Situating Netflix’s Original Adult Animation

Observing Taste Cultures and the Legacies of ‘Quality’ Television through BoJack Horseman and Big Mouth

Bibliographic Data

ID21787394
AuthorsEddie Falvey (0000-0002-6134-7636, Arts University Plymouth, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume15
Issue2
Pages116-129
Publication date2020-07-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnimation (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1746-8477 • E-ISSN: 1746-8485
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1746847720933791
OpenAlexW3047369663
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited22

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

Aesthetics · Animation · Art · Comedy · Entertainment · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · Sociology · Storytelling · Taste · Visual arts · Computer Science · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Humor Studies and Applications · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Psychology

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