#like you know that moment in bojack where diane says 'i thought all the abuse and neglect made me special. but it didnt. it's just damage.'

[cozyqueerchaos]

Tell me more about the whole “it might be you” brainriot I wanna hear it

okay okay so. I personally think the "ultimate lifeform" thing is more of a martyr complex at this point? like yeah, shadow thinks he's better, but only in the sense that he was raised to die, to save everyone, and he thinks he's the only one who can.

by giving that title to sonic, shadow is not only giving sonic the task of protecting everyone (like maria wanted), but he's letting go of all those expectations gerald placed on him. that means admitting there was nothing particularly special about what shadow went through. it didn't make him stronger to be a lab rat, all his isolation and damage wasn't for a good reason. shadow isn't even the best at what he was designed for, but that he's here now and he's still trying and for once he's not alone. and when he says it, he sounds happy.

[spopsalt]

This was a longer post than I expected, spoilers for Bojack Horseman under the cut but for the TLDR: Bojack Horseman is a much better show than spop since it shows trauma realistically, has better humor, better story, know Bojack is a bad person and he gets called out on it.

On the last season of Bojack and it astonishes me on how much better it is when compared to spop, it's great on it's own and when compared to spop, it's a masterpiece! First of all, it actually shows trauma realistically! One example I would like to use is Penny, she was 17 and saw Bojack like a father figure of sorts, she lived with her family for months and trusted Bojack. Everything seemed fine until she propositioned Bojack, Bojack first does the responsible thing and shuts her down. But then he gets rejected by Charlotte, the girl's mother and Bojack's old friend. He doesn't tell her about what Penny tried to do for some reason, long story short they kiss but Charlotte rejects Bojack due to her having a family and Bojack trying to get her to run away with him. He was in a low place and saw Penny on the boat, she asked him again and he said "Go to bed Penny." it seemed like he rejected her again but we came to a horrifying realization. We hear stuff falling and then see Bojack lying down while Penny is undoing his bowtie. This is one of Bojack's lowest moments and it shows Penny's trauma. One example is when Bojack thought she looked fine, and she was, she healed from the trauma, then Bojack showed up again and all the old wounds opened up again. Another example is with Gina, one of Bojack's girlfriends whom he strangled. She is now traumatized whenever someone touches her neck due to that experience. Another one is Hollyhock, Bojack actually wasn't a shitty person here. His mother laced the coffee she drank with drugs and so she overdosed and got sent to the hospital. Later when she visits Bojack and sees medicine in his house she assumes he is trying to drug her, freaks out, and sends them to the trash disposal. I could go on and on but you get my point. We actually get time to see their trauma. Their trauma isn't just ignored or swept to the side for Bojack. And his trauma was shown realistically too! It's amazing how much better Bojack is compared to spop, I understand they are two very different shows, one being an adult cartoon with 6 seasons and another being a kid cartoon with 5 seasons. Now I will give spop some credit. It showed trauma accurately with Adora and Catra but everyone else's trauma gets ignored. That's why I'm so glad we have Bojack. It can be hard to watch at times but it shows it accurately and it is so important. Second of all, it knows Bojack is a bad person and people call him out on it. Many of Bojack's old friends, Diane, Princess Caroline, and Todd have called him out on his behavior. It also shows that abuse is no excuse for being a horrible person when Todd says "It's not your childhood or the shitty things that happen to you in your career it's you." This may seem small but with spop it tries to make everything Catra did okay because she had trauma when that's not the case. Third of all the humor. Now the humor is...ehhh it's ok. It's not the best thing in the world buttt I did laugh more times than I laughed while watching spop so that's good! Last of all. The story, now the story is really good, many of the bad things Bojack did in his past were brought up, and we see him multiple times try to improve himself but it seems like every time he takes one step foward he takes multiple steps back. This is very realistic to how it is. You can try and try but sometimes you end up spiraling by to where you were before. Bojack Horseman is really important and though it can be hard to watch at times, I'm glad it exists.

[mandareeboo]

Unfinished Work #60: "Untitled" (Finished)

I never felt up to publishing this, but I've been rewatching BoJack and felt it'd be good to put here! A little goodbye to an old friend between Hollyhock and Diane.

Title: N/A

Summary: N/A

"Sorry about this," the horse said. "You're probably really busy with writer things."

"You wanna know what I was going to do before coming out on the porch to have a smoke and chat with you?" Diane asked dryly. "I was about ten seconds away from telling my husband I was going out onto the porch to have a smoke. It's not even half the inconvenience you think it is."

"Oh," she responded, and fell silent.

Diane let out a gust of lung cancer in a long, drawn-out sigh. Texas is pretty in postcards but hotter than the sun in person, with the added bonus of all sorts of creepy crawlies straight out of the official nightmare catalogue, but it's kind of nice? There's trees everywhere. Lots of open, bumpy land. The spider currently weaving its web a few feet from her isn't even venomous- it's an orb weaver of some sort. All in all, better than death.

It'd be nicer if her company talked, though.

"Let me guess," Diane prompted, making her jump. "You're Hollyhock, right?"

"Bojack told you about me?" Hollyhock asked, ignoring her question.

"He told all his friends about you. He was really excited to have family he didn't loathe with all his being."

"Oh," she repeated, softer this time.

"Relax, you're not gonna end up on his wiki page or anything. And, for what it's worth, I'm really happy to meet you in person. You're shorter than I thought you'd be."

Hollyhock looked at her hands, where her phone was situated, then back at Diane. "Bojack's told me about you, too. He talked a lot about a lot of things, but you especially."

"And that made you think I had answers?"

She shrugged helplessly.

Diane took another drag. "You want the truth? He's an asshole. Whatever you feel or suspect about him is absolutely vindicated."

"Yeah." she said. "But I miss him anyway. Isn't that... awful?"

"No? I don't think it is. I mean, the part that sucks about people is that they're more than just one thing. Sure, Bojack is a sleezy, emotionally-abusive jerk who's slept with almost every woman he's ever met, but he also sends stupid little text messages about stuff he saw on his drive home, and one time when he got drunk he sang the lollipop song and it was actually the prettiest thing ever, and he helps you pack even though he complains the whole time. He's all that shit."

"He once threw his mom's doll out a window."

"I know. He told me."

"He did?"

"He's always drunk-dialed me. Fifteen years now, and I'm his drunk-dial SOS." Diane considered her cigarette a moment. It was her first one of the day. A new record low. "I never met her, but I spoke to Beatrice twice- for his book."

"Oh, yeah, that thing. I never read it?"

"It sold alright, but it wasn't the next great American novel. Anyway, I called the retirement home to get a statement- got the phone number off of Bojack's long-time manager and friend Princess Carolyn- and called. This was before the dementia really ate up her brain- think, I dunno, almost nine years before you knew her- and she was still pretty sharp. I said, 'hi, this is Diane Nyguyen, I'm ghost-writing a novel about your son, Bojack' and she said, 'what, is he too lazy to write it himself'?"

Hollyhock winced. "Woof."

"Oh, I'm just getting started." Diane flicked some ash away. "We went in circles a bit, but eventually I laid it out for her. 'Mrs. Horseman', I said, 'I'm writing about your son's life, and as such I have called to see if you had any note-worthy stories or quotes you'd like to add'. She was pretty quiet for a minute. Then she said, 'sure, why not, I'm dying anyway. Might as well debase myself even more.' She told me all about her husband, Butterscotch-"

"Bojack never said much about him."

"There wasn't much to say, honestly. Bojack took after him and he always hated himself for it. Beatrice despised her husband for being unfaithful, bitter, and sexist. And she told me, 'now, put this in your little book, girl, and put it word-for-word. Bojack took after him, but he had the sense to be a bit quieter about it; which is a bit like saying the hissing roach is less disturbing to the eyes than the American one because it eats leaves instead of garbage. They're both insects, and they're both a waste of the paper their books were written on'." She paused. "Gotta say, she was damn eloquent."

Hollyhock winced again. "Double woof."

"It's the one story I never put into One Trick Pony. Not because I thought she'd regret saying it, or because it wouldn't fit the tone of the book, but because I knew it'd rip Bojack apart. Even back then, I was putting him above my own job. He has a way of worming into things like that." Diane stamped out the rest of the smoke, then pulled out another one. "I used to smoke like a freight train, but now it's only when I get worked up. Sorry about the second-hand."

Hollyhock was quiet again, but this time it was more pensive than anything else. "I... wrote him a letter. I actually don't even know if he read it, because he kept sending me voicemails telling me he would, but he never told me he did before I changed my number. I thought it'd be over. I thought I was moving on, but..."

"Moving on isn't the same as moving away," Diane said. "Trust me. I've packed houses before. But even now, I still find myself looking for him in the news, or thinking back to the good times we had."

"Mhmm. He tried to learn sports for me, you know? Because he wanted to cheer me on. And that still means a lot to me. But then I remember that interview, and I just... I just can't do it. I can't talk to someone who's done stuff like that."

"That's completely in your right! I know you're a grown-up, but you're still pretty young, you know? Bojack's in his fifties. His problems shouldn't be on anyone, but they especially shouldn't be on you."

"You won't tell him I came, will you? I know you're friends, but..."

"I think your definition of friendship is a bit different from us, kiddo. I mean, we haven't spoken in almost a year now. I just go see his movies, and he sends me long rambling reviews about my books, and we follow each other on social media."

"That feels like friendship," she concurred. "Mrs. Nyguyen?"

"God, don't. Diane."

"Diane. Did you and Bojack….?"

"Nope. But not because he didn't want to. I was dating when we first met, and married a good chunk of the time I lived in L.A. Now I'm married again. If I hadn't been... well, he would've tried, if nothing else."

"And you?"

She pursed her lips. "There was a time where I lived in his house and spent every day getting shitfaced drunk, and nothing skeevy happened. He'd come home, I'd be drunk and when was Bojack not drunk? We'd drink more and we'd watch reruns of Horsin' Around. I liked that. It wasn't healthy, but I liked it. And I liked him. I try not to think too hard about it, but... I dunno, honestly."

Hollyhock pulled her knees to her chest. "I came here hoping to find a way to stop missing him. Now I just miss him even more? I hate emotions."

Diane smiled. It was bittersweet. "Now you sound like a true Horseman."

[lakesparkles]

Bojack loves and mostly respects Diane one of my fav moments of em is him wanting to offer support when he saw how badly her depression was affecting her and telling her her abusive family aren't worth nothing. i don't think he'd put up with Diane slander/ uncle hanky he ends up being the only one to support her in the end.

it reminds me of how people supposivey love a problamatic guy excuse all his bad shit and get angry at the female who can't fix him as if thats their job when the guy just thinks the girl he's friends with is super cool and cares a great deal about her , diane was doing the best she could i doubt most women would assosiate with a man after finding out about a 17 year old its a heavy load to deal with poor diane felt so betrayed by someone she once viewed as her childhood idol . i feel bojack/diane are a good case of its better not to meet your idols

I kept rereading this ask since you sent it, these are things I never thought about much but are very true. It comforts me to think that not even Bojack would like the way some fans see Diane.

Their bittersweet relationship was always one of my favorite parts of the show - another thing I wasn't expecting to enjoy that much. I even have a list of scenes of them that are in my mind all the time: one I can think right now was when Diane was frustrated and sad and talking about how, even with all her effort, she never could change anything, to which Bojack smiled and answered that she changed him. (For some reason, I have the impressions I heard this dialogue before?? But where?)

Sometimes I even forget that Bojack was Diane's idol when she was younger, and that his show was what made her better when everything else in her life was bad. This makes everything sadder, knowing how it ended. However, I 100% understand Diane's decision, I can't even imagine how I would feel if I found out that someone I cared about made something so terrible. I think many people would act the same. It was something impossible to forget and even forgive.

Idk if what I'm saying makes sense, their relationship feels real and it makes me emotional in different ways.

[empyllon]

"So maybe don't write that story"

cw for mentions of abuse

That's the advice Princess Carolyn gives to Diane when she faces writers block.

I've been rewatching BoJack once again to process. Some days I catch myself missing the past, but most are just days. It's like any other day moving forward, just without him.

I felt like I spent my past much like Pickles, wondering if I could trust my Mr Peanutbutter, but I peeled away the facade and found someone more like Horseman behind the layers. Someone cruel and spiteful.

I decided I didn't want to continue writing a story on uncertainty and lies. And I didn't feel the need to dig deeper for proof in the shallow grave of remains. Some cases are based on circumstantial evidence to the point they conclude, or as the saying goes: "If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, sounds like a duck... it's probably a duck".

Among pages of the internet, and sorrowful laments of "how could he?" lies no answer good enough for the why. Because he could was the answer, because he chose to. Occassionally, I do still take the blame for allowing him to do as he wanted to me, even when I told him to stop. Always feeling like I have to carry everyone's responsibility, even when I voiced my boundaries.

On days I catch myself thinking of imaginary alternatives of what-if, I look at receipts to keep myself levelheaded. I mapped out all the red flags to see like golf course markers, and decided to do better for myself. I know I cared a lot, but it wasn't mutual. No reasonable person would resort to abuse or manipulation to get their ways. Or ask for silence.

I don't hate him, I can't muster that care. But I hate how he hurt me in all these tiny little ways, like death by paper cuts. On days I'm sad and hurt, I'm still glad I left. Because I'd rather be alone, than spend time with someone who'd yell at me in vitriol over how horrible I am. I always wondered what I did to warrant periods with so much abuse I thought I was wrong, but I see now, it wasn't me.

Excusing it on any other factor than choice is pathetic, because it means you learnt nothing and you intend on repeating the offence.

That's what I hate with abusers, they cry crocodile tears when you uncover them, but as long as you are complicit, they will repeat the same cyclical shit over and over. They don't care, they never did. It's all about what you can offer them, everything is transactional with them. When you are no longer useful, you are discarded like a cigarette butt on the ground.

I fell for someone because I thought he cared. It's in the small things, like chocolate pancakes. I fell out of love because he stopped, like when he walked out on me at my most vulnerable moment and all I needed was a hug.

That's what I wanted to write about, how actions have consequences, and I sure the pot will call the kettle black, as is most cases where the battered party speaks up. But there are degrees in hell, and I think when you resort to lies and intimidation to keep your partner, that's when it's red card.

I've been working on art for an exhibit on domestic violence. I'm going to be telling my story in a medium where I don't have to use words, only express my pain. Because it hurts, abuse hurts. It makes you think you are unlovable, even when you are not. I hope to bring that message to others. That they too are lovable.

[attemptsonherlifepdf]

bojack horseman and bo burnham: the art of acting like you’re acting and the comedy of misery

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.

i.k.b

[clashingcolorsss]

Bojack Horseman SEASON 6 EPISODE 15, second viewing thoughts

Spoiler aha

- the water Bojack drinks is actually chlorine because he’s drowning in the pool

- Corduroy does a double take when Bojack says ‘hung up’

- Valorizing sacrifice/how that idea was drilled into his head is why he got so defensive when Diane told him that he ‘fetishizes his own sadness’

- Beatrice is eating a TV dinner at the party

- Herb is eating nuts

- The fact that Sarah Lynn talks about how traumatic that 2009 tour was shows how close she was to Bojack for him to even know about that. It also makes how much he abused her even more painful

- The leak that keeps hitting him is a reference to when he said that he feels like he was born with a leak

- Sarah Lynn had a song of hers play in space and that was her legacy, and she died in the planetarium

- Bojack always wanted to be like Secretariat in the ways that he saw him as. But he ended up being like him in all the worse ways

- Beatrice: ‘Until we both...’ Bojack knows deep down that he is dying. Also she says she’s running out the clock, as if none of what happens in this episode matters

- Beatrice raised him to never be able to believe that anything comes after death, as it’s shown that she scolds the mere mention of God

- When Sarah Lynn says ‘a song you taught me when I was small’ she’s referring to loneliness/the emptiness that comes without the audience. Also that scene where Bojack tells her that the audience are her only friends probably inspired that

- Also the way Bojack brings Beatrice flowers in the beginning/how there are flowers on the stage, it’s like a funeral

- The view from halfway down is what Bojack is also going through in that moment

- The way that the lifeline noise at the end starts to beep again is epic

- If Bojack can fuck up that badly and still get a happy ending, then I can probably do alright

[spacewlkr]

ok SO heres my initial thoughts&feelings after literally just having finished the new bojack season

- ANA IS BACK!!!!! my fav character and ya i wont say she was being the greatest but i lov her and the fact that she was back makes me happy if only because it means supporting chars dont have to be obsolete once theyre not playing an active part in the life of a main character

- speaking of, im glad we saw ralph and stefani again. i liked him and pc and its fine if theyre not back 2gether but i wish they couldve worked it out or at least have gotten closure. him an\d stefani are nice characters and who knows? im jst glad theyre not gone

- im sad abt pb and diane, man. not to sound like some het apologist here but jst like w pc and ralph i liked them! at first i liked that pb wasnt bojack but over the seasons i grew to like them and i knew theyd divorce but im jst sad abt it all and esp that pb proposed to pickles as if that wont be his fourth marriage. i wanna see angry pb, hurt pb, real pb learning from his mistakes and if he cant do that to the point of a fourth marriage .. he said hes an old dog who wont learn new tricks but this aint working for me. i wanna see ‘bojack how could you kiss my girlfriend’ pb, ‘do they know things ft zach braff why dont you like me’ pb, ‘crying over my brothers twisted spleen’ pb. the good thing abt this show is that characters can be archetypes like pb is the foil to bojacks cynic, but they are allowed to be more than that, and im sad that pb didnt get to be more than that. i genuinely feel like theyre wasting him as a character in moments like the proposal

- speaking of wasted potential, todds arc was a boring mess. listen i didnt care abt this arc in the first place but the least you can do is not have it be all over the place! s4 did a better job at the whole ace storyline and this whole thing was a mess. also, the whole meeting yolandas parants thing was rly cringey and i think i like todd at his best in his more serious roles when he interacts w bojack, which he rarely does these days. i liked him living w pc though, it was nice

- pcs arc is amazing and i lov her character every single season! she deserves happiness and her focus episodes and arcs hit every damn time! its never bad! the amelia earhart story was one of my favourite episodes this season, if not my favourite. on a sidenote, the ending credits were amazing. in general i loved the different versions of back in the 90s but that one was my fav

- i also loved the ep w diane going to vietnam and it was a rly nicely paced episode and im glad they do justice to smth serious that people can relate to. ive heard ppl say good things and it was jst. it was good

- free churro was a ride and i think it was a good one but also its. its hard to place obviously. but it didnt bore me which i think was the one thing it needed to avoid being so thats good

- ppl put bojack in this list of chars men look up to that are actually pieces of garbage; rick sanchez, walter white, etc. id say now theres no way to excuse this shit anymore but look at what happened in bb, even walter saying hes the bad guy still had people liking him more than skylar because society hates women lol. but im uncomfortable w what he did. a lot more than i ever was w what happened to penny and sarah lynn. in fact i dont even blame him for what happened to sarah lynn when they were on a mutual bender of destruction! penny obviously was entirely on him. but how can i watch a show w a main character that has such a long ass list of shitty things and still root for him? everyone roots for bojack to be okay as opposed to in bb where you end up rooting against walt and for jesse (and logically skylar but hey. ppl didnt get the memo that abusers shouldnt be picked over female characters) but you root for bojack because the show is abt his mental health issues, substance abuse, etc. his struggle. and you want him to be better not as a farce but because you cant watch someone spiral out of control for ten seasons. and im not sure i can root for someone that chokes a woman. but also i saw it happen like an hr ago so i need to process basically the entire season! its. its a lot