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others. Admittedly, Gob rarely does this (in his defense, though, nor do any of the other Bluths except for Michael and George Michael). Nonetheless, his actions do make other people happy or unhappy, even if he doesn’t intend them to. So, when are the people in Gob’s life happy? When Gob lives in bad faith, Steve Holt (!) gets a good father, Michael gets a caring brother, Buster gets a protector, and the whole world gets a clown. This shouldn’t be surprising. After all, what most often leads Gob into bad faith is his desire for approval, so it’s only natural that he is more likable when he plays a role. When he lives in good faith, on the other hand, Gob tends to be a selfish mooch and a loser. He brings people down.

If what I’ve said so far is true, that Gob and the people around him are all better off when he lives in bad faith, why shouldn’t he just go ahead and live in bad faith? For Sartre, he’s denying his freedom. I have two responses to Sartre. First, so what? What’s so important about embracing radical freedom, especially if it makes Gob miserable? Second, isn’t it possible to freely choose bad faith?

Socrates advised us to know ourselves, because the unexamined life is not worth living. Gob shows us the danger of knowing ourselves and examining our lives. Gob is the sage of bad faith. He has shown us the way. Reject authenticity! Embrace a role or two! Twenty! As many as you want! As many as you can! That way lies security and happiness; the other way, insecurity and madness!

NOTES

1. Plato, Apology, trans. Harold North Fowler (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971), p. 133.

2. Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, trans. Hazel E. Barnes (New York: Washington Square Press, 1984), p. 101.

3. Ibid., 87.

4. This distinction is further explored and elaborated in Herbert Fingarette, Self-Deception (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972). What follows is an unorthodox interpretation of Sartre.

5. Sartre, 102.

6. Ibid., 116.

7. Ibid., 109.

8. Jean-Paul Sartre, “The Humanism of Existentialism,” Essays in Existentialism, ed. Wade Baskin (New York: Citadel Press, 1993) 41.

PART TWO

A BUSINESS MODEL

Chapter 5

DR. FÜNKE’S 100 PERCENT NATURAL GOOD-TIME ALIENATION SOLUTION

Jeff Ewing

The Bluths are just like your family, at least if your father, the former president of a company, went to prison due to a number of shady activities. And if all your family members are crazy (in the therapy-or-felony way, not in the normal cute-dysfunctional family way). And if there is some strange, semi-incestuous dynamic going on between . . . most of you. On second thought, the Bluths are nothing like most American families, but still, like most American families, the Bluths are alienated by the capitalist system. Uncle Karl (Marx) will help us sort this out.

Happy Bluthday to You! The Bluth Family History

George Bluth Sr. was the CEO of the Bluth Company, which builds mini-mansions, among other activities (including owning and operating a frozen banana stand). The Bluth children, wealthy and accustomed to getting whatever they want, don’t really work for a living. They coast on Daddy’s money. As George Bluth Sr. says, “There’s always money in the banana stand” (and he means it literally).

Things take a turn for the worse, though, when George Sr. is arrested by the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission, for those of you who want to know) for defrauding investors and spending company money as though it were the Bluth’s personal bank account. This is where Arrested Development begins, with the Bluth Company, fortune, and family in shambles. Michael, the normal one, takes on the responsibility of keeping the family together, getting his dad out of jail, and saving the Bluth Company. Unfortunately, standing in the way of these goals are the rest of the Bluths. As we’ll see, the personal flaws of the Bluths are manifestations of alienation, which results from the capitalist system they perpetuate.

Marx and Alienation—Or, How to Never Succeed in Life While