Everyone knows Mario is cool as f**k. But who knows what he’s thinking? Who knows Why he crushes turtles? And why do we think of him as fondly as we think of the mythical (nonexistent?) dr. Pepper? Perchance.
I believe it was Kant who said “experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play.” Mario exhibits experience by crushing turts all day, but he exhibits theory by saying “Let’s-a go!” Keep it up, baby!
When Mario leaves his place of safely to stomp a turty, he knows that he may die. And yet, for a man who can purchase lives with money, a life becomes a store of value. A tax that can be payed for, much like a rich man who views a fineable law much like a price. We think as Mario of a hero but he is simply a one percenter of a more privileged variety. The lifekind. Perchance.