BoJack Horseman premiered on 22 August, 2014, and since then people have followed the life of this sad but exciting horse who is as clueless about his life as anyone else. He celebrated his fiftieth birthday in season one and considerable time has passed since in the show’s timeline. Hence it is safe to say that he is between his above fifty. The audience was not very impressed with the first season, but the second season changed their perspective very quickly. The show began as a mindless comedy about a narcissistic and mildly famous horse who prefers to drink his life away.
But the show is far from being mindless. Wrapped in the façade of a comedy show, it has dealt with some severe issues in the six seasons of the show. Following is the list of some of the problems the characters dealt with:
- Addiction
The top issue in this list has to be constant intoxication. BoJack seems to be on a quest to ensure that he is either drunk or high at all times. He does not care about what time of the day it is, who he is scheduled to meet or who he is with, and his life seems to revolve around addiction. He tries to justify it with the careless attitude and his so-called fame, but as the show slowly picks up and the writers begin to unravel the experiences he has had, it justifies his character’s need to escape. The horse is in perpetual fear of facing his present and his past, and the only way he knows how is to drown his memory.
While BoJack is the central character, other characters like Sara Lin were also presented with similar struggles. BoJack, being much older than her, kept enabling her instead of putting a halt. The eventual death of Sara Lin, the severe impact and self-blame BoJack experiences and joining rehabilitation center were peak points of this issue.
- Discrimination
The society holds constant stigma against a particular group of people and how it seeps into the entertainment industry is well portrayed in the show. Herb Kazzazz and BoJack moved to L.A. together to try their hand at comedy and when Herb sold his show “Horsin’ Around”, he wrote the play specifically for BoJack. Herb, quite literally, paved the way for BoJack’s popularity and success.
- Divorce
This issue included Diane and Mr PeanutButter only. The two made an adorable and somewhat compatible couple in the beginning because Diane’s intellect and smartness were balanced off by Mr PeanutButter’s carefree and goofy personality. But this contrast is also the main reason that tore the two apart. Both of them were poles apart in terms of their ways of crisis management
- Anxiety
Mental health is the most prominent concept of the show. Both Diane and BoJack have constant anxiety and depression, and it is also one of the initial points of conversation for them. The two have time and again relied on each other for support and help whenever they feel that their negative thoughts are spiraling out of control. They also use methods like binge eating, drinking and smoking to deal with their issues.
Rdx Tango is an avid technical blogger, a magazine contributor, a publisher of guides at Directory Activate and a professional cyber security analyst. Through her writing, she aims to educate people about the dangers and threats lurking in the digital world.
