By Jonathan Nguyen
Let this be clear–I have never seen an episode of BoJack Horseman. Aside from a handful of clips of the show on various social media and excitedness from my friends, my scope of what the show entails is limited to existential audio quotes and adult animation. Thus, having seen BoJack Horseman’s sixth episode of season five, “Free Churro,” on a big screen at the Weitz Cinema at Carleton College, my expectations were exceeded.
From an aesthetical analysis of “Free Churro,” there is a lot to unpack. The seemingly endless monologue of BoJack giving an eulogy at his mother’s funeral almost feels like I’m drowning in a constant flow of word vomit. This style of narrative story telling in combination with Netflix’s lack of commercials feels like I’m being forced to gulp down everything that’s being feeded to me. Additionally, the aesthetics of BoJack Horseman can also come at odds with its ideological content. Its pure monologue can cause the audience to become bored at times (at least, this was the case for me during my first watch through).
Furthermore, the lack of major visual changes and the overall minimalistic approach to shot sizes and framing throughout BoJack Horseman’s “Free Churro” guides me to fully interpret the content and words that BoJack is saying. BoJack discusses real-world topics such as coming to terms with the death of a parent (an estranged parent, that is) that transcends the boundaries of the television screen. I honestly found BoJack’s eulogy (or rant?) pretty introspective despite my previous preconceptions of the show (or lack thereof). For just being an adult animation, BoJack Horseman does a pretty good job of bending and twisting and molting together so many different types of genres to create something unique to its brand.
One reply on “Free Churros? BoJack Horseman Ideologic and Aesthetic Analysis”
Hi Jonathan,
Don’t worry, this episode was also my first impression of the show BoJack Horseman and I had similar thoughts! I think it’s fair to say that his eulogy turned into a rant – I began admiring the craftsmanship of the animation whenever I felt that his speech was going on for too long – but that there were several mature themes being explored throughout it. Especially after getting a glimpse of his estranged relationship with his father, my first thought was how it was interesting that the eulogy was directed towards his mother having only heard about her from his father (and he didn’t have the greatest things to say). You wouldn’t expect an animation to explore themes such as the loss of a parent, nonetheless that it would consume a whole episode. Sometimes I think that animations are just going to rot my brain! How could a horse-man be any different from other cartoons? While I struggled with the entirety of the episode being one long monologue, I found that this did peak my interest at what other episodes may be about. It plays with the medium of animation in of itself, tackling issues in life that most of us face at one point or another while standing out from other dramas by using a humorous style of animation – its unique brand as you coined it.
– Florence