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I recently wrote 2 essays on BoJack Horseman and I would like to share the better of the two. You can totally use this essay, just credit me :)
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Generational Trauma in BoJack Horseman
BoJack Horseman depicts generational trauma and all its ugly features in a really compelling way. There are undertones of this throughout the show that are not explicitly pointed out but slowly unraveled over time to the viewer. We see BoJack’s mother Beatrice when she was a child and all she endured, we see the product of that woman mothering her own child, and we see BoJack reflecting his own trauma onto his child figure. Working backwards in time, the depth of these characters is revealed to explain who they are in the present. The addiction that Beatrice, BoJack, and Sarah Lynn struggled with was no mystery.
From a young age, BoJack was told that he “better grow up to be something great to make up for all the damage [he’d] done.” On the TV set of Horsin’ Around, a show from the 90’s, BoJack was a foster father to 3 young children. BoJack never had kids of his own, so these children were the closest he would ever get to a family. Starting the series BoJack was sober and enthusiastic but quickly learned to depend on alcohol to help him perform. He is shown drinking on set and in his dressing room. This has an indirect effect on co-star Sarah Lynn, who inevitably got her hands on a bottle of liquor left by BoJack. Sarah Lynn had a father, but they had an incredibly uncomfortable relationship, something little Sarah Lynn was too young to understand. To her, BoJack was more a dad than her biological father. Just like BoJack, Sarah Lynn began drinking as a very young child. One direct impact BoJack had on Sarah Lynn was reinforcing the same things his mother told him when he was very small. BoJack said to little Sarah Lynn, “The most important thing is you have to give the people what they want. Even if it kills you, even if it empties you out until there’s nothing left to empty. No matter what happens no matter how much it hurts, you don’t stop dancing and you don’t stop smiling, and you give those people what they want.” This truly scared Sarah Lynn, it was a moment she would remember forever. As an adult it is a message we see in her pop music, and again in season finale “The View from Halfway Down” where Sarah Lynn sings a song with the direct quote, “A song you taught me when I was small, Don’t stop dancing, Don’t stop dancing.” What BoJack did to her as a child literally haunted her to the day she died.
Growing up BoJack was shown no love from his mother. Beatrice Horseman and his father Butterscotch Horseman were in a loveless marriage, constantly fighting in front of BoJack. Butterscotch was not a great man. He gave wiskey to his young son when he walked in on Butterscotch having an affair with his secretary. He was never a great father to BoJack and was nothing but a bad imprint. Beatrice would often force BoJack to do things he did not want to do. The audience can see a memory from his childhood that shows us where he first heard the same ideas he pushed onto Sarah Lynn. While cowering under a table, Beatrice verbally berates BoJack and pressures him into singing “The Lollypop Song” in front of an unfamiliar crowd. He cries and she says to him, “Nobody gives a damn what you feel. You’ve got an audience out there and they want to hear you sing. Now you want your mommy to love you, you get out there and do the only thing you’re good for”. Three things are ingrained here: he is only good for what he can give to others, public love/validation is necessary, and that nobody cares about his feelings. These ideas stay with BoJack, and we see him pass these on to another young child. Like the instance with Sarah Lynn, there is a lack of emotional security between a child and their parental figure. A Study on transgenerational transfer of trauma and addiction points out that addiction weakens not just the person, but their family too (Bernoussi et al). An absence of an emotional bond with the parent leaves the child susceptible to addiction (Bernoussi et al). From BoJack’s mother to BoJack, and from BoJack to Sarah Lynn, the addiction passed down- almost inherited.
Despite all the besmirching of Beatrice’s good name, she too was ruined from a young age and cursed to carry on the family legacy. When Beatrice was a child, there were 3 things she loved most in the world: her big brother Cracker Jack, her mother Honey Sugarman, and her baby doll. When Beatrice was very young, her brother Cracker Jack died serving in WW2. She was upset, but her mother was absolutely devastated. Her husband wasn’t equipped with the skills to comfort her at all, so Honey was left virtually alone to deal with this overwhelming grief. Beatrice watched her mother crumble. After a fit of mania and a series of unfortunate events, Honey had acted out for the last time. She begged her husband to “take this pain away.” He lobotomized Honey. Beatrice was horrified seeing her mother in this new zombified state. She cried to her mother, who told her “Promise me you’ll never love anyone as much as I loved Cracker Jack” advice that deep-rooted in Beatrice. Shortly after all this, Beatrice contracted scarlet fever. Her father burned all of Beatrice’s things, including her beloved baby doll. She screamed out in pain watching her father throw the doll to the fire and melt right in front of her. We see the scar of this wound as a young adult refusing to get an abortion and again throughout her late dementia-riddled years. Beatrice horseman was an abuser, but she was a victim first (Johny).
Netflix Original BoJack Horseman is not a feel-good show. It aims to be lighthearted most of the time but when it gets dark, it gets ghastly. The undercurrent of generational trauma and by association, substance abuse, are present throughout the show. It offers a unique experience through its format not seen much in the media. The chain of generational trauma is strong, it hurts everyone involved either directly or indirectly. This show tells us that these individuals that might be viewed as horrible, abusive, or irredeemable are still people. They are hurting too.
Works Cited
Amal Bernoussi, Joanic Masson, Alison Thierry, Maëlle Nicolas. Transgenerational Transmission of Addiction Problems. Open Journal of Medical Psychology, 2015, 04, pp.82 - 87. ff10.4236/ojmp.2015.43008ff. ffhal-03595148
“Bojack Horseman - 04x11 Beatrice Helps Henrietta Deliver the Baby.” Www.youtube.com, 14 Apr. 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhQ2TbujiOI. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
Cellos, Johnny 2. “The Complete Beatrice Horseman Timeline | BoJack Horseman.” YouTube, 21 June 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rgx_FrAJMY. Accessed 26 Jan. 2023.
“Don’t Stop Dancing (Horsin’ Around, Original, & Reprise) - Bojack Horseman.” Www.youtube.com, 1 Feb. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOCp_E6XHHI. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
“Sing the Lollipop Song - Bojack Horseman.” Www.youtube.com, 1 July 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSDmZAgO7js. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
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Thank yall who made it to the bottom. I put a lot of time into this essay <3
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