The Philosophy of BOJACK HORSEMAN - Wisecrack Edition 

"Don't fetishize your own sadness." Great advice from a cartoon!

"You know, it's funny; when you look at someone through rose-colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags." - Wanda the Owl, BoJack Horseman

I remember last summer I finished binging Bojack Horseman and watched an episode of Breaking Bad immediatly after. The show about a meth cook druglord dying of cancer was significantly more optimistic.

People before watching the show: It's about a guy with a horses face. Its gonna suck. People after watching the show: This is how you write for TV. Or anything really.

Damn, I keep forgetting how brutal the ending to Sarah Lynn's arc is.

I think the horses running is ironic showing that while bojack runs from responsibility and discipline, the horses at the end were running WITH discipline and responsibility.

the irony of advertising a mindless iphone app before talking about the underlying theme of constant distraction

Watching Bojack horseman is like listening to a sad song you love despite how sad it might make you.

Wait... Isn't this that horse from horsing around?

wait a second. i am distracting myself from an existantial crisis by watching a video about distracting yourself from an existential crisis... and you are reading my comment distracting yourself ... woah

The video talks about people using distractions a lot to escape life. Basically, they're..... horsin' around.

BoJack blew me away. Much better than i thought it would be.

the underwater episode was so beautiful and unique.

At first I did not understand the philosophy of Bojack Horseman. However after playing Best Fiends Forever for an extended period of time I began to experience existential dread and all became clear.

"Embrace the absurd, carry out your meaningless task and be happy in spite of it." If 15 minutes is too long this quote sums it all up very nicely.

A "mild" anxiety attack that sends him to the hospital? What would an extreme anxiety attack do? Send him to Jesus?

Well so this is like all the great adult swim shows : looks light-hearted but it's actually pretty dark

I had to warn people about this show. It really fucks you up.

the problem with secretariat advice is when we don't have anything to go forward then all we have is the past. it's the reason why secretariat committed suicide after his drug scandal.

The running horses who run anonymously and for the sheer hell of it, and who are happy with their friends, versus Secretariat who ran for admiration, fame, achievement and prestige and who ends up killing him self alone, is such a good visual representation of the two paths Bojack can take and how they will end

Loved the "Hollywoo Stars and Celebrities: What Do They Know? Do They Know Things?? Let's Find Out!" reference

Rick and Morty picks apart the world around you. BoJack Horseman picks apart the life you've built both socially and personally.

Back in the 90’s, I was in a very famous tv show-

One thing that i noticed watching videos analyzing Bojack is that they never seem to take in account clinical mental illnesses. Because clinical depression isn't something that is caused by wrong life philosophy, it's reversed - depression causes pessimistic outlook at life and the world. And for anyone who ever had depression, it is painfully obvious that it's exactly what Bojack is suffering from. And getting over clinical depression isn't as easy as changing one's philosophy, as it is only the outcome of depression, not the reason for it.

That under water episode tho...

I think the philosophy of "Louie" would be a great one to dive into.

"You are all the things you do, there is no deep down." That line hits hard

I love BoJack Horsman. It's both extremely dramatic and wonderfully satirical st the same time, which is something not a lot of shows can boast about.

It's pretty depressing, but not as depressing as the imminent extinction of the Bees if we don't do something.

That was abit too much for my morning coffee

i got an ad on this video for Reese’s cups with Will Arnett’s voice ahaha

I love rewatching this show whenever I feel like I need another depressive episode

There's a sad irony in funding a video that deconstructs a cartoon exploring existential nihilism with a pointless and distracting highly addictive computer game. Or maybe that was the point.

What the fuck I'm almost crying

11:37 Many of us believe we took door #3 when really we've already walked through door #1

if you like this series, I highly recommend the novel "the stranger" by Camus and the play "no exit" by Sartre. I read them in my French class when I was in school and they deal with the existentialism philosophy like this series. I could really find myself in those pieces before I even knew what this philosophy was called like

This series is deep.

Or, as Jerry put it: "Life is effort and I stop when I die!"

"The key to happiness is that you just pretend to be Happy and eventually you'll forget you're pretending" - BoJack Horseman

“I’m a good person, and I need you to tell me that I’m good”

After binge watching Bojack Horseman a few months back, I definitely felt like I learned something about myself through the show. After watching this video, I can now put words to it. Thanks, Wisecrack.

I feel like an entire philosophy episode could have been done in the drug trip scene alone

There exist strong parallels between Bojack and Hank Moody from the series Californication. Bojack is more vocal about his misery, but both characters feature a creative-type heavy-drinking, Cassandra-esque middle-aged man living in LA whose self-destructive tendencies reflect a deeper self-loathing and whose carefree lifestyle is financially afforded to each from their prior commercial success years ago ("Horsin Around" for Bojack; "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" for Hank Moody). Also both characters are ultimately well-intentioned, charismatic, good souls, but whose life choices ultimately cause pain for themselves and the ones who care about them. Californication has these occasional existential tidbits of life lessons, but they are less frequent than in Bojack. Think Eddie Nero's line referring to Hank: "I finally figured what it's about...it's about a man falling apart...while trying to keep it together." But whereas Californication focused more on comic relief as a central plotline (Charlie Runkle, Hank's numerous antics he finds himself in), Bojack is unafraid to focus more on the serious themes while bringing the comedy along only as a passenger. Actually as I write that sentence, I realize they both juggle comedy with existential angst. Another key difference is the central theme of family in Californication: Hank Moody has a much stronger family support structure. He has his daughter (and in the final (terrible, imo) season, a newly discovered son) plus his complicated relationship with Karen (a woman whom Hank has placed on a pedestal but whose love for her prevents him from being able to seriously commit to any other woman). But both his daughter and Karen/former-lover/one-true-love both serve to ground Hank's motivations (provide for his family/pseudo-family by writing). But Bojack, in contrast, really doesn't have a family to provide direction for his actions/purpose in life. Hollyhock presented an opportunity but turned out to be just his younger sister. Todd is perhaps Bojack's best friend and although Bojack gets close to Dianne and Princess Carolyn, they both remain mere supporting characters to Bojack, who holds each at arms-length. No, Bojack is quite alone, without children, without family. This is not to say that family/children are the sole reason for existence (although genetics and natural selection may beg to differ), But Hank's family gives him a clear(er) direction with his life purpose, whereas poor Bojack is more aimless. But I'm just a 35-year old elder Millennial writing this out into the invisible audience of the Internet in early 2019, so what do I know? A related sidenote: I went on a date last night with an attractive woman and I brought up this existential dilemma of finding purpose in an uncaring universe and how all these people around us (we were at a crowded bar) were just trying to distract themselves with stuff and pop music and watching pro SportsBall games on TV to keep from feeling lonely or from facing their own existence and limited time remaining head-on. (Note to you younger straight men: this might be a bit heavy for first-date conversation material). But I told her that it's funny how much we all seek to distract ourselves from the great Void, when all we really crave for is *connection* with another person. To share our experiences and our lives with and "love" (whatever that might mean to you). Even Chris McCandless ("Into the Wild") tersely observed this after living solo in the Alaskan wilderness for months: "Happiness only real when shared." I think each of us realizes (deep down) how scary the empty universe is and each of us is basically just looking for something and/or someone next to us to make us feel less alone. The point is: you think you have time to spare, when actually nothing is further from the truth: I've thought back on the last conversation with an ex-girlfriend or family member before they died or friend before they moved away...when someone you care about is gone and out of your life, you are reminded how truly precious time is. You never get that time back and it makes you really regret all the times you argued about something stupid or avoided hanging out with them or even the traffic jam that kept you apart. When viewed through the realization that All Things End Eventually, it makes you realize how precious the time you spend with loved ones is. As Bojack's mom observes: time's arrow marches only forward. So, wherever you are tonight, Internet, if you have someone in your life whom you love, hold them a bit tighter. Tell them you love them. Put your phone down when you're out for dinner and actually look at each other and talk and hold hands. Because one day you die. And one day they will die. So don't squander the time you have. This is a realization you cannot grasp in your 20s, but trust me: you will (if you're lucky) in your 30s. This is also why you shouldn't write long RU-vid comments at 11pm on a Sunday night: it's all too easy to get sentimental and slide down the existential vortex late at night. Good night, RU-vid!

I occasionally come back to this when I feel barren

This show seems so depressing... I love it already.

Back in the 90's, I was on a very famous TV show...

Why am I watching this? It only makes me realize how much I relate to a fucking cartoon about an animated horse in a seemingly endless loop of self hatred and existential questioning that’s come to the realization that nothing means anything and that you’re destined to deal with your problems for as long as you have them

I wanna be an architect

Anybody noticed in this world there's a band called the Beetles formed by four beetles, yet Paul McCartney is a human?

The Philosophy of Gravity Falls The Philosophy of Pixar The Philosophy of The MCU The Philosophy of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

This will go down in history as top 10 best adult cartoons ever

The most depressing show ever, but that's why I like it.

Damn that advertisement felt really out of place like it almost made me uncomfortable

distractions ???? like this video oooh

Damn, I thought I just needed closure after finishing bojack. Wasn’t expecting to have my depression cured. Good vid man 👏👏👏

BoJack should really go to the library fictional books are an amazing distraction you can forget your own troubles and immerse yourself in the story of someone else trying and failing and trying again to overcome what the world throws at them my favorite is Wolves of the Beyond

Philosophy of Courage the Cowardly Dog??

This is the most depressing animated cartoon show on Netflix, and in recent history. Rick and Morty is gritty and dark, but Rick immediately accepts the absurdity, has the family part down, but his past haunts him and steals it away. I don't think Rick's goal is sustained happiness, but it's definitely something. I believe Bojack can't find sustained happiness, if he did the show would cease to exist. The series finally in season 4 or 5 is either recovery like you said, retiring not necessarily fulfilled but accepting his life is not perfect. Either that or the series will end with Bojack ending his life. I think it would almost be better that way, I do kinda want him to succeed, but I kinda want to see him die. I don't know if that makes me a bad person. Existentialism is tackled in almost every popular TV show you can name, literally anyone. At first I thought the show would be like two and a half men, but it turned out to be one of my favorite TV shows.

*warning spoiler* Had to stop watching when Sarah Lynn died. The scene when she said "I want to be an architect" and then she didn't wake up was really painful to watch. Of course you can argue she always had a choice. But she became famous since she was very young and had no good role model. I rewatched season 1 and I just realized she always knew what she wanted but her mother was such a b*tch. I think it's more painful because we see real people going through similar path like Macaulay Culkin, Lindsay Lohan, etc. Anyway, I think I need sometime to heal lol. I'll continue watching then. Good series.

Incredibly well done analysis! Thanks for this, this is one of my favorite shows of all time

Philosophy of Bo Burnham

Btw, Bojack didn't hear Secretariet's advise. His parent's were fighting while he was watching it on TV.

Buddhism also says the origin to suffering is desire.

I find myself having to watch these videos time and time again because each of them has so much information and stuff packed into them. It's both wonderful yet frustrating at the same time and I love it.

I'm not suicidal. I'm an existential, morbid, self conscious pessimist.

This was good, philosophy of 'F is for Family', 'Archer' or 'Bob's Burgers'?

Hi, I am a Ryan Seacrest type!

This video makes me so happy. I re-watch it all the time. It also got me into Rick and Morty (I was already a Bojack fan) and made me feel better about stuff in general.

BoJack Horseman has to be considered one of the most heartbreaking shows I have ever seen! The show still have pretty funny moments but in the season 3 finale, HOLY SHIT! It got me, it really got me! 😭 I'm looking forward for season four.

I just watched it the 2nd time and want to start it again already

Absolutely love this video. Really well researched and articulated, keep it up guys!

All these videos are thought provoking and really helping me make sense of my feelings in this brave new world we have. Absurdism is a new concept to me on top of nihilism and existentialism that I know. I'm binging a lot of these videos, I usually find solace in conversations found in art. Please keep up the good work making some sort of meaning of happiness in this absurd world!

I cried when Sarah Lynn died and when they brought it up I shed a tear

This is the quality content I come to RU-vid for!

damn, guess I gotta rewatch Bojack

"While there is no purpose in life, there is a value...and man can live as free as it wants with nothing to lose and nothing to gain." - Tom Robbins

Thanks for making me realise why I'm so miserable when I'm unemployed.

having lived several years sick and with no job, i can state with 100% certanty that the point of life all boilds down to finding something to do. the moment there is no task, the mind start to ask what the meaning of everything is, and with no task at hand, there is no meaning

Oh man, I really love this moment on where we are. I love this show and his power to try to make you think about your existence, kind of philosophy about it. But thanks to you and all the access to other people's voices on the internet we can share our knowledge to help other understand all the others layer it can have. Thanks for this channel, it's awesome to have this point of view and appreciate better all the work that the writers did

This is such a brilliant channel. I cannot believe it took me so long to stumble upon you guys. Almost every video concerns something (be it a video game, show, or film) which I greatly enjoyed, and is then analyzed to such a degree that I leave each video enjoying that piece of media even more. Fantastic work.

I think Tod is asexual. They kinda hinted at it.

Rick and Morty and Bojack Horseman are both awesome shows that kinda go against each other. While the former is about things bigger than us and anti-nihilism, the latter is personal and ultimately nihilistic.

I overlooked it for years then decided to watch. Life changing

man, bojack and rick and morty really do compliment each other well. I think we need more shows like this that address psychology,philosphy, and and the other inner conflicts our existence bring us.

Black Mirror would make a good choice for a next philosophy episode

I had no I interest in watching this show until seeing this, now I feel like I need to. Sure, I knew the premise of him being a washed up former star, etc. but didn't expect it to be this deep. This is why I love your channel. You didn't try to "sell" the show; you just piqued my interest.

"Maybe Bojack will finally start being happier" *Season 5 comes out*

It is amazing how deep this show can get. I remember feeling empty and just staring at the screen after the episode "the shot," just one of many moments in the show that make you question life.

Fuck I'm depressed now...

I almost killed myself at the end of binging season 1 (literally), but I'm glad I didn't almost missed the other 2 seasons.

Way behind the curve on this show, and I'm watching these videos now. I forgot how much I loved Jared. Great to be able to go back and see some stuff he did.

I needed this episode today. Thank you

Am I the only one that got an Existential crisis from watching this?

Best fiends. "It is the same, but different."

this was amazingly edited

Thanks for the video...I needed this

See, I think there's a fourth alternative, a sort of combination of the first and the third. Acknowledging the absurd, but not accepting it per se. The solution for me was to realize that life is only as meaningful as the meaning you assign to it, and it can mean nothing if that's how you wish to feel, or it can mean everything. That's my take, anyway.

Do the philosophy of the Metal Gear Solid franchise; those games are deep.

I’ve been watching Wisecrack for a few months and it just hit me.....I wish I would have took myself up on the idea of minoring in Philosophy when I was in college. I majored filmmaking so the idea of blending what I learned in Philosophy with filmmaking has come true to life. These breakdown series are amazing

This was a very good video and explained a lot of things in a way that i never thought i could have understood... Love to watch you do the same for rick and. Morty..