Honestly I think another thing about the song I appreciate besides what you mentioned is how Bo inhabits the character physically without it being like "ha ha man doing woman things funny". There's a loving warmth given to the performance and it feels comfortable for him, even with the tone being pretty silly. I have a lot of feelings about the particular way he's navigated gender and embraced his own feminine side throughout his career that I can't quite articulate, but it really makes me feel seen in some way.
I've definitely always thought of the song as having a more nuanced meaning than the surface level criticism it first appears to be, but I hadn't been able to unpack it in this way. one of my key observations on the piece was that Burnham must have invested a staggering amount of work into the videography for this section. These shots are not simple to set up in general, they do not necessarily translate easily from stills to video, and the sheer number of them, plus the number of takes each one must have required to reach this degree of polish, suggests a truly immense amount of work. I wonder if, in the process of making the video, his appreciation for the work that goes into even derivative influencer content may have deepened, contributing to the sense of sincerity I find in this video, which would not be present in a shallower parody.
I watched it after seeing this review and the passage about her mom brought tears. And yes, changed the cadence of the song to make the Instagram stream seem more like a coping mechanism.
I just had a long drive yesterday and listened to this album again during it. And I spent a lotta that time thinking about White Woman’s Instagram. Great analysis. I hadn’t considered how the scene immediately following the song plays off of the themes. To me, a lot like you said, the song reminds us of the humanity that sits behind the seemingly inauthentic social media feed. I think there’s something missing from this analysis: the marriage post that the song ends on. For me, I feel like this moment changes things from eliciting the sadness you described. Instead, it makes me feel hopeful that honest human connection via social media is possible, so long as we remember to let our own cynical guards down. The song ends with a post implying that the main character has gotten married, to the same person from the line “I got a boyfriend and I’m crazy about him.” The description of the marriage post is noticeably longer than the others, indicating that it’s supposed to stand out and linger with the audience (being the last post described also helps) This creates a more complete portrait of somebody rebuilding their life after a pair of tragedies, moving forward and finding joy in life again. The fact that that story exists *within* an otherwise cliche/curated post says a lot. It says that the humanity was always there, in all of the silly posts we were just making fun of before. All we needed to do to see that humanity is to stop looking at her feed as a bunch of cliches for our amusement, cynically looking for things to make fun of. As soon as we remind ourselves that there’s a person behind that feed (by taking the time to read a caption or two, for instance), the inherent humanity in their other posts becomes clear.
"the inherent humanity in their other posts becomes clear" was the thing that came to mind when he was analyzing that part of the video, where we see the comment about missing her parents. I feel it needed one more line, "it humanizes her."
First of all I would like to thank you for introducing me to Bo's work. I've never heard of him before and I'm really moved by the special. I found your analysis thought provoking and it greatly influenced my reception of the Inside special. In that context, what really caught my attention is how, to some extent, Bo follows in the footsteps of the white woman. I think that through out the show he switches between curated and deeply personal messaging. In fact, I get a feeling that the further the show goes the more he wants us to be confused on what is what. For me personally, the All Eyes on Me is the equivalent of the post comment from the White Woman's Instagram.
I actually think the impressive part of this song is that at first it comes off as a generic criticism of social media, which is a really common mantra these days, especially with Facebook and its properties being at the core of what's seen as the root of this environment's "evil." It's a cardboard belief though, because the numbers alone tell you that there's something to be said about the catharsis people feel from both creating and consuming content on platforms like Instagram. Fashioning Instagram as the "opium of that masses" is insincere. It's filled a gap in our globalized world, we've just yet to tame it and we despise our inability to wield it consistently without it consuming us. Manipulating us. As Bo has made his fortune on these kinds of platforms (RU-vid being no exception) this song demonstrates cracks in the façade without coming off as condescending. It's an early song that sort of jerks you awake from what exactly he's trying to do here--he isn't repeating some parroted argument about the evils and deceptions of social media... he's highlighting what we're missing. A garden we're not tending despite having the tools at our disposal.
Someone else point out that in one of the pictures of "the white womans instagram" is the ballons making a 27 witch is used to represent the current age. And the fact that in the letter to her mom sais that is been a decade since she been gone, inplies that she lost her mom when she was 17 witch is extreamly sad.
I love this video! Two of my favorite content creators in one video :D. I didn't even make the aspect ratio connection, unbelievable what art examined can reveal.
As a white woman on Instagram (following mostly other wite women on Instagram), I find it mildly confusing that people laugh it off as shallow, but I brushed it off as "I must be currating my feed differently than them". None of the creators I follow leave an impression that they're pretending to be more happy (or anything else) than they are. The fact of the curration is quite evident (mostly the accounts I follow are themed, so obviously everything not related to said theme gets left out). So this interpretation of the song (that I hadn't heard but might look up latrer) feels natural, much more so than the satire one. Thank you for a great video as always!
In 2021 a political pundit i follow on Twitter retweeted a poignant tweet from a women whose 12 daughter was dying. That retweet introduced me to the grief & illness communities on Twitter where the posts are driven by the need to connect instead of the need to create. Those communities have softened how I think about Twitter.
I don't usually like videos that are practically spelling out what is obviously what the artist intended. But since the whole point of the song was thoughtfulness I'm just going to assume this video was intended for people who did not realize what one of the major points of Inside was.
Its not only about the impulse to show a better than real image to the world. I think its more about trying to make oneself(the poster) believe that the single life they are given is actually meaningful (and therefore worthy to present to a mother figure).
Ooo, this is great. Still haven’t been able to get myself to watch “Inside” (doubt my mental health can take it lol) but great analysis of the one part I have seen
Although I do quite like your reading of the song, I interpreted the bit about the mother somewhat differently. To me it read more as the woman milking even her sadness about her mother for empathetic likes on Instagram, even making her grief into a performance. Though I must say, the widening perspective does support your reading of the scene, I suppose. Of course it could be a combination of the two! Regardless, this special surely is a masterpiece and I loved your take on it as an art piece
This is how I interpreted this song at first too 😅 really reinforced my suspicion that maybe I am a bit too cynical, I much prefer the empathetic reading
