Posting this here because nobody can stop me.

Out of every horror movie I have ever seen, none have terrified me the way The Good Burger has. The Good Burger is a film so complex that many still have yet to find all of its secrets. David Lynch himself has famously said, "...When writing the new season for Twin Peaks, I was reminded of The Good Burger. Every night since I first saw the movie in 1997, I would wake up in bed, drenched in sweat, and wonder if the reality that I'm currently in is my own. The Good Burger is a film about the absence of reality, and I wanted to replicate that with this new season." [sic]

Since its release in 1997, The Good Burger has been a staple in pop culture cinema. You can see its likeness in films such as Hereditary and Under The Skin. It is also what inspired the critically acclaimed television series Mr. Robot. However, none of the aforementioned pieces of media will ever live up to its influence. The depth of The Good Burger is a story so grand that none can replicate it. Quinten Tarantino himself has gone on to say that he has tried and failed to imitate scenes.

The first thing you need to know about this movie is that Dan Schneider portrays a character. The second thing you need to know is that the character Ed isn't real. That's right. My mind was blown too. The truth is, central character Dexter Reed has a condition known as "Multiple Personality Disorder." I haven't had enough time to put in the research, but I believe it's a condition where one person takes on multiple personalities.

Next, every event in the film occurs in Dex's head. This is evident within the first scene.

Immediately, we are introduced to the hellish nightmare that is Dex's mind. His place of work is BASED in this hellish landscape where carnivorous hamburgers become sentient and beg him not to sell them. This, of course, has deeper implications, as is given with the first burger's line, "I see you." I see you. The first victim that saw him. Within the first few minutes of the film, we realize that we are looking through the mind of a demented killer.

At the end of this dream, we see Dex's persona Ed flying with the hamburgers when they suddenly jump him down a hole. This shot is a very symbolic tie-end to the film's ending -- which will get to in a bit. But, for now, we began the start of the true nightmare that is his reality.

Upon waking up, Ed says, "Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good burger!" He reaches toward his nightstand and grabs an alarm clock that's not plugged in. "Oh! A clock" These are the first hints to the audience that Dex's mind is deteriorating.

Ed gets out of bed, and he takes a shower in his work uniform while singing a song with incomprehensible lyrics: ♎︎□︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ●︎♓︎🙵♏︎ 🙰♋︎⌘︎⌘︎. I've tried my best to translate them, but I don't think they were meant to be understood.

While we're in Ed's house, we notice many subtle details. Reminders of the Good Burger, his place of work, are scattered around his room. As Ed reaches toward his nightstand we see what I believe to be a burger-shaped piggybank. Also on his nightstand is a burger-shaped squeaky toy.

Ed's room looks like it came from The Bubble, by Muggonny,  what with his banana lamp, his shelf full of various knick-knacks, and his wall of rubber duckies. I believe this is Dex's way of trying to make light of his reality by attempting to imagine everything in a brighter atmosphere. He wakes up every day and goes to a job that he doesn't want, to the point that work has consumed his personal life completely. And today is the day that he breaks.

We see Ed leaving his house on a pair of roller skates. As he's trying to make it to work, he runs into three kids in the middle of the street playing a game of jump rope. He rolls into it, getting one of the kids entangled and dragging her with him. Ed loses the child halfway down the block, but knocks down a mother and takes her baby. Ed then takes a detour through a basketball court, rolling straight through a group of people and replacing the baby with a basketball -- where the baby is promptly thrown through the hoop of a basketball net. We are then introduced to Dex and the relationship he has with his homeroom teacher. The sequence ends with Dex crashing into his car.

What actually occurred during this series of events is actually very graphic, and I ask the faint of heart to not read the spoilered section:

At the edge of his sanity, Dex steals his mom's car and runs over a child playing on the street. The jump rope symbolizes her entrails as she's dragged down several blocks through the neighborhood before Dex notices and drops her off. Feeling the lust for blood, Dex sees a mother walking across the street with her baby and rams into her. During the next part of the sequence, as Ed is skating away with the baby, we see the mother get back up in the background. I believe this is Dex trying to justify his actions by imposing that all the victims involved came out alright. As for when he skates through the basketball court, I don't think he drove through it (he totally fucking did), but I do think that he saw it and thus began to create the story in his head. We see him replacing the ball with the baby, one of the players throws the baby through the hoop. To Dex, this is a visual euphemism for the baby crashing through his car's windshield.

The rampage ends when Dex crashes into his teacher Mr. Wheat's car, and he drops the Ed persona. Mr. Wheat, realizing that there is blood all over Dex's car, fearfully runs for the car phone, because they had those in the 90s. Dex attacks Mr. Wheat, but there's a resistance behind it. The recognition of what he's done has been fully realized, and he wants to get help.

We see Mr. Wheat several more times throughout the movie, and each time he's either mocking Dex or Dex is destroying something he owns. I believe this is Dex feeling conflicted with his decision to not kill Mr. Wheat when he had the chance. Each time that Mr. Wheat arrives to mock him, it is a reminder of why he was institutilized institutionalized. By destroying Mr. Wheat's property, he finds catharsis within his own thoughts. And, to some degree, he believes he's really doing it.

The rest of the film takes place in an asylum. Not committed to the belief that he's insane, he tries to imagine the institution as the fast-food restaurant he worked at before his rampage. Working life has consumed Dexter Reed so much that it is the only thing he finds comfort in. So, he visualizes all of the patients as co-workers and the orderly as porn-production power rangers™₁.

Dex's cellmates are presented as his co-workers, and each was BASED on his own perception of reality: Otis represents Dex's view on working life and how we'll all eventually work ourselves into the grave. Spatch represents how over time we lose our initial goals in life. Dan Schneider portrays a character.

At the start of the film, we see that Dex isn't well-respected among his peers. This is evident during the exchange between him and his teacher, and it shows up again when he's in his Ed persona. This is where Ed's "special sauce" comes into play.

Ed uses his "special sauce" to save the Good Burger, and everyone respects him. Dex decides after that to relinquish ownership of his conscience.

Ed signs the contract and the deal is sealed. He is now the control center. From the perspective of Ed, Dexter Reed is just another persona.

Dex's relationship with his parents is constantly hinted at throughout the film. Most specifically during the rooftop scene.

Ed: I got six toes on my left foot. What kind of problems do you have?

Dex: Other than the ones you cause? Lots. Most of them started when I was a little kid. That's when my dad left me and my mom. Must have lived in 15 places since then.

Dex's parents are never shown in the film, and I believe this is him trying to tune them out of his life. Dex talks about his dad left him at a young age, and he was forced to endure his mother. I believe he hints at abuse during this scene, although I'm not sure. I am sure, however, that his description of the yo-yo is a euphemism.

"I remember the last time I saw my dad. I was seven-years-old, and for no reason at all he bought me this yo-yo. It was so cool. I mean, it was like just any other yo-yo. It had lights that lit up when you yo-yoed it. Red lights on one side, and blue lights on the other. And it made this funky whistling noise, too."

The funky whistling noise, and the red and blue lights were actually a description of the police car he saw the night his dad was arrested. He was never actually given the yo-yo. He was given Manscaped merchandise. Dex was simply trying to repress the memory of his father getting arrested for murder. I'm not sure if it was murder, but I would like to believe that he murdered somebody.

This is the moment that Dex's Multiple Personality Disorder was triggered and he created the Ed fursona. (Note to Muggonny: I think it’s supposed to say “persona.” Remember to check before posting the review.)

As the movie progresses, reality and fantasy collide as Dex finally realizes that he's in a psychward, which becomes apparent in the final act of the film. In the final moment’s of Dex’s life, we see him losing his mind in the form of a dance sequence.

Having distracted the other patients, Dex attacks the guards and organizes the escape party. It’s a minor detail, but I believe the escape is calculated because he knows exactly which key to use after stealing the set off of one of the dead guards.

The Good Burger’s climax is one that I’ve seen out of any film. It is also the saddest. Dex’s cellmate picks him up and throws him through a window. This is a symbolic tie-in to the film’s beginning when the floating burgers drop him down a hole. However, don’t think that he was murdered. It was Dex’s own decision to jump. He could not handle his new-found reality, and responded in the way that could make him happy.

The remainder of the film takes place in a limbo of sorts. Both Dex and Ed escape the asylum and go back to The Good Burger. There, they concede that something needs to be done about Mondo Burger. The two break into Mondo Burger, and Ed saves the day. Afterward Ed gives a speech:

In this ending, not only is Ed intelligent, but he has saved the day and is beloved by everyone. The story of Dexter Reed is a tragic one, because the only way he could find satisfaction in life was in death and in the form of a fantasy. I can’t watch this scene without crying. Despite how psychotic the main character is, he is only human. Which brings me to the film’s central theme: You shouldn’t kill people, because that’s how they die.

And, of course, I cannot end this essay without this film’s critique of racism:

I don’t know, Ed… is it?

This has been my analysis of The Good Burger (1997). Join me and next time we’ll discuss how Sesame Street is a commentary on 1970s drug culture.

Why are you like this?

Wat

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This thread was posted on April 1st.

7474164
Well I know that. My reaction is that regardless.