Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Bojack HorseMAN
"Bojack Horseman" is one of the most compelling television series I have seen and I watch a lot of television..... seriously, way too much - everything ranging from ALF to Game of Thrones.
It really delves into the mind of a very clinically depressed 90's sitcom actor (and later on movie star) whom just so happens to be a horse. It is an extremely intriguing insight into the different sides and aspects of depression and mental health issues and the setting of Hollywood absolutely intensifies all of these problems of feeling isolated, used, and coping through the wrong mechanisms, such as drug, alcohol, meaningless sex and fame-chasing.
The reason why I am bringing up this series in this blog is because it not only breaks down different aspects of depression, but it also shows to what a high degree toxic masculinity can affect men with mental health problems. The isolation becomes more volatile and their dangerous coping mechanisms are most of the time deemed as normal, when in fact they are NOT.
The article that is linked to this post shows some more detailed insight into how the creators have ramped up the use of toxic masculinity purposefully.
I LOVE Bojack Horseman and have watched the series so so many times. I couldn't find an article linked in your post but did find one that speaks to the way Season 5 deconstructs toxic men trying to justify their behavior through representation:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bustle.com/p/bojack-horseman-season-5-fails-to-fix-its-toxic-masculinity-thats-entirely-the-point-11891174
All too often men will point to TV characters exhibiting toxic behavior in an attempt to excuse their own because the show itself fails to drive home the point that these behaviors are bad. Where shows like Rick and Morty have failed to do so, Bojack's 5th Season points the rare effective finger at the audience, using a stand-in TV show to tell us that Bojack's behavior does not give "shitty guys an excuse to feel good about themselves." It's a self-examination that other TV shows could learn a lot from.