Post #13 – Beavis and Butthead

How little does it take to make us laugh? Will we laugh at a fart joke just as hard as we would laugh at a something witty and intelligent? Beavis and Butthead, at least for some people, was a hilarious (and extremely juvenile) look at teenage culture in the 1990s. The show makes no reservations about being immature and crude – it doesn’t act like it’s anything more than it is. However, it’s easy to forget that at one point everyone was 15 years old and immature and had a taste for juvenile humor. If you didn’t than you really missed out. We also viewed the world differently when we were 15. Work was ‘lame’, education was just for ‘nerds’, and authority figures really had no authority over us. We cared more about what was on TV. In this sense, Beavis and Butthead is a reminder that everyone was immature at one point, and we viewed the world much differently. Beavis and Butthead also gives us a look into the ‘MTV Generation’ of the 1990s.

Let’s look at the episode titled “Politically Correct” to see what kind of aspirations and attitudes Beavis and Butthead have for themselves. At the :21 second mark, the pair are bored because nothing is on TV, and Beavis suggests that they should do homework. Butthead stares blankly at Beavis for a couple of seconds before he bursts out laughing, and then calls Beavis a ‘dumbass’. Later on, they get picked by the teacher to run for school office. At the 2:09 mark, their teacher informs the boys that they will need to become more politically correct in order to attract voters, and reads off the titles of several books that may help them learn how. Beavis and Butthead don’t take any of this seriously, they just make sexual puns about the book’s titles to themselves. The title of one such book is “Men Who Feel”, and Butthead adds “….themselves?” before erupting in his trademark “Huh huh” laugh. It’s obvious that neither Beavis nor Butthead have learned anything during their talk with the teacher.

There are other such examples of their lack of motivation and immaturity in this episode, especially during the 4:00 mark when they show up to the debate completely apathetic and unprepared, but it’s obvious that Beavis and Butthead don’t care about any of the things they are supposed to. The thought of doing something productive like studying is a rediculous idea to the two boys who would much rather be watching TV. They make no serious effort to try to present themselves as competent candidates, but instead they coast along nonchalantly and don’t appear to have any reservations about their attitudes. Many teenagers are unprepared to take responisibilty for themselves or apply themselves in school, and their antics clearly demonstrate an attitude that many of us may have had years ago, even if we don’t like to admit it.

We also viewed people in authority differently when we were 15 years old. Let’s look at this clip from “Teen Talk” to see how Beavis and Butthead portray the people who have authority over them. The clip begins with Beavis and Butthead ruining a live interview with the principal by changing a display from “Highland High” Cares’ to “Highland High Suks”. For punishment, they are required to go on a TV show called “Teen Talk”, where as the principal states, ‘parents can feel better about their own kids by watching losers like you’. Beavis and Butthead are actually excited to go on the show, because of the possibility they will ‘score’. However, they fail miserably at seducing two girls on the set, and Beavis starts to throw a tantrum because he thinks he will never “score”. One of the production managers orders Beavis to calm down, but Beavis calls him an ‘asswipe’ and continues screaming. The manager comes up and knocks Beavis off the stands, prompting Butthead to declare ‘this is cool’. Having completed their punishment unsatisfactorly, the principal forces them to clean an asbestos contaminated room.

What does this clip tell us about Beavis and Butthead, the school, and the other adults around them? Firstly, the principal is portrayed as an incompetent idiot who has no control over his school, and doesn’t understand his students. He is more concerned with humiliating Beavis and Butthead than teaching them a lesson. At the end, it’s clear nobody has learned anything from the whole fiasco. Also, he is willing to subject Beavis and Butthead to clean his poorly maintained asbestos contaminated school. He stutters, and appears to have little control over his emotions.

This is just one episode of many, but it clearly demonstrates the attitudes that many in the ‘MTV Generation’ shared. The adults are incompetent, hard to relate to, unsympathetic, and antagonize the students. On the other hand, the students are immature, obnoxious, and don’t seem to have any long term goals or ambitions. Beavis and Butthead‘s brand of immature humor may be off-putting to some, but I don’t think too many people can deny that it portrayed the lives and attitudes of many teenagers well.

This week I commented on Andrew and Chris‘s posts.

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