Arrested Development and Philosophy by J. Jeremy Wisnewski William Irwin Kristopher G. Phillips, J. Jeremy Wisnewski Page B
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impotent in practical affairs, a direct result of the division of labor in the capitalist system, keeping individuals like Gob to one fine-tuned and specific job rather than letting them gain experience in all walks of life.
Throughout Season 2, Gob is given name-only presidency of the company from his brother Michael (who has no problem with that) while Michael is being investigated for connections to the company’s illegal activities. While Gob’s power is in name only, he becomes immediately power hungry and demeaning to his employees. As president, Gob wears his father’s suits and does whatever he wants, at anyone’s expense. Gob instantly sees employees as resources rather than people when he wears the president’s suit and finds himself in the shoes of the ruling class. When asked if he wants help taking alcohol to an office party, Gob responds “No, Al, I want to spill booze all over my f**king $6,300 suit. C’mon!!” The division of labor alienates Gob from his potential and from other people.
Meet the Fünkes
Lindsay Fünke, daughter of George Sr. and Lucille, wife of Tobias Fünke, and mother of Maeby Fünke, has benefited from her parents’ wealth, too. She has lived luxuriously off the family money without ever having a steady job. In the course of the show, she has tried her hand at being an actress, an administrative assistant, a maid, a musician, and a saleswoman at a clothing store, among other things, and all without success. She even dropped out of college because she “had a job, what was the point?” This “job,” of course, amounted to being paid by the Bluth Company for doing nothing. Her marriage with Tobias is beset by problems, as Tobias is a failed “analrapist” (analyst and therapist), a successful never-nude (he is psychologically incapable of being naked), and, quite possibly, a closeted homosexual—problems she tries to solve with an unsuccessful open marriage.
Lindsay shares many traits with her family members. Like her mother, she is more concerned with her public appearance than her character. (For example, she throws charity galas for social causes that she doesn’t care about in order to raise her social standing.) She is a neglectful mother, sometimes forgetting her daughter entirely. Like Gob, she has tried much, and been good at almost nothing, but whereas in Gob’s case it is likely from a strong division of labor combined with low natural capacity and no support, for Lindsay it is predominantly from a combination of no natural capacity, support, or attempt to be excellent to begin with. Lindsay has bought into the ideology of capitalism so thoroughly that she has no real passions or causes—she raises her status and consumes lavishly to make up for her marital unhappiness and meaningless existence. In short, Lindsay is entirely focused on having and not focused on being at all—the most alienated of existences.
When we first meet Tobias Fünke, he is a recently unemployed “analrapist” who lost his medical license for administering CPR to someone who didn’t need it. Tobias decided to try his hand at acting, then later as an understudy for the Blue Man Group (although he originally joined because he thought they were a group of sad men). He also has stints as a security guard, owner of The Queen Mary, co-founder of Gobias Industries (with Gob), and other minor jobs. Tobias’s main difficulties stem from his phobia of being naked (ruining his relationship with his wife), his repressed homosexuality (which is not explicitly confirmed but likely also is ruining his relationship with his wife), and his lack of skill in his newfound career of acting.
In The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State , Friedrich Engels (1820–1895), Marx’s friend and collaborator, argues that the monogamous nuclear family developed to give a smooth line of inheritance for private property. Engels describes this process as resulting in the oppression of women as a
Throughout Season 2, Gob is given name-only presidency of the company from his brother Michael (who has no problem with that) while Michael is being investigated for connections to the company’s illegal activities. While Gob’s power is in name only, he becomes immediately power hungry and demeaning to his employees. As president, Gob wears his father’s suits and does whatever he wants, at anyone’s expense. Gob instantly sees employees as resources rather than people when he wears the president’s suit and finds himself in the shoes of the ruling class. When asked if he wants help taking alcohol to an office party, Gob responds “No, Al, I want to spill booze all over my f**king $6,300 suit. C’mon!!” The division of labor alienates Gob from his potential and from other people.
Meet the Fünkes
Lindsay Fünke, daughter of George Sr. and Lucille, wife of Tobias Fünke, and mother of Maeby Fünke, has benefited from her parents’ wealth, too. She has lived luxuriously off the family money without ever having a steady job. In the course of the show, she has tried her hand at being an actress, an administrative assistant, a maid, a musician, and a saleswoman at a clothing store, among other things, and all without success. She even dropped out of college because she “had a job, what was the point?” This “job,” of course, amounted to being paid by the Bluth Company for doing nothing. Her marriage with Tobias is beset by problems, as Tobias is a failed “analrapist” (analyst and therapist), a successful never-nude (he is psychologically incapable of being naked), and, quite possibly, a closeted homosexual—problems she tries to solve with an unsuccessful open marriage.
Lindsay shares many traits with her family members. Like her mother, she is more concerned with her public appearance than her character. (For example, she throws charity galas for social causes that she doesn’t care about in order to raise her social standing.) She is a neglectful mother, sometimes forgetting her daughter entirely. Like Gob, she has tried much, and been good at almost nothing, but whereas in Gob’s case it is likely from a strong division of labor combined with low natural capacity and no support, for Lindsay it is predominantly from a combination of no natural capacity, support, or attempt to be excellent to begin with. Lindsay has bought into the ideology of capitalism so thoroughly that she has no real passions or causes—she raises her status and consumes lavishly to make up for her marital unhappiness and meaningless existence. In short, Lindsay is entirely focused on having and not focused on being at all—the most alienated of existences.
When we first meet Tobias Fünke, he is a recently unemployed “analrapist” who lost his medical license for administering CPR to someone who didn’t need it. Tobias decided to try his hand at acting, then later as an understudy for the Blue Man Group (although he originally joined because he thought they were a group of sad men). He also has stints as a security guard, owner of The Queen Mary, co-founder of Gobias Industries (with Gob), and other minor jobs. Tobias’s main difficulties stem from his phobia of being naked (ruining his relationship with his wife), his repressed homosexuality (which is not explicitly confirmed but likely also is ruining his relationship with his wife), and his lack of skill in his newfound career of acting.
In The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State , Friedrich Engels (1820–1895), Marx’s friend and collaborator, argues that the monogamous nuclear family developed to give a smooth line of inheritance for private property. Engels describes this process as resulting in the oppression of women as a
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