Midnight Gospel is an animated show that premiered on Netflix on April 20, 2020 and took the internet by storm. It is the brainchild of Adventure Time creator Pendalton Ward and the comedian and podcaster Duncan Trussell. The show’s format follows Clancy (voiced by Duncan) who interviews beings from across the galaxy for his “space podcast.” These discussions cover a variety of philosophical topics that plague the modern American–and this is what led me to discuss the show for the paper.
In the Midnight Gospel episode Annihilation of joy, the character Clancy is introduced to a Bird named Jason and one of the main topics discussed by the two is Buddhism, and how aspects of it can change our perceptions about life. Additionally, analyzing how and why new content, such as this animated series, grapples with ancient philosophy can be an important way to understand the longevity of the influence of belief systems like Buddhism. Further, the pop culture produced today is an important influence on the direction Western culture is heading, thus the inclusion of Buddhism within this specific medium underscores its potential influence going forward. It is of course difficult to explain such a specific and nuanced topic like the practice of Buddhism in the confines of an animated TV episode, but Midnight Gospel does it in a truly unique way.
Within Buddhism there are four Noble Truths which lay the foundation for their philosophy and morals within the practice. This particular episode of Midnight Gospel tends to focus more on the first. “The first Noble truth deals with the reality of suffering. It is universal, and it is the essence of the human problem.”(Bresnan) To begin, a common theme throughout the episode of Annihilation of joy is pain and suffering. This is not only portrayed by the topic of discussion, but also by the animation that becomes the background to the conversation. It’s important to note that Midnight Gospel is very much a visually driven show and often uses visuals to creatively portray the conversation being held.
In this particular episode the cast follows an alien stuck in a prison which they are trying to escape. The catch is that whenever they die they return back to their cell like nothing happened. The prison displays classic human suffering. Everyone in the prison is not only physically suffering, but also mentally suffering due to their eternal fate. Eventually, through many trials, the alien escapes along with Clancy by the end of the episode, finally ending their cycle of suffering. In this way the episode itself is an allegory for Buddhism. In this version the suffering would be anatman and our connection with this idea of self and escaping the prison after much effort would be the process of following Buddhist teachings and ideas. Buddhism was founded on this idea of relieving people from their own suffering and although its approach changes throughout history, these ideas have always been ingrained in its philosophy.