re: Bo Burnham “Inside” on Netflix

This is a college football majority non artistic message board, and you can really tell.

This isn’t a “comedy” special. It’s a theatrical performance and an insight to someone’s declining mental health and him coping with his extremely active and creative brain.

The music is heads and shoulders better than his other stuff. Chord progressions are actually advanced on “how the world works” and a few others. The words are much more personal.

Anyone shitting on this might be able to play simple man on their acoustic fender but that’s probably as far as it goes.

I thought this was a fantastic job by him, as did a lot of my friends in the music circle, while none of my friends who have 0 musical talent thought it was good in the least, so to each their own.

Looks like he just added White Woman Instagram as well.

White Woman Instagram

Also the album has been added to streaming sites.

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Be careful. If you state that some guy singing clever, over produced songs is not entertaining or funny in your opinion, you will be called a sensitive little bitch that gets offended easily.

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Or be told you are a dummy who doesn’t understand art.

Better than being a pretentious twat who thinks this is anything more than childish clever lyrics.

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Or be told you are a dummy who doesn’t understand art

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You’re not dumb if you’re not artsy. No one is saying that. And you don’t have to have any artistic talent to enjoy this special.

Pretty dull and non creative way to see what people are trying to say.

I think he’s fine.

There’s nothing here he didn’t want you to see, after all he recorded, produced, directed, did lighting, wrote and performed everything on it.

It would be much scarier if this was more of a documentary candid thing that someone else recorded and released.

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White Woman Instagram is pretty awesome. It mocks it absolutely perfectly.

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The part about the woman opening up about her mom’s death was really interesting to me. I think it could have been taken in one of two ways:

1. He is mocking public grief; the girl is speaking to her mom in the caption which some people find silly, and she’s making it about herself by proclaiming her accomplishments and her happiness and how her mom would be glad that she’s doing alright. Then he cuts to another dumb feed image to show how absurd it is to incorporate something so personal into a social media page.

Or,

2. To remind people that there are real people behind these feeds and to have sympathy/empathy for those real people going through real stuff. Basically, moments of authenticity can sneak through what is essentially a veneer of happiness and perfection every once in a while.

I thought the aspect ratio change during that part was really interesting; the entire song has a square aspect ratio like an Instagram feed, but the shot widens when the girl’s message to her mom is sung. I just can’t tell his intention between the two theories above because I had all of the thoughts above and couldn’t get a feel for what it all meant. Does the widening indicate his sympathy for her or is he highlighting the pinnacle of narcissism; i.e. using a loved one’s death for likes and validation.


The lyrics:

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Her favorite photo of her mom
The caption says:
"I can't believe it
It's been a decade since you've been gone
Momma, I miss you
I miss sitting with you in the front yard
Still figuring out how to keep living without you
It's got a little better, but it's still hard
Momma, I got a job I love and my own apartment
Momma, I got a boyfriend, and I'm crazy about him
Your little girl didn't do too bad
Momma, I love you. Give a hug and kiss to Dad"

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1 for sure. An apartment and relationship aren’t that big of accomplishments, but everyone celebrates even the littlest things now a days like they’re a huge accomplishment. That’s my take anyway. Wish he would’ve added went to the gym today.

I didn’t love it but he is definitely supremely talented in several areas.

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2. To remind people that there are real people behind these feeds and to have sympathy/empathy for those real people going through real stuff. Basically, moments of authenticity can sneak through what is essentially a veneer of happiness and perfection every once in a while.

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This is how I took it. It was a moment of empathy to show the human side of the generic white woman's Instagram. I think the "It's been a decade since you've been gone" part indicates her mother has passed. And the "Momma, I love you. Give a hug and kiss to Dad" part shows that her father has died as well.

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But I am curious to know his intention; was he highlighting the depth of the women behind these Instagram pages as you interpreted, or was he pointing out the women who morbidly use those sorts of posts as a form of self-validation? Maybe it was meant to be ambiguous. I personally think that they are both valid sentiments.

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I would prefer to believe that it was a moment of reflection that showed that, even though he's making fun of this hypothetical white woman, there is a vulnerability below the surface that is relatable. Would Bo take something as personal as having your parents die and be judgemental about it and continue to slag the girl for over-sharing? Or is it recognition that with all the trite life things being shared, this instance was different.

I think it would take a huge amount of cynicism to treat that moment as just another annoyance that doesn't need to be shared. Obviously the girl posts everything because she's searching for some sort of connection to others. I don't think Bo is saying "frick you, who cares about your dead parents? You're just looking for attention." Maybe he is, if so, it's kinda dickish, imo.