This is part of Nicktoons Month!
When I think back on my childhood, a few choice episodes of my favorite Nickelodeon cartoons come to mind — and “To Heck and Back” from Rocko’s Modern Life is one of the standouts, a meditation on gluttony, the afterlife, and the lengths to which people will go for friends.
Rocko’s best buddy, Heffer (a cow), chokes on a chicken bone while gorging himself. During a near-death experience, Heffer visits “Heck,” a fiery world of retribution in which the TV has no remote and for all eternity, he is condemned to watch on its screen the most horrifying punishment of all: Rocko climbing inside his throat to remove the bone and save him, a move that will slowly kill him. He even meets this guy:
Needless to say, it’s a little dark for a kids’ show. But ultimately, “Heck” reinforces an evergreen spiritual concept: the idea that our constructions of the afterlife are meant to show us how to change the things that aren’t working anymore in our own “modern” lives.
Treat your friends well. Treat your body well. Then you, too, can avoid your own personal heck.
Thanks for reading The Dot and Line, where we talk about animation of all kinds. Don’t forget to ❤ this article and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
