City University of New York English Department

Professor C. Perry

Student Name Ahmed Elbaz

Five Moves of Analysis Worksheet

What is the specific topic? (title and author or artist, subject, detail, etc.)

BoJack Horsemen by Raphael Matthew Bob-Waksberg.

Move one: suspending judgement. What is most interesting about this is:

What’s most interesting about this television show is that at the face value it gives off family friendly comedy. Animated characters and talking animals typically give off a friendly vibe. However, this show goes extremely deep and explores multiple sensitive topics while we follow BoJack Horsemen the main character who used to be in a famous T.V show back in the 90’s. We see him attempt to change into a better version of himself through hardships like drug addiction, alcohol abuse, and overall just being an asshole.

Move two: defining significant parts and their relationship to each other and to the whole. Look at what stands out the most. Notice the details about what and why it stands out. Pay attention to how the details and important parts contribute to the entire subject.

The character “Diane” was introduced early in the show as his ghost writer for his autobiography. BoJack seemingly fallen from grace ever since his show was removed from the air hires Diane to write this autobiography in hopes it will restore his fame. Initially, BoJack admires Diane as she seems like someone who’s responsible and has her life in order very dissimilar to BoJack. However, as the show progresses BoJack realizes that Diane is messed up in her own way and he begins to relate to her more and more. Towards the end Diane is somewhat of a mentor or someone who’s the voice of reason into the decisions he makes in his own life.

Move three: patterns of repetition in similarities, contrasts and anomalies. Look for things that repeat. Within that, look for what is similar in those repeating details. Next, look for dissimilar or opposing things in the repeating details. Finally, look for things that do not fit into either of the repeating details.

There are a couple of ideas that repeat often within the show. The first idea is the idea of addiction. BoJack has struggled with addiction all his life and it’s often re-introduced when either some bad happens to BoJack or when he does something bad to someone he cares back and feels bad about it. I think it’s meant to show us how sometimes are worse habits can be defense mechanisms for tackling bigger issues. A second pattern is this showing of the galaxy whenever BoJack drinks alcohol in the show. It’s supposed to represent a larger picture of guilt over how he blames himself for the overdose of one of his fellow co-stars in his T.V show. He feels that if he never left out vodka during his set she would never turned out this way.

Move four: make the implicit explicit. Think about what those significant details reveal after some thought and consideration. Do not settle for just one answer. Keep thinking, “if this is true, what else is true?” 

Sometimes were too isolated into our own lives we don’t step back and analyze how people are around us. People suffer a lot in silence, and we don’t even see it. A lot of the people who suffer in BoJack’s life come to him and him either neglects them or doesn’t get them the right help they need because he too needs help. Even people who are famous with all the money and resources in the world can’t get the help they need and that was an underlying idea in the show.

Move five: keep reformulating questions and explanations. Through careful consideration, new characteristics, significant parts, patterns and inferences will come up. New information will be revealed that will consequently need its own analysis.

Like when BoJack entered scenes with the galaxy he was always alone. We always just saw BoJack abuse substances even after he saw what it did to people he cared about. We only saw improvement when characters within the show took initiative to get the help they needed and reach out to people who truly care.