Carl Brutananadilewski is an interesting character. A working class, lazy, lonely, hilariously-lewd New-Jersey-shore type who is one of the main characters in Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a late-night, young-male-adult-targeted cartoon show, Carl, while problematic in his words and actions, is a fairly self-actualized guy. Even as he says terribly un-PC things such as “you own a wife…use her,” or “I love them women: that’s why I pay them $40 to have sex with me,” he is admirable and intriguing for his level of self-knowledge, his willingness to say what he feels and the relatively little self deception involved in his spoken and lived relation to the world.
In our world, this level of self-knowledge is uncommon, and even discomforts us, and we are often so concerned with how we appear and how we are seen that we forget who we are, how we feel and what we want.
In one of my favorite quotes, he says “it don’t matter, none of this matters,” while his marriage is underway, in response to inquiries about how to pronounce his name and that of his Russian mail-order bride. In this moment, it is disclosed that Carl has no misconceptions about the meaninglessness of everything, and even a simple mispronunciation is a comedic but nihilistic bridge to this type of commentary.
While Carl does not live a happy life, and he is often found masturbating with his sweatpants down on the floor in front of the tv, he is nevertheless himself, clear on his self, who he is, what he wants and what he willing to do and not do. This is something in a world of deception and distraction such as ours.
Bearer of Pity 