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Running Head: BOJACK HORSEMAN AND MENTAL HEALTH
Bojack Horseman and Mental Health!
An Academic Exploration of Existentialist Themes
Poorva Parashar!
Centre for Health and Mental Health
Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
Contact: poorva.parashar@gmail.com
The manuscript is original, not previously published, and not under concurrent consideration
elsewhere."
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Abstract
Media and popular culture play important roles in shaping perceptions about mental health
and mental illness. This focus on pathology in media has shifted over the ages and been a
dynamic factor in media psychology. This paper focuses on one such depiction in the form of
the Netflix produced TV show Bojack Horseman. An animated show, available online,
Bojack Horseman has seen its titular character dealing with a broken home, difficult
childhood, loss of parents, substance abuse, and various failed relationships. It is a poignant
depiction of an individual’s interaction with life, meaning, and purpose and has been touted
as one of the shows that has best tackled issues of mental health. The focus of the paper thus,
is two-fold in nature. Firstly, the paper will attempt to explore the depiction of mental health
in Bojack Horseman to understand the representation of psychological concepts and
substance abuse. Secondly, the paper will also attempt to explore Bojack Horseman the
character in order to understand wider millennial concerns of attempting to find meaning and
stability in a world that is ever shifting and transient. The paper will thus explore millennial
psychology and related concerns of existence, purpose, and life.
Keywords: Millennial psychology, media psychology, mental health, existentialism,
development
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Bojack Horseman and Mental Health!
An Academic Exploration of Existentialist Themes
Created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Bojack Horseman, is an animated comedy-drama
meant for an adult audience. It follows the life of the lead character, Bojack Horseman, and a
mixed group of his friends, family, acquaintances and other residents of Hollywood. Bojack
was the star of a popular 1990s TV Show—Horsin Around. However, at the point at which
the TV show begins, Bojack is a washed up old timer, living off his old money and fame. The
series takes place in an alternate world where humans and animals live side by side. Many
individuals in the show are human-animal hybrids, of sorts. Bojack Horseman himself, true to
his name, is half horse and half man. The series debuted on Netflix on August 22, 2014. The
fifth season premiered on September 14, 2018.
On first glance, the show and it’s protagonist may seem like another darkly funny take
on show business and fame. The show begins with a horse-headed man drinking copious
amounts of alcohol while re-watching the TV show that was the peak of his stardom.
However, as the show progresses, we get glimpses behind the alcoholism, the drug addiction,
the self destruction; and see a glimpse of something the viewers can really identify with - an
individual looking for meaning in nothingness.
“The storylines often deny viewers satisfying resolutions […] what if even more time
passes, and more things happen to the characters, but nothing ever changes or is resolved?
What if the happy ending, or any ending, isn't coming and never was? […] That there is
no plan or purpose and that the real truth is that your life will boil down to circumstances
beyond your control and how you react to them?” (Shearman, 2017)
Bojack Horseman touches on multiple issues through the five seasons it has currently
aired. The nuances of the show include a satirical take on politics, current events, and show
business. Most prominently, the fifth season also deals with the complexities of the #MeToo
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movement and it’s relationship with show business. However, the show has also received
much acclaim for its realistic take on depression, trauma, addiction, bereavement, and self
destructive behaviour. Perhaps the popularity of the TV show can be tied to how it “begins on
the premise of a confessional psychiatric memoir and devolves into meditations on general
sadness, morality, and other quasi-philosophical questions centred around the protagonist's
depression and substance abuse” (Lahut, 2017).
According to the creator of the show, Bojack Horseman started out depicting an
archetype of the washed up TV star, but also went a step further to explore the background,
desires, and weaknesses of the character. Subsequently, all the characters in Bojack
Horseman have shades of grey and a different set of psychological issues to work through.
Diane Nguyen, Bojack’s biography writer, wants to make a change in the world and tries to
work in war torn lands with a ‘hero’ but finds herself incapable of being able to deal with the
pathos and misery that war brings. She returns to LA but is also unable to tell her husband
about her incapabilities as he has a newfound respect for her work. Princess Carolyn,
Bojack’s agent and manager, is unable to let go off toxic relationships and finds it impossible
to walk away. She reflects on how this inability is due to her lack of control over her own life
and thus, she tries to fix the lives of others. In her words—“My life is a mess right now and I
compulsively take care of other people when I don’t know how to take care of
myself” (Season 2, Episode 12).
So why is Bojack Horseman being hailed as the existentialist pinnacle of its times?
Does it depict mental health in a way that can perhaps broaden colloquial and even academic
knowledge? What could be the reasons Bojack Horseman is an important vessel of
knowledge particularly with respect to millennial psychology? We shall attempt to answer
this question by exploring the various seasons of Bojack Horseman and trying to understand
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how they interact with existentialist and absurdist philosophy. We will move on to
understanding some prominent psychological themes present in the TV show - namely,
defense mechanisms and substance abuse.
Method
Narrative analysis (also referred to as analytic narrative, narrative explanation,
narrative structural analysis, or sequence analysis) is a method for analysing data and
providing an explanation of the data. Secondary data was accessed through Seasons 1 to 5 of
Bojack Horseman on Netflix. Narratives as a way to examine any data may have several
features: a connected relationship among parts, a causal sequence of episodes to form a
“plot,” a selection that emphasises important versus less important parts, and a specific mix
of time and place (Neuman, 2014). Narratives thus, represent storied ways of knowing and
communicating (Hinchman and Hinchman, 1997). This paper focuses on structural
narrative analysis. Although content is given a lot of importance, focus is equally on the
form of storytelling. Thus, particular narrative devices are analysed. This approach attempts
to understand the function of plot devices with respect to the larger narrative. Because
structural approaches require examination of syntactic and prosodic features of talk, they are
not suitable for large numbers in the data set, but can be very useful for detailed case studies
and comparison of several narrative accounts.
Discussion
Meaning, Freedom, and Choice
The idea of trying to find meaning in life, and the struggle to do so, is a major theme
explored in Bojack Horseman. The first two seasons of the show depict Bojack showing what
may be considered ‘progress’. His memoir, One Trick Pony, ghostwritten by Diane Nguyen,
finds immense acclaim. Bojack receives multiple awards and accolades and once again
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comes close to the popularity he once had. He also bags the role of a racehorse that he always
aimed for and stars in the movie, Secretariat. Due to the immense success of the movie,
subsequent seasons depict an Oscar campaign for the movie in full swing. In a rather
unforgettable series of episodes, Bojack is nominated for an Oscar, throws a lavish party, and
realises ultimately that even an Oscar will not fill the void in his life, before ultimately
realising that his nomination was a mistake. He swings from the high of a party filled with
drugs, alcohol, women, even a Tesla car; and lands up alone, with the ultimate realisation that
nothing in his life will ever make him truly happy, not even as Oscar. This is an important
moment for the viewer as the season builds up to this eventual climax, only to culminate in
the idea that there is no climax at all. It is this aspect of the show’s perspective on life that
Bojack Horseman manages to stay true to.
A common trope of popular television shows, movies, and pop culture in general is
the idea of an omniscient and universal ‘happy ending.’ Closure, ultimate goodness, and
justice are commonly represented as assumptions that are true and do exist. Bojack Horseman
remains in stark contrast to these ideas. As Bojack puts it—“Closure is a made up thing by
Steven Spielberg to sell movie tickets. It, like true love and the Munich Olympics, doesn't
exist in the real world. The only thing to do now is just to keep living forward” (Season 1,
Episode 5).This idea of the progression of life as horizontal and without a specific
destination, as opposed to vertical and upwards to a better or happier ending is consistent
with the foundations of absurdism that necessitate a recognition of the eventual absurdity of
the pursuit of happiness. As Camus elaborated in The Myth of Sisyphus (1965), “The absurd
is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the
world.”
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This foundation is also supported by the stories of other characters on the show. An
episode in Princess Carolyn’s life takes us through the adventures of her great-great-great-
granddaughter, Ruthie (Season 4, Episode 9). The episode begins with Ruthie talking about
her ancestor (Princess Carolyn) and how she conquered all her difficulties. In the show’s
present timeline, Princess Carolyn is going through a difficult time. Thus, Ruthie’s existence
and her recollection of Carolyn gives viewers hope that perhaps she has managed to resolve
her difficulties and emerged from the experience a happy and fulfilled person. However, the
episode ends with Princess Carolyn asking a frazzled Bojack, “You know what I do when I
have an awful day?” She proceeds to describe how she imagines her great-great-great-
granddaughter in the future, talking to her class about Princess Carolyn. This brings to
perspective that the entire episode was actually a figment of Princess Carolyn’s imagination
and does not exist in actuality. This lays emphasis on the idea that there really is no ‘happy
ending’ awaiting everyone and that most people are just trying to get through their days. It
also highlights ‘bad faith’ regarding how conveniently viewers choose to believe in a happy
ending without necessarily working towards it. The perspective the show attempts to
highlight then is that—life isn’t leading up to a happy ending, there will be no miraculous
solution to problems, and a fictional great-great-great-granddaughter may just be a defence
mechanism to avoid the anxiety that arises from the pursuit of happiness.
‘Bad faith’ (French: Mauvaise Foi), according to Sartre, occurs when we lie to
ourselves to spare ourselves short term pain but end up suffering from long term
psychological impoverishment (Sartre, 1956). Individuals or societies force themselves to
believe something, of which they may not be completely convinced, as it is an easier
alternative than owning up to one’s responsibilities. Sartre believed one of the most
fundamental aspects of ‘bad faith’ is humanity’s constant denial of the crushing burden of
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freedom that it possesses. He postulated that the idea of ‘no choice’ was a lie we told
ourselves. Options or alternatives were always present but individuals finds it reassuring to
believe ‘we don’t have any choice’ as it lets us off the hook, and removes the burden of
realising that choices have to be made and responsibilities towards those choices owned up to
(Parashar & Chaudhury, 2018). Thus, our being, is “all the things we are at present not, but
could possibly become” (Sartre, 1956). Bad faith, thus implies that we keep those
possibilities out of our conscious and constant awareness and choose to believe that the way
we are at the present moment is the only way we can be.
“Hollywood is a real pretty town smack on top of all that black tar” (Season 1,
Episode 8). Hollywood may well be a metaphor for general existence. The facade of fame,
glamour, and beauty that is characteristic of show business covers up the reality of an
industry that is hollow and ultimately meaningless. In a similar manner, the trappings of our
daily life distract us from the meaninglessness of our existence in general. What does one
then do to get over the meaninglessness of existence? Bojack Horseman offers viewers a few
choices—distraction, being a primary option. A jovially conveyed message by Mr.
Peanutbutter best sums up the perspective of the show in this regard—“The universe is a
cruel, uncaring void. The key to being happy isn’t a search for meaning. It’s to just keep
yourself busy with unimportant nonsense, and eventually, you’ll be dead” (Season 1, Episode
12).
Most characters in the show have at some point exhibited this need for distraction.
Princess Carolyn distracts herself with keeping herself completely occupied with her work.
She constantly complains about never having enough time but cannot handle having free time
as she is faced with the ultimate lack of meaning in her life. She has no one to return to who
really cares about her. On a night off, she is asked by her secretary—“Are you going to head
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out soon?” to which Princess Carolyn responds, “Where else will I go?” Todd Chavez, an
unemployed youth living for free in Bojack’s house is happy as long as he has something to
do. However, the moment he is free, the viewers see him spiral into existential despair.
Philosophical discourse has often drawn links between having nothing to do and existential
questioning.
“I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they
cannot stay quietly in their own chamber. I have found that there is one very real reason;
namely, the natural poverty of our feeble and mortal condition so miserable that nothing
can comfort us when we think of it closely” (Pascal & Havet, 1852).
Bojack spends much of his time bouncing between the highs of alcohol and substance
abuse, watching re-runs of his old show; to the lows of withdrawal from substance abuse or
the aftermath of an extended bender. The show, thus, also addresses the notion of celebrities
and how they seem to ‘have it all.’ Bojack for instance, has a large house, job offers, enough
money to comfortably sustain himself, and willing romantic partners. However, as Pascal put
it—“Yet when we imagine a king, intended with every pleasure he can feel; if he be without
diversion and be left to consider and reflect on what he is, this feeble happiness will not
sustain” (Pascal & Havet, 1852).
What further complicates Bojack’s situation is Sartre’s idea of radical freedom.
Individuals are burdened with a crushing amount of freedom—“That is what I mean when I
say that man is condemned to be free. Condemned, because he did not create himself, yet is
nevertheless at liberty, and, from the moment that he is thrown into this world he is
responsible for everything he does.” (Sartre, 1956). Theoretically, Bojack can fix his entire
life. He can choose to be a different person. Making or not making this choice is entirely up
to him. There is nothing stopping Bojack from spending months on a drug induced high, or
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pushing away all the people close to him, or making sexual advances towards his former
friend’s daughter. Conversely, there is nothing making him do these things either. He is doing
them because of the choices he is making.
Bojack constantly rejects responsibility—“I’m responsible for my own happiness? I
can’t even be responsible for my own breakfast!” (Season 1, Episode 1). He often shows
awareness of his ‘bad faith’ but continues to subscribe to it anyway. He constantly tries to
escape the reality that he is responsible for his life choices and the way he has chosen to live
his life—“I didn’t do anything wrong because I can’t do anything wrong because we’re all
just products of our environment, bouncing around like marbles in the game of Hungry,
Hungry Hippos that is our random and cruel universe! Everything is meaningless! Nothing I
do has consequence!” (Season 1, Episode 3).
Further, it is important to note that there is no ‘good guy’ deep down that is supposed
to redeem Bojack despite all the harmful and problematic things he chooses to do. Bojack
spends much of the TV show seeking external validation for this inner ‘good self’ that he
believes exists somewhere in him. This concept will be explored further when we discuss
Bojack’s methods of taking responsibility for his actions.
Childhood Trauma
While the creator of the series has in an interview stated that there is no one incident
that made Bojack who he is and that multiple explanations have emerged and been explored,
we will explore one such explanation—his family. From a psychoanalytic perspective,
Bojack has an overwhelming need for validation. To understand this, let us briefly understand
Bojack’s childhood. Bojack was the only child of Beatrice Horseman, his mother, and
Butterscotch Horseman, his father. Beatrice Sugarman was the heiress to a fortune (The
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Sugarman Sugar Cube Fortune) but rebelled by marrying Butterscotch Horseman, a young
man with limited means and career prospects. Bojack was born to them after marriage.
The relationship between his parents had always been strained but it was markedly
dysfunctional after Bojack’s birth. His mother looked at the life she had before Bojack as the
prime of her life. She regrets his birth, a sentiment she makes known to him on multiple
occasions—“You know, I was beautiful before I got pregnant. You ruined me.” She rarely, if
ever, was a source of positivity and support in his life. There was a complete lack of
unconditional positive regard in his childhood. In fact, if anything, there was unconditional
negative regard. In a deeply troubling scene where a young Bojack is caught smoking by his
mother, instead of reprimanding him, Beatrice orders him to finish the cigarette as she “will
not be the mother of a quitter.” As Bojack struggles to finish the cigarette, he starts to cry. To
this, Beatrice tells him he is not allowed to cry. A disturbed Bojack asks her whether she is
punishing him for smoking or crying. Beatrice responds with a sentence that best sums up her
attitude towards Bojack—“I’m punishing you for being alive” (Season 2, Episode 9).
Butterscotch Horseman and Beatrice Horseman have been shown fighting on multiple
occasions. In fact, they haven’t ever really been depicted as partners in a positive and
enriching relationship. This overt tension between his parents was something Bojack grew up
witnessing. Butterscotch Horseman frequently had extramarital relations. He even fathers a
child with his nurse, Henrietta. In fact, the relationship between Beatrice and Butterscotch
even reaches a point where Beatrice is almost completely unbothered by Butterscotch’s
betrayal, and is more concerned that Henrietta’s life not be ruined the way hers was ruined by
Bojack’s birth. There is even an allusion to domestic violence in the household. When Bojack
says that he wants to play football, Beatrice says “If you want to get knocked around for an
afternoon, you should read one of your father’s manuscripts and call his prose pedestrian and
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derivative. Works for me every time.” However, even if we are to assume domestic violence
did not occur, the environment in which Bojack grew up was extremely troubling and not
conducive to the development of a secure and mentally healthy individual. Further, Bojack’s
father often blamed him for his mother’s actions. He described Beatrice as the ‘black hole
that birthed’ Bojack and even blames Bojack for his birth—“The whole day is shot all
because of you and that brittle wisp of a woman you made the mistake of making your
mother.”
Bojack yearns for approval from his family. He is unable to have a positive
relationship with his father before the latter’s demise. At his father’s funeral, his mother
delivers the eulogy and says “My husband is dead, and everything is worse now” (Season 5,
Episode 6). Bojack mulls on this moment as his parents had no semblance of a positive
relationship. According to Bojack, his mother’s words reflect their circumstances and how
poor and indebted their father had left them. Thus, Bojack takes cognisance of the fact that
despite their poor relations, the existence of a family was significant in his life and that of his
parents. He seems almost compassionate towards their combined and connected miseries
—“All three of us were drowning, and we didn’t know how to save each other, but there was
an understanding that we were all drowning together” (Season 5, Episode 6). However, at the
same time, he longs for the presence of a more supportive and loving family. Much of this
expectation is created and centred around his knowledge of relationships from TV shows.
Even though his parents were consistently authoritarian and negligent, Bojack admits to
holding onto hope that they would eventually show him that they cared through a grand
gesture, as he had seen on television. At his mother’s funeral, he addresses this need in the
eulogy—
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“When you’re a kid, you convince yourself that maybe the grand gesture could be
enough, that even though your parents aren’t what you need them to be over and over
and over again, at any moment, they might surprise you with something wonderful. I kept
waiting for that, the proof that even though my mother was a hard woman, deep down,
she loved me and cared about me and wanted me to know that I made her life a little bit
brighter. Even now, I find myself waiting” (Season 5, Episode 6).
Beatrice is consistently condescending towards, and critical of Bojack. She shames
him for his looks, his weight, and his inability to do anything she considers worthwhile. She
criticises LA and chides Bojack for his “silly TV show” and tells him that she regrets all the
sacrifices she had to make for Bojack considering all he has done is be part of a silly
Hollywood TV show. When Bojack is about to star in a role he has wanted all his career—
Secretariat, Beatrice tells him—“Well, you come by it honestly, the ugliness inside you. You
were born broken, that’s your birthright. And now you can fill your life with projects, your
books, and your movies, and your little girlfriends but... that won't make you whole. There’s
no cure for being you.” This makes it clear to the viewer that no matter what Bojack may do,
he will not be able to earn her approval or make her happy. This is a possible cause of his
constant need for validation from other sources. He believes that deep down, he is a good guy
and despite all the ‘bad things’ he does, his ultimate goodness is something that should
redeem him. In a breakdown, he begs Diane Nguyen to tell him that he is good—
“It’s not too late for me, is it? It’s not too late. Diane, I need you to tell me that it’s not too
late. I need you to tell me that I’m a good person. I know that I can be selfish, 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” (Season 1, Episode 11).
This idea of innate goodness and the need to seek external validation of said goodness
is also explored in Bojack Horseman. While on the outside, Bojack makes a string of bad
decisions, being insensitive to the ones around him, or being outrightly uncaring of the needs
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of others, it is perhaps this flawed nature that keeps viewers engaged. Unlike many TV
representations of characters as either good or bad in black and white terms, Bojack’s
representation as a character riddled with flaws is perhaps a refreshing and realistic take on
personality and development. This need for validation likely stems from maladaptive
development due to lack of parental guidance and positive regard. However, in his adult life,
Bojack continues to have poor interpersonal relations and communication. He is unable to
express his feelings and emotions with anyone. Further, he is also unable to accept positive
regard as this generally induces a sense of self-doubt and low self-esteem due to his inherent
belief that he is unworthy of love. There is clear incongruence between Bojack’s actions and
needs in terms of his need for approval and love and his rejection of it.
Substance Abuse and Defense Mechanisms
As the end of season 4 approaches, we see Bojack increasingly moving from suicidal
ideation to suicidal intent. In a poignant scene, where he leaves Hollywood with no
destination in mind and is driving aimlessly on the highway, we see Bojack contemplating his
existence. In a move that seems not at all sudden, he lets go off the steering wheel, also
letting go off his life, as he closes his eyes and leans back in his seat, perfectly alright with
the idea of an imminent death. It reminds viewers of one of the most touching dialogues of
the series—“You know sometimes I feel like I was born with a leak. Any goodness I started
out 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?”
Defense mechanisms are unconscious mental operations that deny or distort reality
(Passer & Smith, 2013, p. 463). We shall attempt to understand some of the ways in which
Bojack distorts reality. Rationalisation refers to a process by which “a person constructs a
false but plausible explanation or excuse for an anxiety-arousing behaviour or event that has
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already occurred (Passer & Smith, 2013, p. 463). Bojack rationalises a lot of his harmful
behaviour. He refuses to take responsibility for his actions and rather always finds an external
situation, circumstance, or entity to blame. He always finds a way to justify his actions, often
pinning them on his ‘narcissistic self’, which at times he distinguishes from his ‘good self’.
By pinning the blame on a part of him that is necessarily bad, Bojack tries to absolve his
larger personality. Thus, this part is then seen as a separate entity that exists above and
beyond his boundaries of control. In this way, he tries to absolve or decrease his
accountability for his actions.
Bojack also engages in denial wherein, “a person refuses to acknowledge anxiety-
arousing aspects of the environment” (Passer & Smith, 2013, p. 463). We have already
examined how Bojack rejects responsibility for his life on multiple occasions. However, there
are various other cases of denial in the show. Bojack, while discussing his life with Diane
Nguyen, for his memoir, rarely mentions the troubled relations between his parents and the
consequent impact of the family dynamic on him. He chooses to present a merry picture of
his childhood, completely glossing over the trauma he suffered. Further, he is in constant
denial of his reliance on alcohol and drugs to sustain him. Most often, he is seen waking up
surrounded by bottles of alcohol, smoking cigarettes. He even denies his own emotions—“I
need to go take a shower so I can’t tell if I’m crying or not”.
Further, Bojack consistently denies his choices. He chooses to betray his best friend,
Herb, and keep working with the show Horsin Around even though Herb was being fired and
asks Bojack to stand up for him. Years later, when Bojack approaches Herb for forgiveness,
Herb responds with - “You want to think of yourself as the good guy. Well, I know you better
than anyone, and I can tell you that you're not. You'd probably sleep a lot better at night if you
just admitted to yourself that you're a selfish coward who just takes whatever he wants and
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doesn't give a s*it about who he hurts.” This exemplifies the ideas that even though Bojack
seeks validation from those around him, he is often met with the harsh reality that his choices
define him, and that his choices have made him the man he is now. However, this denial
continues for the majority of the next few seasons. There are many other overt instances of
denial. Bojack has sexual intercourse with his friend’s (Todd’s) girlfriend and the following
exchange takes place when Todd finds out—
BoJack: 'Todd, I'm sorry, alright? I screwed up, I- I know I screwed up, I—'
Todd: 'Oh great, of course! Here it comes! You can't keep doing this! You can't keep doing
shi**y things and then feel bad about yourself like that makes it okay! You need to be better!’
BoJack: 'I know, and I'm sorry, okay? I was drunk and there was all this pressure with the
Oscar campaign, but now that it's over, I- I- I—'
Todd: 'No! No. BoJack, just... stop. You are all the things that are wrong with you. It's not the
alcohol or the drugs or any of the shitty things that happened to you in your career or when
you were a kid, it's you! Alright? It's you. …F*ck, man. What else is there to say?’ (Season 3,
Episode 10).
Camus talks about three major approaches to deal with the idea of absurdism. The
first is an attempt to create meaning. People try to create meaning with belief systems, family,
social relations, etc. This idea has been explored through Bojack’s need for validation from
his family and his friends. The second alternative is committing suicide. This is also
something that is alluded to during the course of the show but hasn’t been taken up by Bojack
yet. The final attempt is embracing the fact that life is meaningless and enjoying life in spite
of this inherent lack of meaning. This is an idea displayed by some characters in the show
(Eg: Mr. Peanutbutter). However, Bojack doesn’t seem to completely fit into either way of
dealing with the meaninglessness he identifies in his life. In the latest season, Bojack has an
accident and is prescribed opioid painkillers. However, it is revealed that he is consuming the
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pills in doses larger and for longer than needed for his physiological symptoms. He is
constantly in denial about his condition and addiction to the painkillers, despite a pain-killer
induced delusional fantasy that ends in him choking his love interest, Gina. However, what is
important to note is the manner and way in which Bojack seeks resolution for his issues. The
dissonance and stress created as a consequence of his actions is often dealt with by more
impulsive actions. For instance, he seeks immediate alleviation of distress by means of
apology, or shaming himself, or requesting others to ‘oust’ him and expose his true nature.
However, none of these modes of resolution are based on introspection and empathy. His
coping mechanisms are entirely emotion-focused and maladaptive as far as resolving a real-
world situation. Instead, priority is placed on alleviation of his personal distress.
Conclusion
Towards the end of Season 5, Bojack decides to check into rehabilitation. Could this
mean the show follows an arc of therapeutic intervention that is more productive than
Bojack’s recurrent coping strategies? The creators of the show are undecided on how Bojack
will ‘end up’. However, it would be safe to assume that a major takeaway of Bojack
Horseman is the idea that seeking a satisfactory ending is pointless as there is no real
meaning in the world to begin with. Thus, it is perhaps premature to ask questions about
where Bojack will go from here and where the other characters in his life will consequently
align themselves. Bojack Horseman as a character and television show provides
psychologists with a rich and varied amount of data to be able to gain a better understanding
of public perception of mental health. Further, the stress on life and meaning in the show
addresses growing concern with these ideas in today’s youth. Further study can provide more
enriching data into the possible implications of these concerns about existence. Psychology as
a discipline can benefit from this research in terms of therapeutic interventions, wellness
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programmes, and redressal of mental health concerns. However, even in itself, the study of
popular culture is relevant to the field of psychology in order to gain a better insight into the
mental concerns of individuals and groups. In conclusion, while existence may be
meaningless, the study of this sentiment is certainly not."
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References
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