Let me explain. It's not just because of the brilliant parody of Rush Limbaugh in that episode. It's not just because of ejaculations like "Stop, in the Name of All That Which Does Not Suck," or the times they say, "Huh, huh, he said 'ejaculations.'" It's not just because many of their comments on videos make a lot of sense when you think about it (like when they had no idea what that Johnny Cash video was and Butt-head said, "It's, like, uh, gangsta rap."). It's not just because every time Butt-head says "we" Beavis says "me too, me too" because he thinks Butt-head isn't really including him (and he's right). It's not just because of that early episode where they almost drown in gym class and Mr. Buzzcut asks Butt-head if he has any consideration for his friend Beavis's life and Butt-head says "no"--and then you hear Beavis repeating quite happily, "yeah, yeah, no." It's not just because episodes like that provide a plausible reason why Beavis has become more assertive over the years (or at least passive aggressive--remember the show where Butt-head is choking on a chicken nugget and Beavis keeps getting "distracted" as he looks for help?). It's not just because of those little dots that pop up around Beavis's head when he loses it, or his sugar-high/"crappucino"-induced Cornholio episodes.
No, it's more.
Yes, as heretical as it sounds, there's more to like about the show than simply the character/plot level, as good as that often is. For instance, I love the way the show takes the notion of the "MTV generation" to such an absurd extreme. And don't think Judge doesn't know what he's doing here--remember the episode where the anthropology graduate student chooses B+B for his documentary "Generation in Crisis" and then has to pay them to do something? OK, that may be more impressive to someone like me who's quite critical of the resurgence of generation talk since Douglas Coupland's Generation X showed target marketers everywhere how to create a whole new set of identity categories, and who liked Green Day's previous album because, like B+B, it was making fun of those categories. But it may not float your boat.
How about, then, the subtle homoerotics of their relationship? No, no, I'm not saying B+B are gay (although you heard it here first if they do eventually come out); I'm saying look at some of the pictures Judge draws! (Like during that episode where Mr. Buzzcut makes them lift weights in the school gym....) So what Judge is doing is juxtaposing their dumb-ass homophobia not only with the fact that they are inseparable, but also with how they interact physically. Not in every episode. But in enough to make a recognizable pattern. Just watch for it. You'll see what I mean.
I could go on--Burger World as window into/parody of Coupland's notion of "McJobs" and all the talk (and reality) of America's new postindustrial/service economy; Cornholio as broaching Texas racial politics and Mexico/US relations (recall that what set Beavis off was the hippie teacher doing a history lesson about U.S. imperialism); B+B as representative/parodic white males and all that entails for a rethinking of whiteness; the show's playing with "political correctness" as an index of just how successful right-wing critics of academia have been at defining popular conceptions of the academy (a perspective perhaps shared widely by B+B's fans, to their loss).
But I'll stop now. Wouldn't want to take a cartoon too seriously, right?
note: this was written circa 1996, back when MTV would play some videos; I've moved on to Daria, Dr. Katz, and South Park because they show fewer repeats (and, truth be told, they're better than B+B and the Simpsons, which once was good), but I'll always remember B+B with a mildly embarrassed smile.... [1998]
p.s.: this whole thing is horribly dated--Green Day's Dookie is now ancient history, for one thing, and Daria is no more--but I can't bring myself to delete it or update it; so I'll just leave it hidden here as an alternate introduction to my current website!
Last modified: 2/12/02 4:22 pm