Have you always loved It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia but felt you may not be getting the entire picture? Allow me to illuminate you! Sunny is a masterpiece of wit and current event in the framework of Freemason America. The show references mainly East Coast dilemmas of the down-and-out middle and lower class men. Mostly men: The whole show is a dissection of the hyper-masculine, middle America "bad guy" archetype. The title tells it so with a reference to the Sun, the penultimate astrological figure for men and the god of Freemasonry. It's Always Sunny is like a catalogue of the inner workings of the alcoholic, Irish, vaguely military Freemason man. The three dudes and one chick ratio also backs up the breakdown of overblown masculinity. Throw in Frank as the wicked old man and femininity and Sweet Dee just never have a chance. It's this classic clash of male and male as well as male and female that makes Sunny a banging good time... that also lays bare the underbelly of the Freemason man.
Let us start at the beginning with the intro, which is basically a study of the "imitated Sun" in Philadelphia. What people choose to light at night shows what they value and need. But light can also light up things for vanity and here, night lights become like a false "Neon God". This is all about the mentality of the town, as light traditionally symbolizes thought processes. By having the intro at night on a show about how sunny a place is, it makes you think about which Sun they mean. The natural Sun, or the unnatural one? The unnatural one references how people think at night, implying the collective mentality of the city about sex. By recording what Philly lights up at night, we begin to see what is highlighted at a false idol with "sexy, sensational" light. It also begins to reference the light of the moon, the inherently sensual, feminine identity. This introduces the theme of collapse, where opposites collide; such as the kitschy music that is both high and low, classy and classless, historical and modern. The use of light-as-subject and the metaphor of electricity-as-thought showcase the vain bombast around the false "Neon God" in Philly. The pompous, "sexual" light of the nights in Philly is a perfect metaphor for a show Hell-bent on dissecting every aspect of a character's sexuality and how they think about their sex. It's Always Sunny's intro is a tongue-in-cheek collection of how things like bridges, fountains, sports arenas, government buildings and houses are all fetishized and idolized to a sexual degree. The emphasis here is on the facade and how the Freemasons manipulate light to bestow sex-like attention on certain things at night. It all comes back to the title and it all makes you think about masculinity that is false, vainglorious, and over-sexed. Sound familiar?
The beginning of this is the show's breakdown of Gender. The creators of the show went with the rather classic breakdown of the mind, body and spirit of man that other shows like Friends and That 70's Show also use, with Dee as a sort of dark Magdalene to the boy's "dark Christ" identities. If you don't know about the Christ/Magdalene Grail Drama check out my earlier posts. It may seem crazy, but it goes a little something like this: Dennis is the mind of an Anti-Christ Freemason, Mac is the body of the evil, dark Christs and Charlie is the spirit of the Anti-Christ Freemason. This just means that these boys display through their interactions the inner battles between mind, body and spirit of a single Freemason man. Freemasonry is also evident by the front of Paddy's Pub. Dragons, the color green, Irishness and black and white checker patterns are all signs of a Freemason. The bar is essentially a Freemason temple full of over-privileged shmucks and low-class, slave-types trying to make a buck scamming and screwing people. The only women around are used and abused. Even Sweet Dee's name implies a role as a forcibly "sweet" servile woman. It's mayhem and everyone's sexual impulses are wrong, but the gender breakdown is three clear Anti-Christ "Suns" and their ragged Moon figure in Dee. Watching the characters interact with this in mind can bring more resolution to each episode.
The homosexual atmosphere of the Freemason temple is evident in Mac, the "body of Anti-Christ" and his clearly repressed homosexuality. His inability to admit it is the Freemason man's public face never admitting to the private pleasure he shares with his Mason brothers. The gay top/bottom, age-over-youth relationship in Masonry is seen in Frank and Charlie's relationship as father and son who share a bed. Phallus worship, a huge part of Freemasonry, is seen in episodes like Gun Fever and all the jazz about the tranny. Even Dennis' sexualization and objectification of himself is in line with the forceful homo-eroticism of the Freemason path. In mnay ways do these dark Christs die, but never over more than their own sexual stupidity. Charlie loves a woman who hates him, Mac is gay, Dennis wants only the screw himself and they all share sexual partners all the time. Each man's sexual deficiency is the collective fate of Freemason men, who chase pleasure and prestige above all else.
Let's talk about characters. Charlie is the spirit of a dark Freemason Christ. Ever the slave, the shadow, the schlemiel, janitor, rat-killer, pot boy; Charlie represents the position every-present in Freemasonry: the bottom. It just doesn't get much more depraved than Charlie. He lives in a box, sleeps on a couch with his dad, cooks on a radiator and eats cat food. Charlie represents the Freemason who never progresses but ends up doing the most work anyway. This leads him to passively manipulate people because he is always feminized and disenfranchised. Displacement becomes his watchword as he huffs glue and stalks a waitress. Charlie is always chasing the reward for a race he's not in so he's never validated and never feels true joy. Such is the fate of the Freemason man who lives at the bottom, which is, at some point, all Freemasons.
Mac as the body of dark Christs is hot-headed, virile but mislead, and riddled with Daddy issues. These and the nature of his role as the body of Freemasons keep Mac perpetually dying. He gets hurt, get's fat, freaks out, pretends to know karate and is obviously gay. Everything about Mac is a rendition of what happens to the bodies of "bad guys". Dennis as the mind of the Anti-Christ is the most depraved because of his consideration of women more than the others. It is in the dark mind of Christ that obsession with sexual dominance lies. Manipulation is his watchword. He seeks the fastest route because he is lazy, he needs to feel desired and pursued because he is vain and insecure. The mind of the Freemason is the typical chauvinist, narcissist ass who objectifies women and doesn't even feel bad about doing it. Dennis' evident Hell is the wicked mind of Masonry. But worse than all these is the father figure Frank...
Frank is a dark Jupiter-like man of means who, in his unfeeling, deadened old age, romanticizes and fetishizes the lives of the low, like Charlie. Frank is the evil, unholy spirit with a long, Capitalist shadow. For Frank, stealing and chicanery are attributes of Leadership. He takes what he can and scams the rest. This is very typical of aged Freemasons, so jaded and cold. They seek rejuvenation through contact with the base, vile, and arousing, no matter how negative. Frank's sex life is a whorey pit of underage incest and food-related dumpster sex. The mean life is his goal because he's seen the mold on the cheese at the top and he feels he has nothing left to loose. It's all pretty predictable really, which introduces my favorite character on the show: Fate, God. The Universe. Whatever.
Each character's reliable shiftiness is used time and again by the Universe to throw them off as they consistently do not learn from their experiences and mistakes. The writers seem to take pleasure in treating their characters to big doses of irony and I-told-you-so type reveals that smack of the hand of God. The characters indeed seem trapped in a purgatory where their evil schemes are always too dumb to hurt anyone but themselves. The cycles of their Hell even seem to produce good after a while as "God" (the writers) continually turns their plans and schemes on their heads. The greatest satisfaction of the show is meant to be seeing justice served to this band of loveless, Freemason fruits and nuts. This, in the main, is why It's Always Sunny at Kartoon Zoo. ;) XOXO - Rainbeaux Fox
