#bojack analysis

Bojack starts to really grow fond of this baby. He risked his life for it multiple times throughout the episode. We can see him smiling at it, entertaining it, and doing a really good job of taking care of this child that doesn't belong to him. (In some way, I want to say that this is a reference to his big bender with Sara Lynn in season 3, where he fantasizes about a life he could've had with Charlotte and how in the fantasy he is an amazing father).

at the core of bojack horseman, raphael bob-waksberg’s 2014 comedy, is a story about the relationship between performance and depression. the protagonist of this renowned tragicomedy is best described as a sympathetic villain; he is shown to clearly be in the wrong across various events of the show, and is explicitly referred to as a bad person, but the audience is granted deep access to his personal struggles, resulting in some portions of the audience finding themselves on bojack’s side. the duality of his character is complex, but can be broken down into some core components, that all stem from the impacts of stardom and performance. the standup comedy of bo burnham arguably echoes this sentiment in real time. having been a performer from a young age, burnham creates work that serves as a satirical commentary on the life of entertainers. he uses original songs to explore the reliance upon and resentment for his performative nature both onstage and within his personal life. both the comedian and the netflix show are widely understood to be thinly veiling their critiques of the entertainment industry behind a particular brand of witty and absurd humour.

both bojack and burnham’s content openly criticises their audiences and explicitly states the manufactured nature of the narrative the audience is fed. in the fifth season of bojack horseman, the show satirises itself by having bojack star in a police procedural drama, parts of which are actively written by other characters to reflect events of bojack’s life. the titular character he plays, philbert, is the epitome of selfish male angst, and an example of what bob-waksberg’s show could have been; another story about a sad and angry man whose guilt supposedly makes up for the people he has hurt. according to bojack, philbert teaches us ‘we’re all terrible, so we’re all okay’, an interpretation that is harshly disputed by diane: ‘that’s not the point of philbert, for guys to watch it and feel okay. i dont want you, or anyone else, justifying their shitty behaviour because of the show.’ this moment is a direct reaction to some of the online reception bojack horseman has received. various circles of the show’s fanbase have found themselves relating to the protagonist to the point of defending his untoward behaviour, a response not intentioned by the show’s creators. this is not the only example of bob-waksberg’s ability to make his work self-evaluative. in season six’s exposure of bojack and sarah lynn’s problematic relationship, characters question their sexual encounter from the first season. the writers use this as a way of examining their own choices, and the harmful tropes they played into when using this exploitative sexual encounter as a gag. this self-evaluative quality is what sets bojack apart as a show that assesses the performance it participates in, much like the comedy of bo burnham.

bo burnham is known for directly addressing his audience, particularly in terms of discouraging idolisation and parasocial relationships. some examples of this manifest as responses to hecklers rather than a planned bit in the show, for instance:

heckler: i love you!

bo: no you don’t

heckler: i love the IDEA of you!

bo: stop participating!

he actively addresses the issues posed by being an entertainer, and encourages the audience to understand and recognise that his onstage persona is just that: an exaggerated persona. not once does burnham claim to be fully authentic onstage, and even moments of authenticity we see in his latest special, inside, are staged. we make the assumption that having the physical setting of a stage stripped away grants us a more personal look at the entertainer’s life, but he makes it clear that even in his own home we still see the aspects he has carefully constructed rather than the full truth. arguably though, parts of the show really are authentic; in his monologue during make happy, bo deconstructs his own show in a way that is similar to bojack horseman’s later seasons, admitting that all he knows is performing and thus making a show about the more mundane and relatable aspects of life would feel ‘incredibly disingenuous.’ in his attempts to separate himself from this onstage persona he actually manages to blur the lines between what is acting and what is now part of his nature as a result of his job. this notion is echoed in bojack horseman as bojack’s attention seeking nature is attributed to his years acting in front of a camera every day.

bo suggests that the era of social media has created a space in which children’s identities mimic that of an entertainer like himself, describing the phenomenon as ‘performer and audience melded together.’ in this observation he criticises the phenomenon. bo attempts to force the audience to recognise the ways in which their lives are becoming shaped by the presence of an audience and to some extent uses his own life as a warning tale against this. he points out the way in which the ‘tortured artist trope’ means that your cries for help or roundabout attempts of addressing mature themes such as substance abuse, mental illness and trauma become part of that on stage persona and therefore become part of the joke. both bo and bojack address these topics in more discrete manners earlier in their careers, but this eventually becomes expected, and thus they are forced to explicitly detail their struggles with these topics in order to be taken seriously. even then, portions of the audience are inclined to see it as part of the persona or as something that fuels the creators creativity and thus does not need to be addressed as a legitimate issue. the emphasis on creating a character or persona promotes the commodification of mental illness: any struggle must be made into a song or a joke or a bit, must be turned into part of the act in order to have value. this actually serves to delegitimise these emotions and create a disconnect between the feeling and the person, as it becomes near impossible to exist without feeling as though you are acting. even when an artist’s cries for help become blatant, they continue to go ignored because now they serve the purpose of creating content that criticises the industry they stem from. online audiences can be seen as treating bo burnham and his insightful work as existing to demonstrate the negative effects entertaining can have, and because this insight is useful or thought-provoking to audiences, he is almost demanded to keep entertaining and creating. in response to this demand, his work becomes more meta and his messages become clearer, and the more obvious his messages, the more people he reaches. this increases audience demands and traps entertainers in a cycle fraught with internal conflict.

during bojack’s second season, bojack’s date asks him, ‘come on, do that bojack thing where you make a big deal and everyone laughs, but at the same time we relate, because you're saying the things polite society won't.’ this moment exemplifies how aspects of his genuine personality have now become a part of his persona and this is demanded of him in genuine and serious situations, undermining the validity of his emotional reactions. he immediately makes a rude comment to the waitress at the restaurant they’re in and satisfies his date by performing that character he has set himself out to be. some circles of the fan base have argued that bojack is written as a depiction of somebody with borderline personality disorder, offering a psychoanalytical lens through which to view this notion of performance. a defining symptom of borderline personality disorder is a fluctuating sense of self; having grown up on camera, being demanded to perform to others as young as six years old, bojack’s sense of self will have been primarily dictated by the need to act.  whether this acting is for the sake of comedy, or as a representation of masking his mental illness, when they need to act is taken away bojack entirely loses his sense of self and relapses into his addictions: ‘i felt like a xerox of a xerox of a person.’ burnham’s depictions of depression run along a similar vein; in his new special he poses the idea that his comedy no longer serves the same personal purpose it once did for him. he questions ‘shit should I be joking at a time like this?’ and satirises the idea that arts have enough value to change or impact the current global issues that we are facing. burnham’s ‘possible ending song’ to his latest special, he asks ‘does anybody want to joke when no-one’s laughing in the background? so this is how it is.’ implicit in this question is the idea that when the audience is taken away and there is nobody to perform his pain to, he is left with his pain. instead of being able to turn his musings and thoughts into a product to sell to the public, he is forced to just think about them in isolation and actually face them, an abrupt and distressing experience.

the value of performance and art is questioned by both bojack and burnham, particularly during the later years of their respective content. burnham’s infamous song, art is dead, appears to be a direct response to the question ‘what is the worth of art?’ he posits that performing is the result of a need for attention (‘my drug’s attention, i am an addict, but i get paid to indulge in my habit’) and repeatedly jokes throughout his career that the entertainment industry receives more respect that it deserves (‘i’m the same as you, im still doing a job or a service, i’m just massively overpaid’). his revelations regarding the inherent desire for attention that runs through all entertainers is frequently satirised in bojack horseman. bojack is comically, hyperbolically attention hungry and self-obsessed, and the show has a running gag in which he uses phrases along the lines of ‘hello, why is nobody paying attention to me, the famous movie star, instead of these other boring people.’ his constant attempts to direct the focus of others towards himself result in bojack feeling like ‘everybody loves you, but nobody likes you.’ his peers buy into his act and adore the comical, exaggerated, laughable aspects of his character, but find very little room to respond to him on a genuinely personal level because of this. interestingly, bojack appears to enjoy catering to his audience and the instant gratification it produces, whereas bo burnham becomes increasingly candid about his mixed feeling towards his audience. ‘i wanna please you, but i wanna stay true to myself, i wanna give you the night out that you deserve, but i wanna say what i think and not care what you think about it.’ he admits to catering to what audiences want from him, but resents both the audience and himself in the process as it reveals to himself which parts of his character are solely for the sake of people watching him.

within bojack horseman, this concept is applicable not only to the protagonist, but to the various forms of performer demonstrated in the plot. towards the show’s end, sarah lynn asks ‘what does being authentic have to do with anything?’ to which herb kazzaz responds, ‘when i finally stopped hiding behind a facade i could be at peace.’ this highlights the fact that because entertainers are demanded to continue the facade, they do not receive the opportunity to find ‘peace.’ this sentiment is scattered throughout the show, through a musical motif, the song ‘don’t stop dancing.’ the song stems from a life lesson bojack imparted to sarah lynn at a young age, and becomes more frequently used as the show progresses and bojack’s situation worsens.

sarah lynn is also used to explore the value of entertainers; in the show’s penultimate episode, she directly compares her work as a pop icon to the charity work of herb, arguing that if she suffered in order to produce her work. it has to mean something. she lists the struggles she faced when on tour: ‘i gave my whole life...my manager leaked my nudes to get more tour dates added, my mom pointed out every carb i ate, it was hell. but it gave millions of fans a show they will never forget and that has to mean something.’ implicit in this notion is the idea that entertainment is the epitome of self-sacrifice. there is a surplus of mentally ill individuals within the industry, largely due to the nature of the industry itself, but some may argue that the cultural grip the industry has, and the vast amounts of respect and money it generates annually, gives the suffering of these prolific individuals meaning.

the juxtaposing responses entertainers feel towards their audiences manifest as two forms of desperation: the desperation to be an individual who is held accountable, and the desperation to be loved and validated. we see both bojack and bo depict how they oscillate between  ‘this is all a lie’ and ‘my affection for my audience is genuine’, or between ‘do not become infatuated with me im a character’ and ‘please fucking love my character i do not know how to be loved on a personal level.’ bojack explicitly asks diane to write a slam piece on him and ‘hold him accountable’, similar to bo’s song ‘problematic’ in which the hook includes the phrase ‘isn’t anybody gonna hold me accountable?’ for his insensitive jokes as a late teenager. their self-awareness is what enables their self-evaluative qualities, but self-awareness is its own issue. bojack grapples with a narcissistic view of his own recognition of his behaviour before settling on a more nuanced, albeit depressing take. originally he makes the assumption that in recognising the negative aspects of himself, he is superior to those who behave similarly: ‘but i know im a piece of shit. that makes me better than all the pieces of shit that don’t know theyre pieces of shit.’ eventually, during his time at rehab he is forced to reconcile with the fact that self awareness does not, to put it bluntly, make you the superior asshole, it just makes you the more miserable one. the show does, however, make a point to recognise how the entertainment industry protects ‘pieces of shit’, prioritising their productive value over how much they deserve to be held accountable, demonstrated using characters like hank hippopoalus. the show itself obviously stems from the entertainment industry, as it is a form of media produced by netflix, one of the most popular streaming platforms available. bojack horseman and bo burnham represent the small corner of the industry that is reflective enough to showcase the damage it inflicts. this is powerful in terms of education and awareness, and urges audiences to question their own motives and versions of performance, but the reflection alone is not powerful enough to help the artists in question. burnham’s candid conversations surrounding his mental health continue to reveal a plethora of issues somewhat caused or sustained by the nature of his career. within bojack horseman, bojack is only able to stop hurting other characters when those characters construct a situation that forces him to face consequence, his introspection alone is not enough. while bojack ends on a message of hope, suggesting to the audience that reverting back to the status quo is not the only acceptable way for events to end, it leaves stinging lessons and social commentary with the audience regarding the unnatural and damaging narrative that performers live through. on a similar but markedly different note, bo burnham’s work and personal progression is playing out in real time, and not in a way that is as raw and genuine as it appears. each bit is planned, even the most vulnerable moments that appear unplanned and painful. his latest special is not entirely devoid of hope, but does translate to audiences as a somewhat exaggerated look around the era of social media and the development of performance, using himself as an example.

the absurdist humour that often acts as a vehicle for poignant statements or emotionally provocative questions is very specific to each media creator. bob-waksberg’s use of puns, tongue twisters and entirely ridiculous circumstances served to simultaneously characterise his points as an expected part of the show’s style of humour, similar to bojack’s emotional instability, but also to make them appear gut-punching in comparison to the humour. burnham’s work is similar in that poignant but blunt statements are often sandwiched between absurd and exaggerated jokes, making them stand out via contrast but not giving the audience too much time to dwell upon them as they are said. performance art is second nature to entertainers, and is presented a an issue that is infiltrating the general population via social media rather than solely affecting the ‘elites’. bojack horseman and bo burnham present the duality of artists simultaneously attempting to level the playing field and increase their chances of survival in the industry, and encourage audiences to know that everyone is bluffing and you’ll never have the right cards anyway.

Like, Bojack is a shit dude. He's a horrible person, and if we'd heard about even some of his actions if he were real, that some random actor did half the things he has, he'd be absolutely renounced. Bojack makes bad decision on bad decision. Sure, he tries to be better. He has a tiny nugget of goodness inside of him and he does try to be a good person, even though he sucks at it. And maybe that's what makes him still even a little bit sympathetic, at least to me. But it's this really interesting like, dichotomy? Contrast? Between being emotionally sympathetic towards him, because you know he's struggling and you know he's trying, while logically knowing that, really, he's not changed much at all. That he's probably just a few harsh shoves from life away from falling off the deep end, once again. That no matter how much he says he's changed, how much he says he wants to be good and even manages to be good on occasion, that he continues to do bad things. That the things he's done in the past can't be excused, not really. That the possibility of him changing that much is almost impossible.

And like, this isn't stuff the show hasn't already pointed out. In the recorded line where he speaks about trying to bang Penny, can't remember exactly what it said but something about fixing things when you've already done so much bad stuff. It's been shown by Bojack almost exactly following the outline Diane told her boyfriend he would in that interview about Sarah Lynn. Bojack is a bad person. We learn about him, we find out the reasons why, hell we even feel for him, at points. But the show keeps things relatively grounded, I think. He doesn't get to escape the consequences of his actions. They don't go away, not in any true sense. People forget and move in, but the people he hurt are still there. He isn't glorified or excused for his behaviour, or at least not in a massively unrealistic way imo. He loses Diane as a friend at the very end. She tells him how messed up that voice-mail left her for a while. Sarah Lynn died as a result of his actions, Herb hated him until he died, Hollyhock is gone from his life. Bojack suffers for his actions. This isn't some 'oh all abusers were abused so you should feel bad for them :(' show. I'll admit it does evoke some feelings that might lead to that conclusion, but I think we were supposed to look at him in that dual way. Plus, if he were a complete jackass, the show wouldn't sell. Also, I don't think most abusers see themselves as the bad guy. Like Bojack, maybe a few admit some of their faults, more don't but still, but they ultimately tend to think that what they do won't matter, they're too hyped up/numb to think this through enough to care, or they really think they're doing the right thing.

first off- bojack going to rehab was so good for him. and him trying not to leave but being forced out was so sad. he clearly wanted NEEDED more help but no one was listening. and then him getting the horse therapist drunk too was just heartbreaking. bojack didnt mean to do that, but he still did.

princess carolyn is a queen- the way she balances her baby and work and just life in general is portrayed beautifully. the industry wedding at the end was also so accurate to her character and it makes me happy to see her happy. her moment in the finale with bojack is definitely her best moment because for the first time- she's moving on from her codependency with bojack and letting him grow on his own.

mr peanutbutter is definitely bojacks real friend. i used to really hate mr peanutbutter, but by the end of this show ive grown to realise i hated how he ignored all his flaws. now that he knows that he's flawed, hes actually a pretty damn good guy. him and diane sucked together tho.

for the first half of the season, i kept my opinion on bojack constant- that he's a flawed man horse and he needs therapy to better himself. but the moment i learned he waited seventeen minutes- every reasonable opinion i held on him morphed into pure hatred. sarah lynn was my baby, she was my favorite, she was me. i saw myself in her. and bojack, someone she loved and trusted, left her to die. everyone failed sarah lynn.

ok im calm, next up is todd shenanigans. i do this thing where i favorite episodes because of certain scenes / quotes which hold great meaning to me. the kidney stays in the picture is one of my favorite episodes for that exact reason. todd telling jorge that hes happy and thats all that matters was like me watching a video of me in the future. i know what i want for my future and i know my family will disown me for it so seeing a character like todd stand up to his father for it makes me think i will be able to do that too.

wowowow diane. diane is a character ive been feeling grey about lately since she is such a hypocrite. but i feel like ever since being with guy and leaving la- she's changed for the better. her final moments of the show are definitely hypocritical but she is hypocritical. and tbh im just glad her and bojack are officially seperate as friends / people. being the anchor for someones sobriety SUCKS its SOOOO much pressure and i hate it, diane deserves the happiness she recieves with guy.

(yes prince thats rough buddy zuko, i too, question the monstrosity i have made)

I recently saw Bojack grouped in the category of frowns [sad shows] in a YT video thumbnail (dont remember the ytber, sorry to that man) in juxtaposition to Smiling Friends, a happy show [a rare smile].

And it may strike people as odd when I describe BJ H☆яɜmɑи as a not sad show. Bc... wtf do I mean by this?: Mainly that Bojack Horseman is a show colored by sadness not because of its contents, but its constituents. Bojack [the show] is tragic and angsty, but not inherently sad.

So for elucidation, the show is mainly comprised of opulence and indulgence, every other day bojack is snorting, sm☆kɩиɢ, transfusing or using a person, place or thing to bring himself enjoyment. The party is constantly raging, he is almost always surrounded by others and leeching off of them to occupy himself. The dopamine saturated and pleasure centered life Bojack has is idealized and not inherently bad. — What makes it bad however is Bojack's friction with the external, the incongruence of his tangible, external life with his quintessential internal need to be fulfilled. — If Bojack were a moderate, adjusted person who did not engage in things objectively malignant and extreme like: ɑʙusɜ and ɑddicτɩ☆и, the things around him would not be objectively bad, as seen with todd and mr peeber bobber, who, despite his flaws, is not drowned, subsumed and destroyed by the nature of his world the way Bojack is. Dwugs, parties and a little buttering the biscuit - the physicalities of life we indulge to varying degrees - are inherently fun, enjoyable things and can be and have been enhancements to people's lives.

As opposed to a character like Zuko [Avatar] who is not initially in conflict with his external [in relation to his internal] and thusly restricted by existential despair and a life he consequently renders angsty. His situation is not one of good soured by his own hand, there is no positive or enjoyable angle to his tragedy that requires a changing of the internal to transmute the nature of his interactions and experiences. His home life is ɑʙusιvɜ and vi☆lɜиτ, his family dynamics are broken, he is ostracized and subjugated and lives in fear and intimidation (it could be worse ofc but there is little good in his pains). He may be a prince but his autonomy is moot when contrasted by his age and the subsequent power his family status grants their household head. — This is reflective of Bojack, who may have social power and dominate aspects of his field, but is forced into undesirable positions by/for his aforementioned field. However, Bojack has no material threat necessitating his psychological and active compliance. He may be ideologically τ☆яtuяɜd as Zuko is by concepts of love, acceptance and honor, but Zuko wears the consequence of his non compliance in his flesh, his internal battle is one of conformity for/as to survive - internal failing conflated with and subsumed by the external. And while Bojack also has scars manifested in the physical such as his hospital visits and bɜɜя laden body, he is fighting a mostly psychological battle, with his tяɑu*mɑs spawning from his non tangible past — A[n immediate] fight he could win if he overcame his internal fixations, wants and whims and simply removed himself from an external situation he is not internally attuned to handle.

But bc he doesn't want to — internally attached to his toxic journey for the reliefs in its turbulence, for the promise of fulfilment he chases within it: things rendered vice by an unstable hand trying to chase a normative enjoyment only found in the normal/healthy enjoyment of things — his angst is born, his tragedy, unsatisfied by things he transmorgs, unsatisfied in the Bojack nature he engages, interacts and changes things. Ultimately, [unsatisfied] with himself.

This is where I note how and why tragedy is born: an intersection of sadness and angst. When the objective and subjective, the internal and external are synthesized to produce a melancholy, a battle one cannot win for its existential and intangible nature.

Tragedy is often associated with predetermination, destiny, and this is my similar rendering of it. Something that could've been avoided or evaded but befalls someone as a sort of inevitability. — When things not inherently sad or bad or malignant are made so as consequence, an immutable poison. This poison is what is tragic - for how it pollutes and ruins and destroys. Its the conflict, the friction, that internal and existential battle.

Which is why Zuko enters his angst phase when he leaves the fire nation. Physically he is freed, safe, and yet his mind torments him - the conflict and friction borne of his incongruence and dissatisfaction with his external, despite how objectively enjoyable it is. This reaches its climax in Book 2, when he has fully relinquished his emotional and social [aka internal/psychological] tether to the fire nation and is thusly relinquished from physical harm and threat — yet can thusly only maintain an internal tether with this pain he has rendered a manifestation of beauty. — He has a loving and caring uncle, a peaceful home, a homely and contributory tea shop which gives him purpose and an almost leisurely life.

Yet when Jin kisses him, when he is confronted with love, unabashed and abounding, his mind poisons it. He has too much internal baggage, he is not able to process things as they purely exist. "It's complicated. I have to go." And ofc it is, Zuko has complicated it through the nuances and conflict of his person. Therefore, he has to leave, reject something he admits is nice, decouple with the tangible, external prospects and reality of his existence for one overcome by angst, existentialism and ideology.

To the tragic antihero - who rejects the good, it is as much their solace as it is their 4377. Solace in the irrelevant tangible, and torment in the all encompassing internal [that drowns and renders all malignant].

So for characters who mess up and hurt others bc of who they are, and not what is currently around them, their lives may not be tangibly sad or tragic or bad, but they, as manifestations of these things, translate them that way. All that enters them is as they are.

Bojack heehaw is sad, but Bojack Honsie the show is one where often, thee malcontent[s] (inculding/especially Bojack) poison and distrub what is around them with their existential angst [AND STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE!].

Bojack doesn't have to pursure Penny, he doesn't need to choose fame over a quaint life, Todd doesn't have to reconcile with Bojack, people don't have to watch passively as he [Bojack] squeezes the life from Gia, Princess Carolyn doesn't have to pursue a natural born child, Bojack doesn't have to do a second interview, Ralph doesn't need to be inconsiderate of his family's affect on Carolyn, Bojack doesn't have to call up Sarah Lynn etc, but he does, and they do because that's who they are, and existence is lived in pursuit of the pʟɜɑsuяaʙʟɜ. An empty internal affair that when confornted with the starkness of reality, turns away and rejects, switches off and reverts to the internal, the self[centring]. - Human nature pervades all. The whims and wants of our angst dictate our prioritization, behavior and ultimately, what we try fill our holes with - frivolities, ignorance, ease.

Bojack's world is one of smiles, of ecstasy and indulgence and mindlessness, but there seems to exist an implicit knowledge of the unfulfilling and empty shadow of extravagance. The compensation and the clinical, impersonal nature of it all that we recognize in Bojack's attempts to turn the niceties up to 100. The toxicity in extreme positivity, and how trying to supplement and neglect the substantial weights of your past, reality of your present and the turmoil of your interior slowly collapses the stability of your perception and person.

— The quote on quote pʟɜɑsuяɜs are tragic bc of what a perversion they are, how smth that should be joyous and enriching has been twisted. And the almost good souls that have been trapped in their eternal twisting.

Zuko thought being embraced by that which was elevated and extraordinary would fulfil him, as did Bojack.

However as we do, they knew deep down that the sensory, visceral physicalities and enjoyments of life, meant to entertain and serve as nebulous performance that flaunts the ideal and something to covet after, are no substitute, and exist as vacant methods to occupy and distract us with the palatable and easy.

It is easy to look away and nurse your hubris and stew over what's inside instead of actively exerting your agency and responsibility/accountability in doing what is hard and challenging. —What grounds you to reality and is neither extreme pain or plɜɑsuяɜ, but the virtue in living purely, acting and reacting, accepting things as they exist. - Tending to your true existential need [by abandoning the insubstantial and embracing the tangible good].

— As Bojacko demonstrates [conversely], when left to the devices of our internal: strife ensues.

In a manner very dialectical, our experiences are made up of internal manifestations of personhood - what we expect and what we know and how we transmute things - end up being all we're left with.

Todd Chavez, "BoJack, stop. You are all the things that are wrong with you! It's not the alcohol, or the drugs, or any of the shitty things that happened in your career, or when you were a kid! It's you! Alright? It's you. Fuck, man. What else is there to say?"

we are our own ʜɜʟʟ