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Situating Netflix’s Original Adult Animation: Observing Taste Cultures and the Legacies of ‘Quality’ Television through BoJack Horseman and Big Mouth

Situating Netflix’s Original Adult Animation: Observing Taste Cultures and the Legacies of... This article aims to expand upon a key aspect of Mareike Jenner’s work on Netflix original comedy by considering how the streaming network’s original adult animated series reflect developments occurring within the sitcom format post-TV III. Using Netflix original animations BoJack Horseman (2014–) and Big Mouth (2017–) as case studies, this article will consider how thematically complex, ostensibly ‘smart’ animated shows illustrate changing industrial dynamics and taste cultures. While exhibiting qualities found in preceding key adult animated shows such as South Park (Comedy Central 1997–) and Family Guy (Fox 1999–), including lewd humour, metatextual in-jokes and topicality, the knotty storytelling and ambiguous characterizations of the shows under discussion reflect links to other contexts of TV production. Exploring these links, this article uses BoJack Horseman and Big Mouth to explore current trends in animated television, situating their characteristics and reception within a broader network of influences. The author argues that the turn towards complex storytelling manifests both in inherited production tactics, changing taste cultures and in the multifaceted and multifarious potentialities provided by the medium itself. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Animation SAGE

Situating Netflix’s Original Adult Animation: Observing Taste Cultures and the Legacies of ‘Quality’ Television through BoJack Horseman and Big Mouth

Falvey, Eddie
Animation , Volume 15 (2): 14 – Jul 1, 2020
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Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020
ISSN
1746-8477
eISSN
1746-8485
DOI
10.1177/1746847720933791
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

This article aims to expand upon a key aspect of Mareike Jenner’s work on Netflix original comedy by considering how the streaming network’s original adult animated series reflect developments occurring within the sitcom format post-TV III. Using Netflix original animations BoJack Horseman (2014–) and Big Mouth (2017–) as case studies, this article will consider how thematically complex, ostensibly ‘smart’ animated shows illustrate changing industrial dynamics and taste cultures. While exhibiting qualities found in preceding key adult animated shows such as South Park (Comedy Central 1997–) and Family Guy (Fox 1999–), including lewd humour, metatextual in-jokes and topicality, the knotty storytelling and ambiguous characterizations of the shows under discussion reflect links to other contexts of TV production. Exploring these links, this article uses BoJack Horseman and Big Mouth to explore current trends in animated television, situating their characteristics and reception within a broader network of influences. The author argues that the turn towards complex storytelling manifests both in inherited production tactics, changing taste cultures and in the multifaceted and multifarious potentialities provided by the medium itself.

Journal

Animation – SAGE

Published: Jul 1, 2020

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