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Comment by fractallyte | Hacker News Reader

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fractallyte·

I thought this was made pretty clear in the theme song's lyrics?

"They're Pinky and The Brain - Yes Pinky and The Brain - One is a genius - The other's insane"

Brain is clearly made out to be insane (in the cartoon sense), which leaves Pinky as the genius. QED, right?

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This comment and the replies seem to be rationalisation. It's clear even from the opening Pinky is supposed to be shown as an insane fool (It shows the Pinky dancing in what looks like a Straitjacket when the theme sings "The other is insane"). The reason The Brain's schemes don't work out is because it's a comedy cartoon for children, not that the mouse acting like the idiot is secretly a genius.

It's a nice fan theory but I don't think it holds up.

also in general English style if you say there is X and Y and one is an A and other a B, it is common that the property A refers to X and the property B to Y as they occupy the same positions in the statement. However one can also be structuring things in this ambiguous manner for artistic reasons.

Or because brain rhymes with insane...

Of course that's what they want you to think!

Right, that was clear to me and I never saw an episode only heard the theme song... it's very clearly insanity to try to take over the world and also being cagey about which one is insane it's again obvious it's not that the one whose name would imply it.

Indeed. Besides, you dont even need the lyrics to infer who is insane. The only major goal in life being world domination is enough proof in my book...

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