Last Friday, the Netflix original series "Bojack Horseman" premiered its third season on the popular streaming service, and for the third time in three years I’ve found myself relating to an anthropomorphic cartoon horse more than I do to real people. This cartoon is poignant and nuanced in a way that even most of the live action tv shows on air today could only hope to be. It's heart wrenchingly dark at times and hilariously witty at others, and the way the show effortlessly switches between the two is artful.
But where this show shines the most, is in the way its characters are so devastatingly relatable. I’ve found myself being oddly reflected in each of its characters and wondering if the show’s creators were somehow reading my innermost thoughts and exploiting them for commercial gain. But that’s impossible, and as I ask around it has become increasingly obvious that the show has struck a cord with many more people. This is what led me to realize that the reason Bojack is so relatable stems from a broader truth that the show seems to be trying to convey; The truth that many of the characters suffer at the hands of their own futile search for true happiness.
The titular character, Bojack, is a washed up actor who used to star in a popular 90s sitcom and is now grappling with being a has-been and middle aged. The show follows his self-righteous and self-destructive behavior as he navigates Hollywood and the trappings of fame. Bojack seemingly has all he could want and yet spends three seasons chasing after things and people that will ultimately leave him only more empty. There is something universal in Bojack’s failed attempts at lasting happiness and the vulnerability viewers get to see make this cartoon horse seem more human than most actual humans I know. The show bludgeons its viewer over the head with its message of how fleeting and unattainable happiness can be and makes sure we’re aware that Bojack’s struggle is ultimately our own.
After spending some time in this world of Bojack Horseman, a world littered with animal puns and lighting quick wit, you begin to realize how unhappy and generally bored everyone is with their lives. Here are these beautiful, rich, and famous characters with fulfilling careers or relationships and they always seem to mess it up searching for something better. Why can’t they just be content? Well I know I could ask myself the same thing. In our age of commercial luxury and comfort, why can’t we be happy? Bojack Horseman paints an unflinching picture of our modern ennui and asks us “what are you going to do about it?”
But, it’s not just the shows ability to force me to reflect on my own motivations as I reflect on those of its characters. It’s also the shows honesty about how people actually deal with those emotional shortcomings in real life. Sometimes the characters are messy and unstable. And the way this comes across in Bojack Horseman is so earnestly genuine and candid that I can’t help but see myself in them, and always come back to see what Bojack does next.
