Any pop culture artifact is compelling to the extent that it taps into our real desire for change, justice, virtue, freedom, resolution, etc. But it can never go all the way down this road, it can’t consummate this desire, because that would be too threatening to the reigning social order.

The example of this that hit me the hardest was the “Planetina” episode of Rick and Morty. This is a show where Morty remains loyal and complicit in hundreds of capers Rick orchestrates where people are constantly getting killed, entire planets destroyed, lives ruined, all of the benefit of this old egomaniac’s ego. Morty complains but never abandons Rick.

But Planetina starts doing the same shit in the service of actually improving the world and he suddenly has a crisis of mortality and tearfully abandons her.