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If you pass a political scientist on campus this week and notice that they’re quaking, talking to themselves and staring vaguely into the middle distance, cut them some slack.
It was a hell of a year this week.
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I don’t often write about cartoons, but I’ll spill the beans about Bojack Horseman. It’s a cartoon, yes, and it uses the affordances of the medium generously. It doesn’t shy away from stupid or gross jokes. But it’s also a devastating, even harrowing, portrait of an addict and narcissist trying, in fits and starts, to be better. And largely failing.
I’ve seen some pieces comparing it to Mad Men or Breaking Bad -- male antiheroes all -- but it reminds me of the Laura Dern series Enlightened. Dern’s character there, Amy, is stuck in old habits, too, and also trying with varying degrees of success to do better. The honesty of the unevenness of the struggle makes it compelling.
As the Bojack series unfolds, the damage he does to everyone in his life becomes central. One episode adopts the point of view of his mother, who struggles with dementia, as he abandons her to a decrepit nursing home; it’s crushing to watch. The last two episodes of the series made me gasp several times, particularly the poem The View From Halfway Down. And the ending was just right.
When I try to tell people about Bojack, I see the eye rolls when I mention “cartoon horse.” I get it. But those of us who looked past that have been treated to years of one of the most honest and brutal portrayals of a flawed human on television. He just happens to have four legs.
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Speaking of niche entertainment, this week I had occasion to quote Buckaroo Banzai. He was the hero of a largely forgotten '80s cult movie who was given one accidentally brilliant line: “No matter where you go, there you are.”
The context was a class in educational administration, in which I was a guest speaker. Someone asked about an inventory of leadership skills and which were the most important. I drew on Buckaroo, and maybe a little Plato, and suggested that self-awareness has to top the list. If you change jobs, you still bring yourself with you; it’s worth trying to figure out what that means.
For instance, when you get the chance to hire direct reports, try to hire your weaknesses. They’ll shore up your weak side just by being there, and everyone will be able to use their strengths. But that involves knowing what your weaknesses are and being secure enough in yourself to be willing to be upstaged by folks who report to you.
If it’s all about you, then there’s really no "self" of which to be aware; Narcissus fell in the water because he didn’t know where he ended and the world began. Self-awareness brings with it the realization that it really isn’t all about you at all. Recognizing that, and being motivated to try to make the world better anyway, is the challenge. If you do the work to figure out where your contribution can be, and the right opportunity comes along, then by all means, go for it. But if it’s all about you, please find something else to do.
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On the lighter side, The Girl and her friend convinced TW and me to take them to see Little Women last Saturday. They spent most of the movie, and the entire car ride home, swooning over Timothee Chalamet.
There’s something reassuring about hearing teenage girls scream in excitement over a celebrity crush. Back in the day, TW did that over Simon LeBon. Honestly, I think The Girl has better taste.
