Back in the
90’s he was in a very famous tv show… *neigh*… He’s Bojack Horseman (This is
the literal outro of the series).
Bojack Horseman is an animated series created by Raphael
Bob-Waksberg. It is about an actor, Bojack Horseman, who was the star of a sit-com
in the 90’s called Horsing Around. The actor enjoyed being recognized
everywhere and loved for his character in the series but now has no work and is
in a pit of despair. The series revolves around him and a few loved ones and
how they all cope with their problems, including depression, anxiety, fears and
other difficulties.
The main focus of the animated series, Bojack, is an alcoholic, drug
addicted douche who can’t help but plunge everyone else in his issues and
sabotage their future just so they keep needing him and he can have some
meaning to his life. In the first season, the creator makes everyone apathetic
towards the main character whilst showing his flaws and how stubborn he can
get. Although I have to admit the first season did not get me hooked but being
the sort of person who has to finish what they started I watched the rest of
the series anyways. Bojack hates the most loveable character on the show, Mr
Peanut Butter, due to his overly optimistic personality. He tries to steal Mr.
Peanut Butter’s girlfriend in spite, who is also Bojack’s biography writer. His
constant need for approval is what makes the character so relatable and
connected to the audience. Not only that but I feel connected to Bojack on a
spiritual level because he knows his flaws and hates himself for them, but
can’t help it due to his past. Slowly as the series moves on we find out why
Bojack is the way he is. In his absolute egocentric universe he drowns and old
costar from Horsing Around, Sarah Lynn, who had also become addicted to hard
drugs and booze, but got clean. Sarah Lynn has similar issues to Bojack and
that’s why they can relate to each other and understand each other better than
anyone else can. He has a reunion with her and party’s with her for a whole
month or two (they lose track of time after a few hits of cocaine) and she
eventually dies. He gets together with another costar of Horsing Around and
tries to create a similar series but runs away because he gets flashbacks of
Sarah Lynn. Sarah Lynn saw Bojack as an authoritative figure that she looked up
to and Bojack didn’t want to repeat that to the costar that he was with. The
creators make this character close to reality as we all don’t want to make the
same mistakes and run away when faced with old guilt instead of trying to fix
what we did before and make it better this time around. He drives away, cuts
off with everyone he knows and wounds up at his childhood place. There Bojack
realizes that the reason why he is bitter and cynical of the world, and despite
his achievements is still empty is because he never got the love he wanted from
both his parents. The creators then decide to show us why his parents
disapproved of Bojack.
Bojack’s grandmother’s brother
died in the war which lead her to feel nothing at all. That effected Bojack’s
mother, who was only a child, waiting for her mother to respond to her needs. Hence,
Bojack’s mother became negligent to the life of money as she just wanted to be
loved (plot of titanic much?). She slept with a middle-class man at a party and
became pregnant with Bojack. They sticked together because of this and got
married. After sometime of their life they realized that they weren’t in love
and were incompatible with different thought processes. This made both of them
despise Bojack because he’s the reason they had to stay together. They give him
“advice” about love and marriage, amongst other things, which stayed at the
back of his mind, shaping the way he acted as an adult.
But because he knew why he was the way he was, he tried to end the cycle
when given the opportunity. Bojack found his long-lost sister and tried to take
care of her as much as he possibly could. He even tried to take care of his
mother, who he left in the old-house. But he knew she was the reason he was a
self-loathing, sloppy schmuck and that made him miserable and angry around her.
Even when she was about to die he tried to find meaning behind her last words
which might be of love. Her presence overwhelms Bojack so much that old
memories flashback and he gets into an accident. The doctor gives him strong
painkillers to finish production.
Bojack, to cope with all of that, tries to drown himself in the
character of an on-shooting series of a detective. Paranoid, he thinks the
writer has based all of the series on his life. Eventually he stops telling the
difference between his character and his actual self, which leads to an
incident where he almost chokes his female costar to death. At this point he
realizes his issues have gone too far and goes to a rehab to reach out for help.
What I love
about this series is that the show doesn’t focus on a nihilistic approach all
the time since even the most depressing moments are undercut with a sign of
hope for the future. It talks about how we define happiness and despite having
everything in the world, somethings will always remain unsettling. And unless
we choose to pursue the things we love instead of running after materialistic
objectives all the time, letting the past make us bitter and cynical of life, we’re
most likely to end up alone. In Bojack’s reality he has to face long term
consequences as do we all. This show taught me that asking for help is okay
it’s never too late to turn things around no matter how screwed up you get.
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