Beavis and Butt-Head

You'd think that this show would be so stupid, and it is, but you get your laughs out of it. Sometimes, you need that immature side. And you have to just admit when something is funny. I would watch this show with my sister when we were younger, and I just wanted to be like her. It was the grundge era, *shudder*, so, I thought it was cool. And now I watch it on my own, and I still get my kicks. Beavis and Butt-head rocks.

I liked Beavis and Butthead when I watched it in 1993-1994. The show was much smarter than was advertised. For one thing, it realized that sex and sexuality is at the base for many more human actions than is generally realized and accepted. The format and execution may have been childish but the concepts and ideas were fairly advanced. In that way, Beavis and Butthead was a much more psychological show than a lot of the other garbage that has floated around in TV history. The fire comments, the animal abuse, etc, is the part of the show that is unfortunate. Without such things, however, there would be no Beavis and Butthead. Still, the show does not attempt to hide that these activities are sick and is a much more honest show in that respect than many others. Beavis and Butthead was a necessary show for tackling topics, no matter how stupid, that are rarely touched upon in society. In that way, it provided (GASP!) a service. The characters around Beavis and Butthead were funnier than Beavis and Butthead themselves, such as Anderson and Buzzcut. For anyone who has ever done or wanted to do anything retarded (haven't we all been there?), Beavis and Butthead is for you. Personally, I've been Beavis and Butthead level stupid at times, myself, and I really enjoyed the show.

MTV original animation programming about two teens (the titled characters) who go through life obliviously. They care nothing about school or really anything for that matter. They do however constantly show interest in "scoring" (losing their virginity), drinking alcohol, smoking, stealing and an endless list of other possible miscreant activity. Church groups and many adults shunned the show while the majority of those in the huge 15 to 30 age group demographic loved and embraced the program wholeheartedly. A civil war between viewers would then of course start, with the youths of the country winning or did they (the fact that the show pretty much stopped after the theatrical movie makes you wonder if the program didn't go too far with the wrong people)? I personally love the series even today. Creator Mike Judge (who does most all the voices of the insane characters) actually does what his title says: he was creative. The creativity of the series (which ran from 1993-1997 on cable's MTV) is outstanding. Stuff like "Beavis and Butt-Head" is simply to entertain and make its audience feel good about itself (I mean no one could be as moronic as these characters are, could they?). You have to look at the material through a looking-glass to understand the pressures, situations and feelings that many adolescents have in this day and age. Even though the series is not really thought-provoking per se, it still strikes a cord because it pokes fun at sometimes very serious matters. I think this is the reason why some refused to ever embrace the show. If "The Simpsons" knocked on the conventional programming door in 1989, then "Beavis and Butt-Head" definitely tore that door down in 1993. And of course more wonderful animated programming like "King of the Hill" (also by Judge) and "Family Guy" would follow. Is "Beavis and Butt-Head" art? I don't know, but to be honest I have never really cared if it is or not. 5 stars out of 5.

Beavis and Butt-Head is often times misconstrued as a terribly immature, offensive, and vulgar show. While those claims do have reason behind them, often times the people saying these things have not given this show a fair analysis, taking it simply for what it appears to be. But Beavis and Butt-Head goes much deeper than a lot of people give it credit for. On one level it is about two stupid teenagers who have nothing better to do than laugh, and so it serves as a critique to the general apathy of that early 90s generation. But at the same time, Beavis and Butt-Head can be seen as a positive spin on that indifferent generation. Although they wreak havoc and destroy all that is good, Beavis and Butt-Head endure as good people (in some sense) because they are completely confident in themselves, they do not really have bad feelings towards anyone, and even though we might consider their lives to be meager and pathetic, they are really happy with what they have, they do not think less of themselves, and they (in their own ways) try to improve themselves (like trying to pick up chicks). This might be a bit of a stretch, but I almost view them as the 90s version of Lenny and George from "Of Mice and Men." These are just two guys who are trying to figure out life and laughing the whole way through. Is there anything wrong with that? Methinks not. So, watch these fools, and watch them well, you will not regret it.

Okay, I admit it. I am a closet Beavis & Butthead fan. Well, actually, not all that closeted, but when I tell people I enjoy the show, sometimes they just don't get it. Some of them say, "But it's just stupid! It's just two morons laughing and being crude all the time!"

Well, I thought so too, before I ever watched the show. I had heard of them; I would occasionally see B & B pop up on an MTV awards show and receive lots of laughter and applause - the laughter and applause of recognition. I knew they were popular but I didn't "get it." Then, part of the way through the first episode I watched, I "got it." The reason Beavis & Butthead is so funny is that it does an extremely dead-on accurate job of portraying a very real aspect of teenage males that had been completely overlooked in a lot of previous television.

I can even remember the exact moment I "got it": Beavis and Butthead were watching a video by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and adding their usual commentary, and when the video ended and the name of the band appeared on the screen, Butthead read their name out loud. And when I heard the tone of voice he used, it hit me. It's that sarcastic, detached, "I'm so cool" kind of voice that teenage boys use constantly - even for such a banality as a simple declarative statement about a band's name.

And of course, what makes B & B's sarcastic detached cockiness all the more ironic is that they have extremely passive and uneventful lives: they spend all their time "hanging out" and doing the same stupid stuff, yet they somehow (well, Butthead especially) consider themselves qualified to put on this jaded cynical act. Everything they do is as observers. They see sex and rock music on TV, they think and talk about sex and rock music all the time, and they've never had sex or played rock music. And the irony never hits them. They're somehow this weird combination of innocence and jadedness at the same time, and this, combined with their passive observer nature, makes Beavis and Butthead an extremely dead-on accurate portrayal of adolescent males.

Of course Beavis and Butthead are exaggerations of teenage males, but nevertheless I find them a rather refreshing change from the portrayals of teenagers in shows such as Beverly Hills 90210 and Dawson's Creek, who seem as articulate, poised, and self-confident as a bunch of sophisticated 28-year-olds, and who do not ring true to me at all.