Do you think that if Bojack wasn’t famous or any other characters in the Bojack universe for that matter, would the show still make sense? I mean if Bojack was a normal being with a normal boring everyday job with a mundane, repetitive life would he still face the same magnitude of consequences for his actions?
There’s already a character in another show if BoJack wasn’t famous. His name is Frank Gallagher.
It would be a very different show because he’s consistently shown to not be able to consistently do a job (like he’ll just stop showing up to go on a bender). Because he’s a famous celebrity, that works because there’s always another show or movie. And also, he’s rich, so he can afford to lose a job. If he wasn’t famous he’d probably be broke, or he’d have to reign it in to keep a job.
The results of some his actions would never come out because he’s not famous (like the Penny thing). Attacking Gina would get him fired, and he’d lose friends but he would be able to start over more easily because there’s no public reputation to ruin or to follow him around.
More interestingly, I think Bojack wouldn’t have been so toxic if he never got famous. He’s shown in the eighties when he’s a working stand up to be mostly kind and pretty normal. He’d have trauma and probably still an alcohol issue, but I think he would still be a lot more stable and normal and less of an asshole. It was only when he became famous he became an entitled arrogant arse. Beforehand he was shy and pleasant (not so shy he wouldn’t do stand up, but shy to ask penny out for one thing).
The pros and cons of fame, and the toll each takes on a person, is a central theme of the show. Celebrity culture, children raised by TV, unchecked excess, drug abuse without the traditional normal consequences because the rich and famous are held to wildly different standards; all of these are central to BoJack’s thesis as a piece of art.
Without all that, it’s just a (realistic, mind you) depiction of addiction. Which isn’t bad, and does still hold together, but it isn’t BoJack anymore.
I have had some alcoholics and addicts in my life, and yes, the show would still make sense. Bojacks actions are horrible, but only sometimes. The people around him stayed around because he wasn’t always like that and isn’t always like that. Also because he abused his power and privilege to keep them that way, but it’s hard to cut people out of your life. He had a community of people that saw him as a human (ironicly(?)), and a lot of his behavior was ignored because of the manipulative nature addiction and trauma can yield when untreated. This is true for a LOT of people out there, and the representation and validation I felt watching the people around him struggle to come to terms with it was huge.
That being said, him being famous made things WAY easier for his addiction to take hold. The jobs, the successes, the failures… they seemed easy to tell through the lens that was used. Maybe the showrunners were just writing what they knew.
It would be a very different show as a lot of the things Bojack did only came out because he’s famous like the penny situation, that may not have come out if he wasn’t famous or if it did the public wouldn’t have had the same reaction. Also with the Sarah lynn situation. If he wasn’t famous he wouldn’t have been as hated as he was and also when he did the interview of the last days of Sarah lynn and he made a reference to the xerox company he wouldn’t have gotten sued and he then wouldn’t have had to sell his house. Meaning that he wouldn’t have gone to jail for breaking and entering.