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Hello and Welcome

Welcome to my E-Portfolio. Here you will find an assortment of work from my first semester in the Minor in Writing program at the University of Michigan. The three main components are my repurposing piece, remediation podcast and why I write essay. My repurposing piece repurposes an essay I wrote when I was ten about the Cubs and explores what being a fan means to me. My remediation piece takes the argument from my repurposing essay and expands on it in the form of a podcast where my good friend Clay and I discuss being sports fans and more. Finally, the why I write essay explores that exact question as I analyze my motivators for writing and the role it plays in my life. All in all this site showcases my writing and details my process. So explore, and I hope you enjoy what my E-Portfolio has to offer!  

Artifact Intro

Before reading this section I recommend checking out the other parts of my E-Portfolio. Here I am including an essay I did not write for this class but think is a good example of what I want my E-Portfolio to be about. This dream of future expansion past just discussing sports is best reflected in my remediation portion of this portfolio. While I love sports, I know by just discussing and writing about them, I am significantly limiting my audience. If I continued to create content for this E-Portfolio, or my podcast, this essay I wrote for English 225 is a perfect example of the kind of content I would want to include. This essay delves into the Netflix television show Bojack Horseman. I examine what makes the show so successful and try to make sense of how it can be both one of the funniest, and one of the saddest shows on television. One last quick reminder that this piece is not directly connected to any others on this site, but serves as a preview of sorts for the kind of pieces I would want to create if I continued producing work for this portfolio or my podcast. Please read, think, feel and if after reading you feel so compelled, check out Bojack Horseman on Netflix.

                                                                            “Closure is a made up thing”

             It is hard to describe Netflix’s original show BoJack Horseman, created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, without sounding crazy at times and depressing at others. It is a cartoon that is set in a world populated by humans and anthropomorphized animals (animals with human qualities). In this world animals and humans live together, work together and sleep together in a very normal way. The show’s star is BoJack Horseman, a half human half horse, who lives in Hollywood with the fame and fortune brought by the success of his short spell as star of, Horsing Around, a 1990s family sitcom. At first sight BoJack Horseman seems to be a goofy satire of Hollywood and the entertainment industry, but the viewer quickly notices that it is much more. What is at the core of the story is a character study of a very depressed horseman. While BoJack’s life may be outlandish and unbelievable, his insecurities are common.  His character development, or lack thereof, turns another surreal thirty-minute animated comedic television show, into one of the most powerful tragicomedies on television. When compared with other shows in its genre it separates itself and rises up to new dramatic heights that have not been seen before. BoJack Horseman’s ability to be ludicrous and intelligent generates success that not only makes its audience laugh, but also think and even cry. Its ability to mix laughs with tears is what led it to becoming a groundbreaking success, and even a trailblazer in its genre.​

           While most sitcoms wrap up neatly, with everything working out at the end of an episode, BoJack Horseman is not afraid to leave things messy. In the tenth episode of season one, after BoJack’s book is released, written by his ghostwriter Diane, BoJack is left to wonder if all the negatives remarks said about him in it are true. BoJack thought that an autobiography would help him get back in the spotlight, but in reality it brought to life all his personal demons he had been avoiding. He decides to ask Diane what she thinks because he believes she knows him best, and the exchange, or lack thereof, is chilling. BoJack says, “I... I... I need you to tell me that I'm a good person. I know that I can be selfish and narcissistic and self-destructive, but underneath all that, deep down, I'm a good person, and I need you to tell me that I'm good, Diane. Tell me, please, Diane. Tell me that I'm good.”[1] Diane says nothing, the camera pans out and the episode ends. Here BoJack is dealing with the same question many grapple with, and needs reassurance from someone he trusts. This episode leads the viewer with no sense of closure. The protagonist just showed his darkest side, his biggest fear, but in the end he seems more lost than before he asked the question. While his life is unrealistic, his insecurities are universal. While some shows are sad when lead characters die, BoJack Horseman is sad because it forces its audience to ask itself tough questions along with its protagonist. Just like BoJack, not everyone gets the answers they want.

            While BoJack Horseman is dark at times, it also has extremely comedic moments throughout. One of those comes in the second episode when Diane is at BoJack’s house for a meeting and he questions why she is there. She then pulls up an email he sent her that reads, "Diane, why don't you come over Tuesday morning at 9:00? Also, you should bring this email with you because I might not remember it because I just took a bunch of horse tranquilizers, ha ha. Also, please don't put in my book that I use horse tranquilizers, ha ha. I just use a small dose to help me fall asleep at night and then a much, much larger dose to get me through the day. Also, I'm drunk."[2] While the exchange may take a darker turn at the end, the email, coupled with BoJack’s embarrassed body language, is a definite laugh-out-loud moment. While BoJack may be “one of the most honest portrayals of depression and loneliness” according to Ian Phillips of Business Insider, he is still hilarious. Even with that depressing evaluation of BoJack as a character, Phillips went on to say, “It is still a comedy… it is layered with jokes.”[3] This shows that even though he sees the darkness in BoJack and in the show, he still appreciates the comedic value it brings. While at its core it is dark in its exploration and development of its ironically humanistic characters, it is funny in its nature. Kevin Yeoman of Screen Rant writes, “This combination of happiness and sadness is one of the main reasons the show is so great.” [4]

            Happiness and sadness in the show are often presented at the same time and have a habit of making each other stronger. Dramatic monologues in this show are often met with funny one-liners, or cutaway jokes. These jokes serve to either further the sadistic or existential point of the monologue or point out another absurdity of life. One example of this is after BoJack fails to stop the wedding of Diane, whom he finally figured out he has feelings for. Sad and alone at a bar, BoJack begins to talk to Vincent Adultman, a character that is clearly three boys standing on top of each other in a trench coat but has everyone except BoJack fooled. BoJack says, “You know, sometimes I feel like I was born with a leak, and any goodness I started with just slowly spilled out of me, and now it's all gone. And I'll never get it back in me. It's too late. Life is a series of closing doors, isn't it?” After he says this, Vincent pets him with the broom he uses for one of his arms and childishly says as the episode ends, “Don’t be sad, good horsey”.[5] While BoJack is saying something profound and important, he is met with no real response at all. Vincent acknowledges his overall sadness but offers no opinion or views on the very dark ideas BoJack just brought forth. The audience is likely to either laugh more at Vincent’s response to try and forget about what BoJack said, or feel worse because all that met BoJack when he poured out his heart was being petted with a broom. Either way, one is perpetuating the other. While lows and laughs are often closely connected in BoJack’s world, solutions to problems stand out.

            In BoJack Horseman, when something positive happens, it is hard to miss. While most of the show is divided up between the hilarious and the depressing, sometimes realistic solutions are presented. Often in the show, when BoJack says something sad or very thoughtful he is met with a joke or no response at all. This leaves the show in a very dark place at times. It is presenting all these problems in life but not really offering any real ways to try and solve them. However, when a serious answer is finally given to BoJack at the end of the second season, it is powerful and impossible to miss.

            Season two was a series of ups, but mostly downs for BoJack.  Luckily for him, as the season comes to a close, things are looking up. He has rescued his couch-crashing, deadbeat friend Todd from a cult and seems to be trying to continue to turn things around in his life. The season ends with BoJack out struggling on a run where he is greeted by a wise, optimistic orangutan. 

BOJACK: [panting] Oh, God. Lungs on fire. [groaning] Ow. Crap. I hate   

this. Running is terrible. Everything is the worst. [continues panting on     

ground] Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

ORANGUTAN: It gets easier.

BOJACK: Huh?

ORANGUTAN: Every day, it gets a little easier. Yeah? - But you gotta do

it every day. That's the hard part. But it does get easier.

BOJACK: [panting] Okay.[6]

The solution is so simple, but at the same time requires so much. Using running as an example works well because it is something very universal. Everyone has run before and understands it can be difficult. Most, however, know that running can get easier the more often one does it. BoJack has spent 24 episodes up to this point trying many outrageous yet hysterical ways of trying to become a better person; however, the right answer was so simple. All he has to do is try and be the person he wants to be everyday. This is effective with the viewer because it offers them a solution to many problems they could be having. This scene serves as a glimmer of hope for BoJack and for all of us. Powerful moments such as this one are not often seen in 30-minute animated comedies.

            BoJack Horseman breaks away from genre norms and seems to start its own. While the show is by no means the first satirical adult animation, The Simpsons has been doing it for over twenty-five years ago; it is different than the rest. While most animated shows like The Simpsons start over every episode, BoJack Horseman is serialized.[7] This means that while in The Simpsons, Mr. Burns could block out the sun in one episode, or Kenny could die in every episode of South Park, at the start of the next episode, everything would be back to normal like nothing happened. In contrast, if BoJack makes a regrettable life decision in one episode, the repercussions of that decision still exist in the next. This allows for characters in the show to develop and change, while characters in non-serialized shows do not really have that opportunity. The serialization of BoJack Horseman lets the saddest show on television not be a primetime drama, but rather a thirty-minute animated show about a talking horse. A show that focuses mainly on death, despair and depression, while simultaneously making its audience laugh at every turn is something new. It should be compared to Breaking Bad, not Family Guy. The show understands that life is both tragic and comical at the same time. Understanding that and not sacrificing one for another is what allows both to work so effectively in this groundbreaking animated dramedy.

             Not everyone sees or fully understands the greatness in BoJack Horseman. Just like any other piece of art, there are going to be people who like it and people who dislike it. While the show, especially the second season, has been met with mostly favorable reviews, a few negative ones stand out. While it is understandable and expected for some critics to not like BoJack Horseman, it is their reasoning that is debatable. Erik Adams, a reviewer for A.V. Club, saw little value in BoJack insights; “BoJack Horseman spoofs the emptiness of celebrity, but does so without any novelty or true insight.”[8] The mistake here is to think the show is trying to show insights of the emptiness of celebrity. The emptiness BoJack feels is not solely because of his celebrity, it is the emptiness he feels as a person.

BoJack, while self-absorbed, is constantly becoming less concerned about his status as a celebrity, and more concerned with his own character. Most of the dramatic monologues or profound thoughts he has never concern him as a celebrity, but rather him as a (horse)man. An example of this is when BoJack is talking to his agent about his book. He somberly says about himself, “I spend a lot of time with the real me, and believe me, nobody's gonna love that guy.”[9] The insight here is that the emptiness BoJack feels as a celebrity is the same or at least perpetuated by the loneliness he feels about himself. This belief is one of humanity’s deepest collective insecurities. It is something no one is immune to feeling, celebrity or not. The fact that this message came from a horse talking to his agent who happens to be a cat is another example of how BoJack Horseman can be both ridiculous and poignant at the same time. The critic is missing how novel it is for something to be so insightful, but at the same time so ludicrous.

            While the quality and effectiveness of art is always something up for interpretation, it is hard to argue BoJack Horseman’s. The unique ability to have the audience carelessly laughing one second, and then existentially pondering their life the next is commendable. It mixes the two most important aspects of a television show, comedy and drama, and excels at both. BoJack--while egocentric, eccentric and overall probably not a good person--is still relatable for his audience. The stories are so ridiculous and unrealistic yet the messages in them are so astute and universal. The human condition seems explored more in BoJack Horseman than shows that actually focus on it. The show is just as powerful as it is hilarious. It succeeds as both art and craft from minute to minute. It is the kind of show that is meant to be binge-watched, then re-watched while being paused and rewound all along the way. BoJack Horseman is one of the saddest shows on television, but also one of the very best.

 

 

 

Footnotes:

[1] Bob-Waksberg, R. (2015, July 17). BoJack Horseman (2014) Episode 11 Script | SS.

[2] Bob-Waksberg, R. (2015, July 17). BoJack Horseman (2014) Episode 2 Script | SS.

[3] Phillips, I. (2015, July 9). The saddest show on TV is a comedy about a talking horse

[4] Yeoman, K. (2015, July 17). ‘BoJack Horseman’ Season 2 Premiere Review: Finding Bliss.​

[5] Bob-Waksberg, R. (2015, July 17). BoJack Horseman (2014) Episode 9 Script | SS.​

[6] Bob-Waksberg, R. (2015, July 17). BoJack Horseman (2014) Episode 24 Script | SS​

[7] Phillips, I. (2015, July 9). The saddest show on TV is a comedy about a talking horse​

[8] Adams, E. (2014, August 21). Netflix's entry into the adult-animation race, BoJack Horseman, stumbles out of the gate.​

[9] Bob-Waksberg, R. (2015, July 17). BoJack Horseman (2014) Episode 11 Script | SS

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