Hollywood: The Unseen Horror

Life as a celebrity in the United States comes with both advantages and disadvantages. In BoJack Horseman, BoJack’s experiences reflect the lives of these high-profile celebrities in American popular culture. Celebrity culture is filled with problems, but the public still happily accepts and even idolizes stars. BoJack Horseman brings many of these issues to the forefront and helps the audience challenge the largely popular discourse surrounding this culture. Although people are starting to become aware of the harms of ignoring actors’ glaring flaws, celebrity worship is still popular.

My objective is to break down many of the problems in Hollywood that the creator of the TV show, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, brings attention to while adding my own interpretations of themes in the show. The show wants to impact its audience through revealing the unseen and haunting realities of stardom. BoJack Horseman, by showcasing the nuances of forgiveness in the media industry, the normalization of violence against women, and the impact of public influence and validation on stars, takes a stand against Hollywood and the mainstream film industry.

Forgiveness: When Is It Justified?

Often, forgiveness is necessary to move on from conflict, but in Hollywood, actors are forgiven for almost all controversy. In Season 5 of BoJack Horseman, a character named Vance Waggoner acts as an extreme example of a disgraceful celebrity. After being consistently racist, sexist, and abusive in private, he was eventually caught for multiple heinous actions. Whether it be stating that he hates specific minorities or getting caught assaulting women, Vance kept apologizing for his actions and saying that he changed. It’s important to note that Vance only showed remorse once he was caught; he hadn’t done anything to improve his behavior. He eventually told everyone that he was going to permanently leave the life of fame. However, he reentered the public eye after apparently becoming a feminist to accept a “Forgivie” at the “We Forgive You Awards.”

At one point, Vance was going to star with BoJack on a show called Philbert, and BoJack was tasked with defending Vance’s past actions since they had to work together on the show. Not only was BoJack working together with a perverted and abusive individual, but also, he needed to ensure that Vance was publicly seen in a positive light. Morality was thrown aside by everyone working on Philbert just to appease Vance. In media, celebrities tend not to care about their colleagues’ misdeeds because speaking out could be bad for business. Vance eventually decided to leave the show because he got better offers after becoming a public figure again. However, his character arc for the season ended when he derailed his career again by saying insensitive things about Chinese people.

This part of the season’s purpose was “…to condemn Hollywood’s perverse eagerness to forgive abusive men” (Cruz 2018). Vance Waggoner’s storyline reflects how when actors commit controversy, they just have to go on a PR tour apologizing for their misdeed to be forgiven. Vance was handed a “Forgivie” award by the media despite his history of abusive language and behavior just because he said that he became a feminist. In Hollywood, actors can state that they strongly support a cause or movement without taking any action to gain forgiveness from the public.

Vance’s character arc started and ended at the same spot. He was introduced as a disgraced celebrity who was forgiven by the media because of his apparent change, but he ended up back where he started after committing more controversy. If someone gets forgiven for something they don’t truly feel remorse for, they’re going to fall back into their old habits very easily. The fact that Hollywood and the film industry easily forgives celebrities is harmful because it gives a platform to insensitive or abusive people who could influence the minds of the public. BoJack Horseman shows us that it’s important to better scrutinize the actions of public figures by satirizing the culture of forgiveness in Hollywood. When access to forgiveness is easy to attain for high-profile celebrities, they can even get away with violent behavior.

Stop Accepting Violence

Violence against women, whether it is physical or emotional, is often covered up and even accepted as normal in the film industry. BoJack is infamous for behaving inappropriately with women. In one instance, he tried to have sex with his old friend’s high-school-aged daughter. In another, he went on a drug binge with Sarah Lynn, who viewed him as a father figure, that ultimately ended up killing her (Cruz 2018). BoJack’s abuse of women is repeated, paralleling many Hollywood abusers, a prominent one being Harvey Weinstein. Bob-Waksberg says, “You do hear reports of abusive things happening on sets too often, in ways that if that happened in a corporate boardroom, forget about it” (Harris 2018).

Bob-Waksberg understands that violence in the film industry is normalized even though it’s clearly unacceptable. A prominent storyline in season 5 involves BoJack abusing a woman on set and completely getting away with it. While on set for Philbert, BoJack ends up choking his co-star, Gina, at the climax of the season because he was delirious from abusing drugs. Soon after this incident, Gina agrees to cover it up. She believes that there is no justice, especially in the film industry. If she spoke out against BoJack’s actions, she knew that he would end up being “…the most notable thing that ever happened to [her]” (Cruz 2018). Like many women who are abused in the real world’s film industry, Gina doesn’t feel comfortable speaking out about her experience because she fears that she would be subject to retaliation and victim blaming.

BoJack was never truly held accountable for his actions, whether it be legally or otherwise. Of course, BoJack was the one who chose to do terrible things, but by being in the film industry, he was always protected. He was never able to learn from his mistakes, so he continued to cause damage to women around him. Every woman that ever cared for him either died, cut contact with him, or dealt with permanent struggle because of him by the end of the show. Perhaps if BoJack was given effective consequences for his abuse against women, he wouldn’t have repeated his actions.

Validation: Why It’s Dangerous

Celebrities often seek validation for their work from both their peers and their supporters, which makes it hard for them to truly appreciate something they’ve accomplished. BoJack was known by his peers for always seeking validation from others, specifically women in his life like Diane and Princess Carolyn. Every time he made a mistake, instead of trying to correct his behavior, he just wanted closure from others. He needed people to tell him that he’s a good person. To BoJack, that acceptance is enough; he figured that as long as people didn’t hate him, his actions didn’t define who he was. Letting others dictate his mood and personality led him to dark places throughout the show.

BoJack’s need for validation was a crucial component of his unsatisfaction with life. Throughout the show, he sought to be as popular as he was when he was starring on Horsin’ Around, the TV show that made him famous in the 90s, but he never held on to the feeling he was looking for. At many points, BoJack tried to take on different roles to somehow get back in the spotlight. Often times, he was just seen as a washed-up celebrity, but when he did find some success, he didn’t feel joy. “…Celebrities are a part of a taste-driven market… are the objects or people that rise to the top really that much better or more interesting than everyone else?” (Vendatam 2019).

A guest on Vendatam’s NPR podcast makes an interesting point; she notes that the most popular celebrities don’t necessarily do anything better than less popular ones. Popularity is dictated mostly by people’s interests at specific times. By seeking validation, celebrities are signing up to just be put down. Collective groups don’t have a concrete reason for enjoying something. Trends come and go, so a really popular actor can easily be seen as yesterday’s news in just the span of a couple months. BoJack is an example of what could happen when a celebrity chases extreme fame and trends even though popularity is ultimately a game of chance.

Would You Like to Be a Celebrity?

BoJack Horseman raises awareness of problems in pop culture by dealing with crucial themes surrounding celebrities. The show focuses on how easily and unjustifiably many stars are forgiven, how women are often abused in this industry, and how easily stars can lose their happiness and purpose because of their reliance on public validation.

At the end of the day, BoJack Horseman, although a dark comedy, is a series that deals with very real issues that take place in the film industry. The messages that the series delivers is important for the public to understand. In truth, stars, especially male celebrities are forgiven too easily for their actions, and scandals are either covered up or dismissed. There is hope for the industry, but change is needed. Outside the industry itself, individual actors struggle with their identity as well. When one person receives their validation from a public with such volatile attention spans, they might find it difficult to be fulfilled and happy in the long run.

To some, being a celebrity sounds like a dream. Stars do live unique lives and receive privileges that the average person could never experience. However, by being in an industry where accountability is minimal and public attention means everything, it would be tough to stay grounded in reality.

Works Cited

BoJack Horseman. Created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Netflix, 2014-2020.

Cruz, Lenika. “How the Hollywood Redemption Machine Works, According to BoJack Horseman.” The Atlantic, 2018. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/09/bojack-horseman-season-5/569710/. Accessed 6 September 2022.

Harris, Aisha. “‘BoJack Horseman’ Creator Talks About Hollywood and Forgiveness.” The New York Times Company, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/14/arts/television/bojack-horseman-season-5-raphael-bob-waksberg-interview.html. Accessed 1 September 2022.

Vedantam, Shankar. “Never Go to Vegas.” Hidden Brain. NPR, 2019. https://www.npr.org/2019/03/18/704416322/never-go-to-vegas. Accessed 1 September 2022.