez runs the household. He encourages Morty to miss class while demoralizing Jerry’s attempts at being the father figure for his children.
The structure of a family is fragile when alcohol abuse is involved. Beth, for example, grew up with abandonment issues due to her father’s alcoholism, which is a common symptom caused by an alcoholic parent.
Like her father, Beth has an alcohol dependency (Wine being her drink of choice). In the episode Total Rickall, Summer is ready for picture day at school but prior to leaving she finds Beth in a drunken state lying in bed. The scene ends with Beth accidentally giving Summer a black eye with the empty bottle of wine.
Children of alcoholics will typically deal with abandonment issues, low self-esteem, chronic depression, and other issues. Those who grew up with an alcoholic parent will likely follow their ways and form unhealthy drinking habits, which repeats the cycle and further instills itself in their children.
These issues are seen in both Morty and Summer. It is stated in the show that Morty has a learning disability and he is known for having no friends or social relationships in the show. This implies that he suffers from FAS, which would not be a huge surprise due to Beth’s drinking problem.
Summer, who is the oldest sibling and daughter of Beth and Jerry, expresses herself as extremely irritable and erupts out of anger often yelling about how terrible parents, Beth and Jerry, are.
The family dynamic of the Smith family shows a myriad of symptoms that are common for an alcohol abused family. Children of alcoholic parents are likely to follow their habits, which creates a vicious cycle.
While the show is a fun and zany cartoon, the humor highlights the severity of alcohol abuse with an individual and how it can affect those close to them.
