Bojack Horseman on the "Teen Pop Sensation"

The Netflix show “Bojack Horseman” is extremely progressive, surprising for being a show about a talking horse that once starred in his own 90s sitcom. For a show with such a surreal premise, it satirizes pop culture in a precise way, making its own political and philosophical stance known. The character Sextina Aquafina is a fifteen year old “Dubstep wunderkind,” and also a dolphin. She fits the stereotype of the “teen pop sensation,” being incredibly rich and famous at such a young age and having a massive hold in pop culture. Her character represents the young women that are used as corporate pawns in a post-feminist society.

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In season 3, Sextina’s social media manager accidentally tweets “I’m getting an abortion” from Sextina’s account while she was discussing her own abortion and trying to multitask. Instead of firing the woman who tweeted this, she was kept on-board when people came to Sextina’s support, calling her strong. Sextina then pretends she is in fact pregnant and getting an abortion for the positive attention, and claims she is opening up the discussion for women everywhere to not be ashamed of abortions. Reminiscent of Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign, this abortion campaign wrongly uses feminist values for corporate success.

As Dara Persis Murray wrote in her essay, “Branding ‘Real’ Social Change in Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty,” the Dove campaign “reflects the complex and often problematic meanings of feminism that circulate in popular culture: the blending of active female citizenship with empowerment via consumption in the marketplace.” Just as women would buy Dove products to support their movement, women would be expected to buy Sextina’s song “Get Dat Fetus, Kill Dat Fetus” and then watch the pay-per-view, live, staged abortion to support Sextina’s cause. The vulgar song about killing fetuses abuses feminist values; feminists are painted as bloodthirsty psychopaths with no value for life (although in the show the song has a largely positive reception as it is viewed satirically).

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This distinction between corporate beliefs and what beliefs they are claiming to have also reminds me of the Dove Real Beauty campaign. Feminist beliefs would claim holding women to standards with their beauty and encouraging makeup is something to be fought against. It is another way of holding women back. But Dove is, after all, a company focused on beauty products. They are hypocritical in trying to spread a feminist movement when they do not stand for everything feminism believes in. They just use positive public relations to increase their sales which is exactly what Sextina’s management is doing. They are wrongly co-opting the feminist movement for sales. “Bojack Horseman” excellently warns against post-feminism and corporate greed with this storyline.

Works Cited

Murray, Dara Persis. “Branding ‘Real’ Social Change in Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty.” GENDER, RACE, and CLASS in MEDIA: A Critical Reader, edited by Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez, 2015.