In Defence of Joseph Sugarman | BoJack Horseman | Video Essay

Joesph Sugarman is one of the most notorious characters in modern TV history. Grandfather to Bojack and father to Beatrice, Joesph lobotomized his wife, Honey, then threatened to lobotomize Beatrice, he didn’t care about his family and abandoned his wife as she mourned the loss of their son, Crackerjack, he yelled at his wife after she had a manic, grief-filled breakdown following their son’s death, he was sexist and tried to marry Beatrice off to benefit his business, and represents everything wrong with 1940s monogamy.
So, naturally, because I like a challenge, I’m going to defend him.
After watching Bojack Horseman seven times, I’ve noticed that despite what everyone thinks, what I used to think, Joseph Sugarman isn't a villain. He’s actually a thoughtful and caring horse, father and husband. It's just hard to see when we future people live in a world far removed from what we once considered okay back then. He's actually a really decent guy by what I consider universal morality. He's just packaged in this sort of old timey social conventions.
This vídeo is part of series called ‘In Defence of’, where I do in depth analysis of TV and movie characters. It started with Bojack Horseman characters, but it’s expanded to characters from other shows and films. So far we’ve covered Diane Nguyen (Bojack), Beatrice Horseman (Bojack), Sarah Lynn (Bojack), Jerry Smith (Rick and Morty), and Ann Perkins (Parks and Recreation).
Playlist link: • In Defence of...| Vide...
If you have any suggestions of other characters you want me to cover in this series or just other vídeos you want me to make outsider of "In Defence of", let me know in the comments.
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End Screen Music:
| Title: Mob Battle
| Artist: Silent Partner
| • Mob Battle - Silent Pa...

Пікірлер: 936

  • @ArianaAlexis
    @ArianaAlexis4 ай бұрын

    If you like this video, you might also like this one I made exploring when exploitation is ok in film and television told through the lens of true crime and the Netflix Jeffery Dahmer show: kzread.info/dash/bejne/hKGdp9aflarJadI.html Or this one looking at how Spirit Halloween takes advantage of the dying suburbs: kzread.info/dash/bejne/Yn9txM-tg8_eY7g.html kzread.info/dash/bejne/hH-Dytlxfr3WiMo.html Or here is the In Defence of playlist if that's what you're into: kzread.info/head/PLqStSJhv1GeS_4n1Fw7I-mbgo1s_QDtFF

  • @AndrewPatterson-xq4qk

    @AndrewPatterson-xq4qk

    4 ай бұрын

    thank you for this, not just for defending him, but also for defending those from a different time. most people just try to do what they think is best, whether it is right or wrong. "love the sinner, not the sin", we are all human.

  • @Lauren007E

    @Lauren007E

    4 ай бұрын

    Now defend butterscotch lol, the architect of his own and everyone else's misery

  • @rachellarris2305

    @rachellarris2305

    4 ай бұрын

    Part of me wanted to go, “who hasn’t watched BoJack Horseman 7x and counting.” But then I thought: what if she’s also got a necklace with the left-side of a family crest?

  • @alenasenie6928

    @alenasenie6928

    4 ай бұрын

    I have to say, I never thought of Joseph as a cruel or uncaring man, at least not after I saw the episode where Beatrice remembers her childhood, for the time and society he was from he was fairly progressive, after Honey can't take care of Beatrice he steps up as a father and cares for her, with his money and the society he lives in he could have just hire someone to replace the mother role for Beatrice, but he covers it personally, while working, basically as a single father in the 40's, he speaks with his child about what happens to her in school, he comforts her, etc. We also saw that Beatrice found he was mostly right in her eyes at the end, if she had listen to him she wouldn't have ended up with Butterscotch, and, as you said, even then he supported his wife, giving his son in law a comfy job, that Butterscotch used to cheat on her repeatedly. I really liked your video, I will see more. I also liked how you described morality, is basically that, part of the evolutionary process, and as evolution, we all have this trait a little different, some waaaay different, but we, as a species, have some tendencies.

  • @silveri7712

    @silveri7712

    4 ай бұрын

    I that a Molly Doll? I love it!

  • @GravyBaby420
    @GravyBaby4204 ай бұрын

    I think the nail in the coffin for the way that Beatrice turned out was Honey telling her not to love anyone as much as she loved Crackerjack

  • @TheLegendOfAnastasia

    @TheLegendOfAnastasia

    4 ай бұрын

    I wish I could like this comment twice. Also love your username

  • @syrusangi8743

    @syrusangi8743

    4 ай бұрын

    Tbf, this was her post-lobotomy. Safe to say she wasn't in the right mind

  • @GravyBaby420

    @GravyBaby420

    4 ай бұрын

    @@syrusangi8743 Of course, I assumed that was implicitly understood

  • @Valentinianist

    @Valentinianist

    4 ай бұрын

    And under the whole ‘don’t love anyone because you’ll get hurt’ thing, I wonder how Beatrice felt when her mother’s life broke down because of the love she had for her son, instead of trying to get better for her daughter. Like Honey didn’t love Beatrice enough to want to recover

  • @aikaameya3930

    @aikaameya3930

    4 ай бұрын

    Imo its the scene where Joseph burns Beatrices things and her doll. He seems to imply, or at least she inteprets it this way, that if she keeps being emotional she will end up lobotomised like Honey. Not only does this cause her to keep Bojack, which binded her to butterscotch who probably made things worse (not that shes any sort of saint in that marriage either but still) but it probably caused her to be more cold and harsh, like we see her before she meets butterscotch. However she doesnt actually seem averse to love. She seems to want to love butterscotch, and maybe did at some point, she seemed to gain some affection for Creamerman and she seemed to want to love Bojack, so what her mother said didnt have as much a permanent impact like we think. If he never burned her things and frighten her, I think she could have turned out differently if given the chance, but I think the fire really sealed the deal on her personality and fate. Tho I do think the honey scene was important, I do think bestrice had a chance if that was the only thing that happened to her

  • @CosmicChaiLatte
    @CosmicChaiLatte4 ай бұрын

    He unknowingly ruined 3 lives when he denied his wife the ability to grieve.

  • @zestyt2059

    @zestyt2059

    4 ай бұрын

    good way to put it

  • @MaddysinLeigh

    @MaddysinLeigh

    4 ай бұрын

    I would say more than that.

  • @lorddude123

    @lorddude123

    4 ай бұрын

    he had no way of knowning, the whole family were victims

  • @sketchyjulia

    @sketchyjulia

    4 ай бұрын

    Not that her life was ruined but Hollyhock was definitely affected too

  • @blakewoodward7305

    @blakewoodward7305

    4 ай бұрын

    I would argue that he actually tried to provide a way for his wife to grieve. Because he thought he had to be a provider. He just was very very wrong in both his presumed role, and the method he chose.

  • @Adelinawrites
    @Adelinawrites4 ай бұрын

    I just realized that Sugerman / Creamerman merger would likely result in some kind of ice-cream production, and Beatrice loved ice-cream D: I'm crying now

  • @fistbowl1848

    @fistbowl1848

    4 ай бұрын

    WHY WOULD YOU TELL US THIS 😭😭😭😭😭

  • @jacksont9455

    @jacksont9455

    4 ай бұрын

    She never had it. But I’m sure if she had married Creamerman, she would have tried it

  • @greensciencegeek

    @greensciencegeek

    4 ай бұрын

    Shit…

  • @sketchyjulia

    @sketchyjulia

    4 ай бұрын

    Oh yea Joseph brought it up and was like “think of all the free ice cream you could, uh, serve to other people!”

  • @fistbowl1848

    @fistbowl1848

    4 ай бұрын

    @@jacksont9455 didnt she have icecream after wwII ended?

  • @nathanseper8738
    @nathanseper87384 ай бұрын

    Joseph Sugarman was a character that haunted me because he embodies the evils of that past that hide in our nostalgic imaginations.

  • @dream6562

    @dream6562

    4 ай бұрын

    There is no evils of the past just what was acceptable then and what is acceptable now, future generations will say the same about us and their future generations will say the same about them

  • @magicman3163

    @magicman3163

    4 ай бұрын

    @@dream6562the future is going to be more like the dark ages basically more like Dune or starship troopers the only reason everything is Millenial and gay is because it’s stagnation and rot this century

  • @matti.8465

    @matti.8465

    4 ай бұрын

    ​@@magicman3163 Gay is a sexuality not a society thing

  • @gggallin8279

    @gggallin8279

    4 ай бұрын

    @@magicman3163how do you come to the conclusion that a type of sexuality play into the decay of society? What is slowly rotting away society is the rampant consumerism which replaces every kind of meaning by the illusion of fulfillment through gaining more and more material things. We‘re caught in a cycle of getting advertised some product that’s promised to enrich our life, accumulating money to buy said product, realizing that a product won’t bring us the fulfillment we thought it would and then search for the next quick high

  • @hollowwoods7130

    @hollowwoods7130

    4 ай бұрын

    If you think gay people gettijg more rep is "darkness" You've never actually suffered ​@magicman3163

  • @Just_some_dude_guy
    @Just_some_dude_guy4 ай бұрын

    It’s worth to point out that although Joeseph hated butterscotch, he gave him a job and aided both of them financially for years, till the end of his life

  • @Lffewgj
    @Lffewgj4 ай бұрын

    He’s a product of his time, doesn’t excuse the bad he did but it explains it.

  • @danielturczan2485

    @danielturczan2485

    4 ай бұрын

    He was also taking the best possible action for his family at any given moment.

  • @purplevoncreep9920

    @purplevoncreep9920

    4 ай бұрын

    @@josefinae1403 Every single person isn't a product of there time in the context they're using it for, " believing it does erases the fight" in one of the most privileged takes on the planet, like its actually astounding you think this is a take lmao

  • @purplevoncreep9920

    @purplevoncreep9920

    4 ай бұрын

    @@josefinae1403 A privileged take, being part of a minority group doesn't stop that, "Oh we know now x is bad so the fact they didn't is wrong" is such a simple minded blind take its laughable, no one is personally attacking you when they are saying he's a product of their time calm the fuck down

  • @purplevoncreep9920

    @purplevoncreep9920

    4 ай бұрын

    @@josefinae1403 nice victim blaming though im glad the entire aids epidemic was the fault of the victims for the lack of research, social understanding and support, because today in 2023 we have a better understanding of things

  • @purplevoncreep9920

    @purplevoncreep9920

    4 ай бұрын

    @@josefinae1403 I'm saying that you implying the lack of knowledge and social understanding is solely the fault of the person regardless of their time period is victim blaming to other situations. Ie: aids

  • @sydm5237
    @sydm52374 ай бұрын

    I think Joseph is a good example of how sometimes, our parents aren’t bad people. They’re just living by how they were raised and it’s difficult for them to understand the radical changes of the modern era. It’s not an excuse, of course. But Joseph was working with what he had, and still did his best given the circumstances.

  • @AshIzDead

    @AshIzDead

    4 ай бұрын

    yeah but at the same time following the example of their parents abuse and not breaking the cycle makes them a bad parent, you can understand why they act how they do without justifying their behaviour

  • @josefinae1403

    @josefinae1403

    4 ай бұрын

    "As a modern American, i was never taught to handle a woman's emotions, and I shall not learn." He didn't do his best. He could've been better and chose not to.

  • @sydm5237

    @sydm5237

    4 ай бұрын

    @@josefinae1403 Very true. He outright admits here that he will not change for the betterment of his mourning family. I guess when I say he did his best given the circumstances, I was thinking about how he still had to be the decision-maker, given the time period, how he was raised, and him being the man of the house. They were in a time when Honey’s mourning and hysteria was just boiled down to Being A Woman Disease, but it still doesn’t excuse Joseph’s future actions and behaviors.

  • @dalegaliniak607

    @dalegaliniak607

    4 ай бұрын

    This is a fact that I've had to come to terms with since having kids of my own. It's was easy to attack my parents for any missteps they may have made along the way, assuming they should have known better, but after being put into the same role, I realize that parenthood is really really hard, and no matter how hard you try at it, you are going to make mistakes, whether because you didn't know better, or you were working under the assumption of what you were trying to do is right. This is especially true, considering my parents were a good fifteen years younger when they had me than I was when I had my first child. They tried their hardest, and that _is_ enough.

  • @citriosis

    @citriosis

    3 ай бұрын

    While I can mostly agree with the good people, bad parents line of thinking outside of this context, Joseph outright admitting that he won't make the effort to change kinda throws a wrench in that for me.

  • @justsomeweirdo3078
    @justsomeweirdo30784 ай бұрын

    I'd like to add that when Beatrice gave Bojack that portrait she told him it belonged to his granpa "a man who understood what marriage meant" or something along those lines. We also see her tell Butterscotch in the middle of an argument "i should have married Corbin Creamerman" Which goes to show that she does believe her father wanted the best for her too.

  • @saml302
    @saml3024 ай бұрын

    I've never clicked on a video thinking so confidently "yea, no way they pull this off" and been so wrong

  • @BradsGonnaPlay

    @BradsGonnaPlay

    4 ай бұрын

    Please re-watch this episode, LISTEN to the dialogue, and tell me you think Joseph tried his best. From scene 1, he’s chastising his wife and “jokingly” threatening her with lobotomy for being a free-spirit. “That’s the half I’ll let you keep”

  • @saml302

    @saml302

    4 ай бұрын

    @@BradsGonnaPlay watch her video again. also, maybe if you feel this passionately abt it maybe take it up w her.

  • @frimi8593

    @frimi8593

    4 ай бұрын

    @@saml302"it's the jew's fault for peeving off hitler so bad" went completely unaddressed

  • @emmyciyat9904

    @emmyciyat9904

    3 ай бұрын

    ​@@BradsGonnaPlaythat's foreshadowing, not a threat.

  • @BradsGonnaPlay

    @BradsGonnaPlay

    3 ай бұрын

    @@emmyciyat9904 It’s actually both… since he wasn’t joking AND he was the willful arbiter of the decision.

  • @Familliarsurroundings
    @Familliarsurroundings4 ай бұрын

    I love that you brought up the fact that he was trying to help her by getting her lobotomized. He truly loves her, and it’s not secretly implied that he regrets the actions

  • @user-dv6im5vf7h

    @user-dv6im5vf7h

    4 ай бұрын

    Where’s that implication?

  • @_Puppe

    @_Puppe

    4 ай бұрын

    he actively (allegedly) cheats on her with his secretary through implication he did not "love" her, even if he thought he did. he is mainly a symptom of being rich in a patriarchal capitalistic society that deemed any unstable women unworthy of help or anything for that matter (i haven't watched the video yet i hope this doesnt sound angry i just saw this comment and wanted to add to it)

  • @Just_niaxx

    @Just_niaxx

    4 ай бұрын

    @@_Puppesad thing was that cheating was the “norm” back in the 40s

  • @Valentinianist

    @Valentinianist

    4 ай бұрын

    ⁠​⁠​⁠@@_Puppe and you may be aware that ‘unstable, mentally ill’ women were locked up in sanatoriums or even ‘disappeared’. Lobotomies in those times were truly believed to help people, not just women, to live a normal life and heal. If Joseph wanted Beatrice gone, she would’ve been sent away. He was trying to help her, mental healthcare just sucked back them.

  • @ColorfulCryptid

    @ColorfulCryptid

    4 ай бұрын

    That was not Joseph that was Bojacks dad, Butterscotch. @@_Puppe

  • @salfa_tina
    @salfa_tina4 ай бұрын

    Joseph was actually a good father, considering the bare minimun that was expected from men on his time. He stepped up to take care of Beatrice, sent her to college (for the wrong reasons though), and supported her daughter's useless husband giving him a good job he didn't deserved. But the thing that sticks with me the most is that, from his era, it was expected that he remarried and started over after his son's death, tossing Beatrice aside for a new family. But we don't see any sings that he remarried or even dated. He could've put Honey on a psyche ward, but he kept her around the house despite not being able to do anything, and was somewhat close with Beatrice until she became an adult. I don't hate him for being sexist, because it was common on his era, we can't judge old time characters with current criteria.

  • @antithoughtpolice7497

    @antithoughtpolice7497

    3 ай бұрын

    Good God, you are thoughtful

  • @md-vq8sp

    @md-vq8sp

    3 ай бұрын

    Also if the other horse from the ball was her mother he's basically looked after his wife for at least a decade to 15 years which some people would see as a wholesome act even now. especially depending on how severe the lobotmy was she would need everything done for her to surivie that long.

  • @lockerbuddy2039

    @lockerbuddy2039

    3 ай бұрын

    I disagree immensely with this comment but I get your points. Hard to

  • @user-xw2zm2dv1m

    @user-xw2zm2dv1m

    3 ай бұрын

    we can judge people from the past based on modern criteria. you don't need to live in 2024 to figure out that beating up a man with a whip while he cries and begs you to stop is evil. you being from the era when such stuff was ooookayish doesn't excuse you at all

  • @Panda-gx2rs

    @Panda-gx2rs

    2 ай бұрын

    ​@@user-xw2zm2dv1mtrue people would justify raping children because in the "old times it was normal" and they actually do that it's disgusting

  • @FilmmakeroftheFuture
    @FilmmakeroftheFuture4 ай бұрын

    Yeah, I took into account the fact that he offered his son-in-law a job as well. Especially because some people would simply disown their daughters for getting pregnant without marriage.

  • @nexus5253

    @nexus5253

    3 ай бұрын

    Also consider that bojack visited the lake house as a child. Joseph likely still kept his distance as he saw bojack as the same reminder of a bad decision his parents constantly saw in him.

  • @artemisarrow179
    @artemisarrow1794 ай бұрын

    Another aspect people forget is that Joseph and Honey would have grown up in the height of the Great Depression/Post WWI and being predisposed to aversion to financial risk

  • @ronaldbeason4566
    @ronaldbeason45664 ай бұрын

    Is nobody else gonna mention the scene when Beatrice gives Bojack an old painting and speaks of her father as “a man who knew what marriage meant”? She didn’t have dementia at that point and showcases that Beatrice saw her father as a supporting figure in her life even though he did traumatize her in her childhood. She respects that part of her father but doesn’t always admit it

  • @mullerpotgieter

    @mullerpotgieter

    4 ай бұрын

    The man pulled her and Butterscotch out of the gutter. She idolized him

  • @forestgrump4723
    @forestgrump47234 ай бұрын

    Honestly I bet her dad woulda let the girl have a freezie pop. I feel like Joseph Sugarman tried to fight discomfort with humour. He had a saucy back and forth with his wife that was pretty cute. He talked about flirting with his receptionist but I don’t think he was serious because who openly talks about infidelity in front of their children? I think when he said “I was never taught, and I will not learn.” He was trying to make the situation lighter. He was trying to joke and raise his wife’s mood like she could go “haha my stupid husband”

  • @BradsGonnaPlay

    @BradsGonnaPlay

    4 ай бұрын

    His comedic dialogue and exaggerated “old-timey” vocal delivery was an intentional writing/directing choice to amplify the bigotry and out of touch attitude of American men at the time. He’s not self-aware- in fact, the humor is that, paradoxically, he KNOWS he’s not self-aware

  • @nathancollins1715

    @nathancollins1715

    4 ай бұрын

    ​@@BradsGonnaPlayExactly. Every character in Bojack "says the quiet part out loud" at some point for the sake of humor, but for some reason only Joseph gets shit for it. People need to realize that at its core, BH is a comedy, and sometimes characters say or do things that are wildly unrealistic just to make you, the audience, laugh.

  • @BrightWulph

    @BrightWulph

    4 ай бұрын

    @@nathancollins1715 Joseph only gets shit on for it because he's a " rich *white* American man" (white being debatable here as his coat colour is actually dung) so its seen as ok to attack Joeseph because of that *link* to being a rich white man. Where characters like Bojack get passes because they're perceived as not being *white* (Bojack being bay, Beatrice a palemno, Butterscotch dapple grey and Hollyhock and Crackerjack being chestnut).

  • @pensandshakers

    @pensandshakers

    Ай бұрын

    @@BrightWulph Bojack isn't thought of as white? Ignoring that they're all bloody animals, he isn't thought of as white? I realize this sounds really dumb, but with his past as a sitcom star and his family lineage, I assumed he was supposed to be a mediocre white actor.

  • @indrekkivirik472

    @indrekkivirik472

    Ай бұрын

    I think the "I wasn't taught, and I will not learn" line is a bit too on the nose to be taken as something a character like Joseph would literally say, my interpretation is that it's just the writers pointing out the low standards for emotional intelligence at the time, through Joseph's mouth.

  • @danielturczan2485
    @danielturczan24854 ай бұрын

    Consider how Beatrice's choice to ditch her party and hook up with a random party crasher, all because she knows better, impacted her life. She would have been far happier and more fulfilled if she listened to dad's advice.

  • @nexus5253

    @nexus5253

    3 ай бұрын

    The one time he was actually right. That’s gotta hurt.

  • @alexandriahunt6058
    @alexandriahunt60584 ай бұрын

    I honestly never hated Joseph. Was he problematic? Yes. But his actions weren't fueled by hate or spite or anything like that. He just didn't know better. Plus, I'll be honest, if my spouse got shit-faced in a manic episode and nearly killed our youngest child, I would have flipped out too. I work in a school, and one of my coworkers just stood by, watching two kids fight (I'm talking hair-pulling and slapping and grabbing each other at the neck), then threw up her hands saying: "I'm not dealing with this," and walked away. I wanted to give her a piece of my mind over that level of negligence.

  • @BrightWulph

    @BrightWulph

    3 ай бұрын

    Oh yeah, I never hated Joeseph either. I understood he was a "man of his time" and his behaviour was being tainted through Beatrice's dementia and childhood trauma, ofc he'd look bad in comparison to a modern audience. It's why I like watching old sitcoms from the 60s or the 70s (and period peices), it's a fascinating glimpse into the past and to know that a lot has changed since is comforting.

  • @eatingyourhands5129
    @eatingyourhands51294 ай бұрын

    He was just a dad, sorta just acted like a dad did back then. Not many dad's where great back then 😭

  • @j.j.hector736

    @j.j.hector736

    4 ай бұрын

    At least he held Beatrice in his hands when she fell and took care of her illness, that’s way more than Butterscotch could’ve done to Bojack

  • @blacksesamecandies

    @blacksesamecandies

    4 ай бұрын

    @@j.j.hector736 Joseph showed Beatrice more love and care than she ever did for Bojack.

  • @justjoshua5759

    @justjoshua5759

    4 ай бұрын

    Exactly. Ppl don’t understand that he wasn’t malicious just painfully ignorant and emotional stunted. Of which makes sense considering who he is and the time period. Butterscotch is honestly a worse person and father than he is since his stuff is malicious or selfish laziness

  • @testosterone912

    @testosterone912

    4 ай бұрын

    wouldn’t say not great it’s just the way the time was for instance ppl literally had slaves cause it was so called natural even before america was discovered slaves were crucial for structures pyramids everything was bc of slaves and men and women were barley knowledgeable about mental illness so they had other alternatives not knowing they were doing something far worse than w ahat they had hoped not their fault just the time

  • @francescominoguarino827

    @francescominoguarino827

    4 ай бұрын

    I actually argue that he was a better father than Beatrice ever was (not a high bar, but still). Sure he was bad and mysoginistic, but it was mostly a product of his times, and in some ways he thought what he did would benefit his daughter (he still had his own self interests in mind, but still). Beatrice was cruel to Bojack just to be cruel, she genuanly hurt and damaged him fully knowing what she was doing

  • @cmh8241
    @cmh82414 ай бұрын

    I wouldn't call him a "good guy," but now I can see how he isn't a "villain."

  • @laugebylovnielsen8777

    @laugebylovnielsen8777

    4 ай бұрын

    I agree with you, he is not a "good guy" he is just a guy. Just normal for his time.

  • @RaptorJesus

    @RaptorJesus

    4 ай бұрын

    @@laugebylovnielsen8777 Arguably even a little better, given how he treated Honey before...well, y'know.

  • @Neku628
    @Neku6284 ай бұрын

    Honey's manic episode also put her sole surviving child, Beatrice at risk.

  • @BradsGonnaPlay

    @BradsGonnaPlay

    4 ай бұрын

    … and that justifies screaming at his wife, blaming her for her son’s death, getting physically abusive by throwing things around her, and then using her emotionally vulnerable and intoxicated state to convince her to do an irreversible procedure to her brain?

  • @joshuawillingham6363

    @joshuawillingham6363

    4 ай бұрын

    If someone was shown to be an active threat to the life of my child, I would do whatever is necessary to protect them. He didn't exactly have a plethora of good options.

  • @nathancollins1715

    @nathancollins1715

    4 ай бұрын

    ​@@BradsGonnaPlayIf someone endangers the life of my child, you'd better believe I'm screaming and throwing things around them, I don't care who it is. If it's anyone other than my spouse, I'd get physical with THEM. His actions in that moment are perfectly understandable, especially right after losing his other child. Also when did he blame Honey for Crackerjack's death? That never happened.

  • @roble8943

    @roble8943

    4 ай бұрын

    ​@BradsGonnaPlay Not the lobotomy and physical abuse, but the screaming and rage is reasonable. Like if your dad almost killed you and your mom starts chewing him out imagine the audacity of someone telling her "Hey, no need for yelling".

  • @shivandragon1651

    @shivandragon1651

    4 ай бұрын

    ​@BradsGonnaPlay that was acceptable back then though, it wasn't unordinary, it was very recently where we started getting more into how a relationship should work and how people should interact, not saying it good but it wasn't unusual for the time and he comes from a very different outlook on life one that we could never imagine, the war the depression ect. He had trauma and didn't know how to deal with it.

  • @jaxjaxattaxx
    @jaxjaxattaxx4 ай бұрын

    As a therapist, particularly one who works daily with victims of trauma, couples, etc, I was genuinely curious to see how you could humanize one of the most hated characters in fiction, while also not excusing his actions and the far reaching generational impact they had. And you did an excellent job. I genuinely say here like, “Huh. Yeah. Okay.” No notes, and I love seeing you update! 🖤 Ps: I learned from watching your videos the “Defense” vs “Defence” cultural difference, and I love that you continue to stand on it. 🖤

  • @imdankarlin
    @imdankarlin4 ай бұрын

    You did the damn thing, Ariana. Extremely well done.

  • @Just_some_dude_guy
    @Just_some_dude_guy4 ай бұрын

    Joeseph does remind me of my grandfather. When my father was young, one of his brothers died. My grandmother got in this really deep depressive state (she didn’t leave her room for years) and my grandfather spent all day on work. He did, practically, support her. He was there and did all she needed, but only physically

  • @CoraCora-rj7vq

    @CoraCora-rj7vq

    4 ай бұрын

    He probably tried his best but wasn’t raised to talk to her properly and felt just as helpless

  • @BrightWulph

    @BrightWulph

    3 ай бұрын

    ​@@CoraCora-rj7vqThat would have been the worst part, knowing that someone he loved was in pain but not knowing how to help them emotionally and just having to wait for them to "snap out of it."

  • @garyz904
    @garyz9044 ай бұрын

    As this series goes on, there will no bad person in Bojack Horseman eventually.

  • @andrejnawoj8471

    @andrejnawoj8471

    4 ай бұрын

    Dare I say, maybe there aren't "bad people" in general, maybe there are just individuals making the best choices they can in the circumstances they find themselves, and sometimes those decisions end poorly for themselves, for others, and outcome trumps intention of course but ill-intention is rarely the sole reason for bad outcomes.

  • @user-er4qw4ls1o

    @user-er4qw4ls1o

    4 ай бұрын

    "There's no such thing as bad guys and good guys! We're all just guys! Who do good stuff, sometimes. And bad stuff, sometimes. And all we can do is try to do less bad stuff and more good stuff. But you're never going to be good! Because you're not bad! So you need to stop using that as an excuse."

  • @jacksont9455

    @jacksont9455

    4 ай бұрын

    Paige Sinclair. Not because of her shady journalism tactics, that is understandable from her POV. But her voice. Objectively evil. Irredimible

  • @kidokoala

    @kidokoala

    4 ай бұрын

    Bojack, himself?

  • @nevaehhamilton3493

    @nevaehhamilton3493

    4 ай бұрын

    You say this as though you're willing to look past Sarah Lynn's unfortunate circumstances and demise. How oblivious.

  • @user-xs4uc3kz5o
    @user-xs4uc3kz5o4 ай бұрын

    The fact that Joseph was told “boys don’t cry” as a child makes sense why he said “womanly emotion” Can’t wait for the Honey Sugarman video

  • @RandallStephens397
    @RandallStephens3974 ай бұрын

    ngl This helped me recontextualize some shit from my childhood, and I think I understand my dad a little better now. I needed to hear this. Thank you!

  • @ThiccFurryBoi34

    @ThiccFurryBoi34

    4 ай бұрын

    Oh care to tell us what you realized?

  • @RandallStephens397

    @RandallStephens397

    4 ай бұрын

    @@ThiccFurryBoi34 I mean, it's more or less Ariana's whole thesis: Joseph Sugarman was the product of a conformist upbringing and he never had the benefit of being socialized to deal with painful emotions in himself or in other people, most tragically so in the people he loved the most.

  • @mia_f

    @mia_f

    3 ай бұрын

    Same!

  • @jayfireanimations
    @jayfireanimations4 ай бұрын

    As someone who's watched the old sugarman place more than any other episode in bh, i really like that analysis. Even though i felt really bad for Honey, she nearly killed their only child, who was around 6 at the time. You can understand his anger in that scene, because if your only child was nearly killed quickly after your first died, I don't think he'd be able to suppress his emotions, especially with how young she was. And the lobotomy thing is so real; it was normalised to do that to people struggling with mental issues, like nowadays how we just put them on drugs which really dulls people down. yeah sorry for the huge rant like comment but NO ONE i know irl has even heard of bh and won't watch it 😭😭

  • @EeveelutionStorm

    @EeveelutionStorm

    4 ай бұрын

    Unfortunately the burning of items was also common back then after disease. I had a Kit Kittridge book from American Girl and during one of the short stories in this collection, Kit and her friends had Scarlet Fever and their nurse burned their belongings when they got well. Often times, items like books were baked to 'kill' disease because no one fully understood that just WASHING THINGS REGULARLY kept them clean.

  • @chelscara

    @chelscara

    4 ай бұрын

    While some drugs are definitely over prescribed, I’d like to vouch for the fact that when you do get on helpful meds, your life changes for the better! I am not a monotone one note zero because of my adhd/depression meds, I am just not ruled by my emotions and can change tasks in short notice without having a breakdown. So I think that’s a good indicator to know if you’ve been given the wrong prescription. if you feel dull and lifeless, talk to your psychiatrist about something else. If life just starts becoming easier to handle, it’s probably the right ones. 😅😂

  • @slimebunny5700

    @slimebunny5700

    4 ай бұрын

    I wonder if we'll look back on the stuff we do currently like we do with the stuff in the past

  • @ThatIcelandicDude
    @ThatIcelandicDude4 ай бұрын

    Next up: In defense of Butterscotch Horseman.

  • @radpea7500

    @radpea7500

    4 ай бұрын

    hard but doable

  • @distort10n

    @distort10n

    4 ай бұрын

    I wish we had seen more of his backstory, all we know is that his mother died when he was young and he would tell girls he was flirting with that they reminded him of her.

  • @morganburt2565

    @morganburt2565

    4 ай бұрын

    i feel like his action are way less explainable by universal morality. he’s kinda just a selfish ass

  • @ThatIcelandicDude

    @ThatIcelandicDude

    4 ай бұрын

    @@distort10n I suppose they propably would have explored him eventually if the show wasn't canceled prematurely.

  • @GirtheAlienGoldfish

    @GirtheAlienGoldfish

    4 ай бұрын

    The one good thing about him that I can say is that he was willing to step up and care for Beatrice after he got her pregnant.

  • @tottallyok
    @tottallyok4 ай бұрын

    This is what I love about shows like Bojack - they give every character motivation and context. Yes, in Beatrise’s memories, he appeared as a villain and he did traumatize her. But he was just a man doing what he thought made sense at the time. He made many mistakes but he never wanted to hurt his own family.

  • @nexus5253

    @nexus5253

    3 ай бұрын

    What separates a show lien bojack from most shows that try to analyze or redeem their villains is that they make clear these people went through horrible things they didn’t deserve but that will never justify them being awful back because of it.

  • @raineteeth
    @raineteeth4 ай бұрын

    I know this might be a nitpick considering the show treats it as a throwaway joke in the episode about the setting, but Joseph makes remarks about complimenting his secretary's tight sweaters and keeping her self-esteem afloat in the final argument, which upon first watch gave me the impression of him having an affair or at the very least that he was actively flirtatious with other women back at work. I might be looking at him in bad faith, but I still am a bit under the impression that even if he was a man who ultimately wanted to good by his family, he was also a selfish prick at times, prioritizing himself

  • @yukarilolz

    @yukarilolz

    4 ай бұрын

    Yo not nitpicky, its clear the writers put the line in for a reason, i think on a first viewing everyone assumes he's cheating, but after a while the line just felt so ridiculous that i almost don't think he was cheating. Cheating or not, i think the line is supposed to imply that for Joseph his family is not his priority, but the veiwer can decide what he is chosing over his family (could be cheating, or he just wants his work life to be good)

  • @riverajustinmarks.

    @riverajustinmarks.

    4 ай бұрын

    We never saw him actually cheat on his wife even after she was lobotomized so I doubt he was actually cheating.

  • @_cherry_soda_
    @_cherry_soda_2 ай бұрын

    Another thing to mention is that he never abandoned Honey. Often, patients like Rosemary Kennedy would be hidden away to spend the rest of their lives in nursing homes or asylums. But Joseph kept Honey home. He had the wealth to put her up somewhere, but he didn’t. This shows that he does care about Honey, he just can’t express himself well.

  • @Prince_Of_Fish
    @Prince_Of_Fish4 ай бұрын

    you did a good job here, touching on some good points. its always irritated me how, when viewing morality throughout history, modern people sit on a high horse and neglect the context and norms of the time. 100% there will be common beliefs and/or actions we maintain today that will be considered horrifying in 50 years.

  • @mullerpotgieter

    @mullerpotgieter

    4 ай бұрын

    God, can you believe someone owned slaves in an era where slavery was normal and they'd been told slavery was okay their whole lives? What jackasses /s

  • @Ash-vu1et
    @Ash-vu1et4 ай бұрын

    "i know it sounds horrible. DON'T YELL AT ME" got me 🤣

  • @Berziefireheart
    @Berziefireheart4 ай бұрын

    Bro I never got angrier in a second than here and now. You're pure chaos

  • @Berziefireheart

    @Berziefireheart

    4 ай бұрын

    Jesus you actually did it! Thanks for your video❤ Hob bout a defense of Silko from Arcane? Sounds impossible but you just did Joseph Sugarman so...

  • @yummydragon8533

    @yummydragon8533

    4 ай бұрын

    ​@arnaudvenditti9169 silco is a lot more defensible i think, especially in the parenting angle

  • @multilefaiye7041
    @multilefaiye70414 ай бұрын

    HONEST TO GOD THIS WAS SUCH A GOOD DEFENSE. i think this is an interesting perspective to view the character of joseph through and much MUCH better reflects the nuanced nature of most of this show rather than simply saying "joseph was a villain who ruined his family." this gave me a lot to think about and was really well presented.

  • @lavenderteaz7793
    @lavenderteaz77932 ай бұрын

    This really clears up his character, also it leads me to think that he was just doing his best, in this context of defence. The lobotomy was one of the only “cures” known and he did it because honey asked, he tried to help and regretted it because he didn’t know what would happen when honey got one.

  • @hollyswoods
    @hollyswoods4 ай бұрын

    I kinda love how he says "yes especially your baby"

  • @cherrytonshawty9120
    @cherrytonshawty91204 ай бұрын

    They weren't exactly wrong about the scarlet fever thing either. I'm no medical expert, but if somebody with the disease came into contact with, well, damn near ANYTHING, it could put others at risk of catching the illness and dying because of the contagions left behind by the infected person. Which is why they burned things. Smart move on Joseph's part, actually.

  • @focampo5672
    @focampo56724 ай бұрын

    Waiting for that "in defence of Clay Puppington episode"

  • @ghostdragon5735

    @ghostdragon5735

    4 ай бұрын

    The wife kind of was the issue but I would like to see that one

  • @YouHadMeAtHalo

    @YouHadMeAtHalo

    4 ай бұрын

    @@ghostdragon5735i don’t think you could defend either of them

  • @jessilynallendilla5014

    @jessilynallendilla5014

    4 ай бұрын

    there was that episode where his mother absolutely spoiled him rotten after like a dozen miscarriages then he pretended to have shot himself as a prank causing his mother to spiral and kill herself which caused his already distant father to blame him and become cold and abusive then later in life Bloberta turned him into an alcoholic

  • @brents6993
    @brents69933 ай бұрын

    Waiting for: In defence (sic) of Greg, the guy Mr Peanutbutter met at a gas station that one time.

  • @quocanhnguyen7275
    @quocanhnguyen72754 ай бұрын

    NO. FUCKING. WAY!! What's next? In defence of Thanos?

  • @ArianaAlexis

    @ArianaAlexis

    4 ай бұрын

    Funny enough, I already made that video early in my KZread career. Its not up to my standards now but here you go! kzread.info/dash/bejne/ZaB5rpWbgNPTY8o.htmlsi=4aaxtfIrPeiONijB

  • @quocanhnguyen7275

    @quocanhnguyen7275

    4 ай бұрын

    @@ArianaAlexis Haha good video!

  • @RaylinKHD
    @RaylinKHD4 ай бұрын

    Thats the problem with looking into the past things were different. Hindsight is always 20/20 and people often refuse to acknowledge that

  • @moodylittleowl
    @moodylittleowl4 ай бұрын

    I am so happy for this video - because I never thought he was "the devil" of the show. He messed up but he was unprepared to deal with his own, his wive's and his daughter's emotions...but considering these times he did pretty ok-ish

  • @xiomarakuhn6985
    @xiomarakuhn69854 ай бұрын

    Yeah, no. I agree that while Bojack's grandpa was somewhat better than his dad, that doesn't excuse Joseph's actions either. While "a product of his time" explains why he thought what he did was best it doesn't excuse the generational trauma that he passed on to Beatrice, and into Bojack as well. Yes, the show does establish that that trauma burden must be addressed by the latest recipient of it, however, Joseph also had a choice to reexamine his trauma when he was living his present life with his family, he just never cared to. Framing Joseph as just "emotionally stunned but did the best he could" takes away his responsibility AND accountability, not to mention that you skipped the whole cheating repeatedly on his wife's part because it was "part of social norms, it's fine". He is a powerful and privileged man who played into the role he knew how to play and never cared to reexamine his actions until it was too late and already bared a consequence on him. The exploration of his family's trauma serves the purpose of understanding the many factors that made Bojack the way he is, his flaws, and his LACK of accountability as well. By this logic, Bojack is just "a product of his time" just like his grandpapi, and if we are "forgiving" Joseph for his shortcomings we should "forgive" Bojack for his as well. Now, you can see how this is problematic because it defeats the ENTIRE PREMISE of the show. We are not supposed to like Bojack, we are to see him and his actions through a critical separate lens because we get to see his side and the side of the people he hurts, the same goes for Joseph. There is no defending the indefensible.

  • @mullerpotgieter

    @mullerpotgieter

    4 ай бұрын

    Do we actually have evidence he cheated? Flirting with the secretary was just office banter back then

  • @KnucklesxReala911
    @KnucklesxReala9114 ай бұрын

    love this video, sometimes i have hard time in fandom spaces when a character appears that clearly has to be seen according to very specific circumstances, time eras, and even more if the media has sometimes some level of meta/surreal aspects, like how joseph says "i was never told to manage my emotions and i will never learn" we probably have to see that as more of a personal though being said out loud for the gag to work, but it also is meant to explain the current circumstance by saying he is a MODERN man, is kind of in the same line of honey telling baby beatrice that ice scream is a boy's snack and she should suck on a lemon with sugar

  • @ColorfulCryptid
    @ColorfulCryptid4 ай бұрын

    He wasn't a great dad or person but he certanly wasn't as horrible and abusive as people think. There are no villians in Bojack Horseman, that's kinda one of the main points of the show that many people forget.

  • @tlsma.6192

    @tlsma.6192

    3 ай бұрын

    nah bojack himself is a terrible person 💀

  • @susiem.2068

    @susiem.2068

    Ай бұрын

    There are villains. It's just that often in this shows, the villains are the characters themselves.

  • @raggedyanarchist
    @raggedyanarchist4 ай бұрын

    Awesome take. I think about this a lot. I think WAY too much about this horse-cartoon, but I digress. They were able to take a character like Beatrice, set her up as absolutely vile (and she was), then make the audience sympathize with her deeply. I've often wondered if the same would have been done for Butterscotch or Joseph had the show gone on a few more seasons. Joseph is terrifying, but generational trauma was masterfully written into his character. You just never get to see it justified as explicitly as you do in Beatrice and Bojack's flashbacks.

  • @antithoughtpolice7497
    @antithoughtpolice74973 ай бұрын

    I think his biggest crime is not questioning the morality around him, but most people don't do that before, and after, their time frame. Most people are NOT these amazing free thinkers they think they are. Like all these pop punks that think they're unique, but how many others like that?

  • @uniraffesaur
    @uniraffesaur4 ай бұрын

    I’m absolutely here for this video. I find Joseph a really fascinating character to analyze, because you’re right: the different social conventions of his time vs ours make a massive impact on what’s considered moral to each of us. And you can’t quite judge the people of the past based on the morals of the present.

  • @cheekyguza
    @cheekyguza4 ай бұрын

    The whole Bojack family is the picture of ' Being a Product of time and surroundings ' they lived in, as was Sarah Lynn. Then we get the opposite with PC, Diane, Todd maybe even Mr. Peanutbutter ( when he's talking with Diane and has a realisation - I was always US in the relationship, now I'm learning how to be ME) And that's one of the reasons the show is 👌

  • @Romo9308
    @Romo93084 ай бұрын

    I had never seen one of your videos and when I saw the title I thought it was impossible, actually pulled it off! Respect.

  • @wowhow8401
    @wowhow84014 ай бұрын

    At this rate you’ll somehow find a way to defend Walter White

  • @cristiadu

    @cristiadu

    4 ай бұрын

    walter is better than joseph sugarman

  • @andrewdickhout6289

    @andrewdickhout6289

    4 ай бұрын

    This guy hasn’t finished the video yet!

  • @andrewdickhout6289

    @andrewdickhout6289

    4 ай бұрын

    @@cristiadu here's a guy who hasn't finished the video yet

  • @cameronspalding9792
    @cameronspalding97924 ай бұрын

    @1:36 In the UK: we also spell defence with a ‘c’ not an ‘s’.

  • @YouHadMeAtHalo

    @YouHadMeAtHalo

    4 ай бұрын

    @georgelongley8078?

  • @nevaehhamilton3493

    @nevaehhamilton3493

    4 ай бұрын

    ​@georgelongley8078 aren't you the wild card

  • @St-Vivec
    @St-Vivec4 ай бұрын

    You slayed this topic omg. Beautifully done 👏

  • @nykki21
    @nykki214 ай бұрын

    Glad the algorithm brought this up. I have seen the entirety of Bojack almost the same amount of times but never thought to have this take. Thank you!

  • @Ammoroth9
    @Ammoroth94 ай бұрын

    I'm so happy you made this vid. I love the Bojack series and I've probably seen it about 5 times but you gave me a lot of new nuance to Joseph.

  • @benc.5558
    @benc.55584 ай бұрын

    I think that this sort of analysis will always be constrained by the fact that we *only* see Joseph through Beatrice' perspective. There's a whole person in there, and we can see glimmers of who that person might be, but largely we see only the effects, not the causes, which limits our perception. There's something to be said for the fact that the only two emotions we ever see Joseph display are his usual benign geniality, and, occasionally, anger. We don't see his grief over losing Crackerjack, and we don't see his fear over almost losing his wife and daughter except through the lens of anger, and we don't see his grief over losing the woman his wife had been pre-lobotomy. Those aren't emotions that he displays to his daughter. He will have been taught from a young age: no one gives a shit how you are feeling. Your job is to man up and do what needs doing for your family. He will have been punished in a thousand little ways for displaying any real emotion other than anger, and rewarded for displaying his mask of calm, stoic geniality. You can't undo that kind of social programming overnight, or just by wanting to. Still, that only goes so far. Yes, he does display in many ways that he does care about his daughter and want what's best for her, and he does attempt, as far as he's capable, to step into the maternal role that Honey can no longer fulfill. But if he makes any real attempt to understand where Beatrice' seeming "ingratitude" surrounding the debutante ball is coming from, we don't see it. The video makes a lot of good points, but the essayist goes a little far in describing him as a "good guy." He has good intentions and an inadequate set of tools with which to express them, but he doesn't seemingly go out of his way to expand that toolset. End of the day, when he says "I was not taught, and I will not learn," we can recognize the tragedy of the former without letting him off the hook for the latter. The lobotomy wasn't his fault. He did nothing more than what we're all exhorted to do when it comes to climate change denial or COVID spread mitigation: listened to the experts. But when it came to handling his adult daughter, he did precious little as far as recognizing her as a subject matter expert in her own life and listening to her. He's callous, defensive, and dismissive, and no amount of "he's a product of his time!" can change that.

  • @junipermoss4537
    @junipermoss45374 ай бұрын

    for me it's gotta be joseph's unapologetic and proud embracement of everything wrong with the culture of the time. he explains his actions in ways that make him look completely psychotic for not wanting to change. "I was never taught, and I will not learn" says everything about him. because it shows that he's aware of what's wrong with him, but he's an active agent in his own ignorance.

  • @sydneywest1623
    @sydneywest16233 ай бұрын

    Gotta be honest 7 times is almost enough times I’m doing lap 8 now

  • @nexus5253
    @nexus52533 ай бұрын

    Can we also take a moment to acknowledge this is probably Matthew brodrick’s best voice acting since the lion king?

  • @jefferyjones8399
    @jefferyjones83994 ай бұрын

    BoJack Horseman is a great show in that it presents its characters and situations as complex. There's nothing black and white. The cartoon with animal people presents its characters with more realism and complexity than a lot of live action shows and movies.

  • @TRyanLearnBikes
    @TRyanLearnBikes4 ай бұрын

    It's always a pleasure to hear your perspective and witness your brilliant editing style .You are quite impressive, to say the least

  • @Gengar227
    @Gengar2273 ай бұрын

    This video is fantastic, you make incredibly good points

  • @wisehead1830
    @wisehead18304 ай бұрын

    You really approached this with levity. I was pleasantly surprised.

  • @HopefulDarkness
    @HopefulDarkness4 ай бұрын

    As a Canadian who pretends to be American by spelling favourite as favorite or flavour as flavor, thank you for pointing this out!

  • @tabbie4twenty
    @tabbie4twenty4 ай бұрын

    jellied beeAAANnnsss this made me cry in the best way. You've done the impossible and I appreciate you so much.

  • @Aaron-ln3ht
    @Aaron-ln3ht4 ай бұрын

    this video was so incredibly insightful. i never would have thought of it, as someone who has watched bojack around 5 times. super well done.

  • @theprodigalson4003
    @theprodigalson40033 ай бұрын

    Your content is immensely thought provoking and absolutely incredible. Good shit

  • @greenghoul157
    @greenghoul1574 ай бұрын

    Joseph reminds me of my grandfather that left my grandmother and 5 children after she wanted a job, she was a chronically depressed hoarder throughout her life and didn't take care of herself, the story of my great grandfather is so dark that I can't share it here

  • @matteodanelli8499
    @matteodanelli84994 ай бұрын

    You didn't defend his implied cheating on Honey but then again it was kinda a common thing

  • @forestgrump4723

    @forestgrump4723

    4 ай бұрын

    I mean, he openly talks about flirting with his receptionist in front of his kids…. I’m sure it’s a joke. After all we don’t hear about Bojack having any aunts or uncles do we?

  • @matteodanelli8499

    @matteodanelli8499

    4 ай бұрын

    @@forestgrump4723 well that's true but he didn't knew about hollyhock existing , It could be a joke but also could be not a joke and maybe he Just didn't get her pregnant

  • @ArianaAlexis

    @ArianaAlexis

    4 ай бұрын

    I should have addressed it, but it was also a common thing back then for men to make sexist comments to women as just part of conversation under the impression that it’s polite. How many times have you heard “you should smile” or another comment on a woman’s appearance from older men. Again, it’s not right and extremely misogynistic but it’s again, a sign of the times.

  • @matteodanelli8499

    @matteodanelli8499

    4 ай бұрын

    @@ArianaAlexis yeah i figured It was because of something like this anyway really cool video!

  • @mullerpotgieter

    @mullerpotgieter

    4 ай бұрын

    @@forestgrump4723 Probably because what we would consider sexual harassment today was just friendly banter back then

  • @emmamarck5967
    @emmamarck59674 ай бұрын

    yay another canadian bojack fan!!!! tank you so much for adding another layer of depth to an already amazing show! this backstory always intrigued me, so you saved me the thc induced wiki searching lol

  • @ethanfriedburgars2566
    @ethanfriedburgars25663 ай бұрын

    Ugh what a perfect little video essay

  • @kenzieeautumnn
    @kenzieeautumnn4 ай бұрын

    me personally i've watched bojack horseman 13 times

  • @xlilsasuke4x
    @xlilsasuke4x4 ай бұрын

    Not sure if it’s mentioned in the video but didn’t Joseph also give Butterscotch a job?

  • @ThiccFurryBoi34

    @ThiccFurryBoi34

    4 ай бұрын

    He did cause he cares about his daughter

  • @lovexnxpeacexox
    @lovexnxpeacexox2 ай бұрын

    This video has floated around my recommended for a while now and I couldn't bring myself to click on it. Wow, I'm glad I did. You're awesome. You intellectualized his character perfectly.

  • @nexus5253
    @nexus52533 ай бұрын

    I like how they leave it vague as to whether Joseph truly cared about his family and was a product of his time, a cruel sociopath who cared more about status than the people in his life, or likely both.

  • @bluebay1031
    @bluebay10314 ай бұрын

    This was an interesting take. It didn’t change my mind, primarily due to him openly stating a refusal to change rather than just not changing (which is still shitty, but at least you can claim ignorance) throughout the years. I can somewhat get it with Honey when it’s in the midst of everything, but not still refusing to do so even as his relationship with Beatrice deteriorated and time moved forward. Change is incredibly hard. There are changes I still have trouble implementing, but there’s not really any legitimate excuse for it other than just finding solace in the familiar, despite its effects. At some point, you have to take responsibility for your own actions and refusal to change and for your own ignorance irt how it affects the people around you., much like Beatrice and Bojack. And like both of them, I feel like there’s a difference between defending and contextualizing. Calling “era” a defense is kinda like when people try to defend slave owners or pre-1950s domestic abusers who were either “nice for the time” or made societal contributions. More extreme examples, but the point still stands. Much like a lot of the characters in this show, their backgrounds shouldn’t (and more often than not *cant*) be used as a defense, just as an explanation. Again, though, still a very interesting video.

  • @jasperspearl2768
    @jasperspearl27684 ай бұрын

    The thing we must understand about Beatrice's memories, is that she's a unreliable narrator. The biggest example is of her former maid.

  • @leopardsun
    @leopardsun3 ай бұрын

    This is the beauty of BoJack Horseman. Every single character in the show, from the seemingly one-dimensional evil Joseph Sugarman to the seemingly innocent and kind Mr. Peanutbutter, is a complex morally gray character with countless personality traits to analyze. I love this show.

  • @IlCassiopeiall
    @IlCassiopeiall4 ай бұрын

    This video was absolutely perfect and it just goes to show the beauty of the writing in this show

  • @beatriztrigo4731
    @beatriztrigo47314 ай бұрын

    She didn't even touch on the affair Joseph had with his secretary? Also in the begging when explaining the the whole biological morality it just sounded like she was evaluating the morality of a characted representing an adult and educated individual on the level of a toddler. Sure we have basic moral instincts but those basic morals grow and get refined with experience.

  • @Gingersnaps_the_pumpkin_kitty
    @Gingersnaps_the_pumpkin_kitty3 ай бұрын

    Look, my issue with "not judging people in the past" is that harm is kinda universal. If I punched you in the face in the 1800's then did it in the 2000's, they BOTH feel like getting punched in the face. Slavery was ALWAYS slavery. Shit didn't magically hurt less just because it was more likely to kill ya and there was less people around to notice what happened to ya. When it came to his wife's "treatment", he was told by MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS that they knew how to fix it. And that shit STILL gets people hurt today! He lived in a time before Google, before most medical malpractice laws, AND a time before even television was invented! I don't excuse him being an adulterer, that was ALSO frown upon back then. I don't excuse him getting physical with his wife or ignoring pain, people still grieved and felt pain back then too. BUT, I will say the blame falls on the doctors who told him that they could "fix" his wife. He doesn't even like the outcome so I HIGHLY DOUBT he wanted it. Something tells me he kind of liked his wife the way she was BEFORE shit went down. That I will acknowledge. Because he's NOT a medical professional and therefore can't be expected to know better than them. His wife was CLEARLY going through something and wanted to be "better". He did what anyone woukd do and take her to a doctor, whose job IS to "fix" people. I'm still blaming him for being abusive tho. Because again, even back then shit like cheating on your spouse was seen as wrong. AS LONG as monogamous coupling has happened, it's been seen as a dick move. He's a product of his environment AND his own decisions. He chose to do things like cheat and he ALSO chose to try and get his wife treatment. He's not literally Hitler BUT feminism and other shit existed back then too. If you asked beaten housewives back then if they enjoyed being beaten, they would say no. And if you asked if it hurt, they would say yes. There was even a trope of "the nice gentleman who would never strike a lady" in many older stories. They knew people didn't like being treated like shit. They also knew slaves didn't like being slaves as well as other VERY obvious facts. The nuance here comes from a lack of access to education and proper medical care, NOT the idea that his abuse was somehow any less abusive back then OR more necessary. It wasn't and empathy has always been a thing. So has communication and respect, just people EVEN TODAY suck at those things and are not as above people of the past as they might think.

  • @TheCybervoyeur
    @TheCybervoyeur3 ай бұрын

    This video really gave me food for thought.

  • @claralytle4742
    @claralytle47424 ай бұрын

    i love/hate how much this changed my perspective, this is beautiful put together and youre writing is super inspiring, overall love this vid!!!

  • @kidwiththehat2016
    @kidwiththehat20164 ай бұрын

    The lobotomy bit reminds me of meatcanyon’s asylum video.

  • @cristiadu
    @cristiadu4 ай бұрын

    I gotta be honest and say this one in particular wasn't sold to me. I think the fact he never learned to deal with his emotions doesn't excuse the fact he could've done better and actively never did, even Beatrice with all the trauma she had did have a moments of reflection where she did do the right thing, he never did the right thing, from start until the end, he is like Butterscotch, just a selfish man with selfish desires.

  • @blacksesamecandies

    @blacksesamecandies

    4 ай бұрын

    To be fair,I think Joseph was a better man than Butterscotch or Bojack. Granted he wasn't the most progressive of people, but I don't think he did anything really horrible. As it was stated, Honey asked for the lobotomy and Joseph had no idea it would do *that* to her. She was still taken care of by him in spite of it. He just said some backwards things, was emotionally unavailable ect. Butterscotch cheated on his wife, was verbally abusive to her and his son. Was a drunk and encouraged his son to pick up the addiction. Bojack has a long laundry list of awful things, including attempted murder, wreckless behavior while under the influence, blackmail, verbal abuse and some very sus relationships.

  • @justjoshua5759

    @justjoshua5759

    4 ай бұрын

    I think you’re forgetting that this man in the 1940s isn’t going to be in the best environment to develop emotionally and not understand that it necessary past keeping his family as “presentable” awful but you’re really underestimating the power of the time period and how everything he was doing was seen as relatively normal.

  • @wombat4583

    @wombat4583

    4 ай бұрын

    @@blacksesamecandies Joseph was also cheating on his wife so he's not better than Butterscotch in that regard. Both even do so in the workplace.

  • @ThiccFurryBoi34

    @ThiccFurryBoi34

    4 ай бұрын

    @@wombat4583I think that was a joke personally i mean he clearly loves his wife and didn’t really seem like a guy who cares about sex just the future of his family

  • @ronan5642

    @ronan5642

    3 ай бұрын

    You don't have to forgive him, that's not the point. But you cannot tell me that everyone else wasn't the same. You're looking at this in a lense of the modern era. One of OP's points was a very real instinct in humans to conform.

  • @silasheyduczek8503
    @silasheyduczek8503Ай бұрын

    I love your humor. Laughing all the time :)

  • @ArianaAlexis

    @ArianaAlexis

    26 күн бұрын

    Thank you! It’s nice to have a receipt to show my friends that other people do think I’m kind of amusing 😅

  • @mikehunt7810
    @mikehunt781019 күн бұрын

    I agree regarding shouting at her. If someone drove a car drunk with a young child in it, we would call them negligent. In regards to the lobotomy, he was told by doctors it would help.

  • @NoirRaven
    @NoirRaven4 ай бұрын

    Basically this video is: "it's fine, it was the '20's!"

  • @decrepitdebauchery

    @decrepitdebauchery

    4 ай бұрын

    40s, but, yes

  • @andrejnawoj8471

    @andrejnawoj8471

    4 ай бұрын

    But an ounce more nuance than just that. Specifically, by the standards of the time and from his limited perspective, he was doing his best. The fact that his best amounted to the damage to Beatrice that it did wasn't his intention and obviously outcomes over intentions but something must be said toward him trying as he did.

  • @justjoshua5759

    @justjoshua5759

    4 ай бұрын

    Okay and sometimes that’s enough to understand the context. We can call out the evil in characters whilst also recognising the context. He was anti semetic. In a time where that was absolutely the norm even during the 40s. He lobotomised his wife in a time where emotions, therapy and all of that stuff isn’t seen the same way or seen as helpful in the way we value it now You can’t get mad at the context of it explains his actions. He’s not doing things that are maliciously terrible even for the time. Lobotomising his wife is evil. But so is marital rape which was just as normalised and evil.

  • @Em_Elizabeth

    @Em_Elizabeth

    4 ай бұрын

    The gist is, Joseph was the product of his times.

  • @SnipeyGaming

    @SnipeyGaming

    4 ай бұрын

    That's what I took from this too

  • @PyroGothNerd
    @PyroGothNerd4 ай бұрын

    Joseph is kinda tragic. He genuinely thought he was doing the right thing every time, and every time it ended up backfired. Lobotomy used to be hailed as a "miracle cure" and he believed it. He later realized his mistake when Honey couldn't care for Beatrice. (Watch a documentary about how it came to be, it's messed up) He burnt Beatrice's things because that's what he was told to do. He didn't correctly handle Beatrice's distress, though. He tried to marry Beatrice off to a successful family so she'd be set and have a comfortable life. When she ran off with a bum, instead, he got the bum a job to try and keep them from going broke. Instead, he got her stuck with someone who ended up being worse than she thought. Edit: Ok, so I commented early in the video, and you listed all the same stuff I listed. Sorry.

  • @AvanteReacts
    @AvanteReacts4 ай бұрын

    I just love that we're still talking about one of my favorite shows. Good video as always Ariana.

  • @emmcenna619
    @emmcenna6194 ай бұрын

    I love your analysis of the BoJack characters so much, I'd love to see you do videos about the characters from Morel Orel and Venture Brothers.

  • @JordanMcQueen-rg7vh
    @JordanMcQueen-rg7vh3 ай бұрын

    so you did a great job here but im worried that this idea that you can't judge people in the past for the standards of their time leaves us with nowhere to go in a lot of conversations. like yeah in the past it was common to give disabled people brain damage to make them easier to deal with. so we just, say oops and move on? demonizing people who made those decisions in the past is how we apply that same shaming social pressures to our current society so we don't make those choices anymore

  • @mikethegamer8492

    @mikethegamer8492

    Ай бұрын

    I 100% agree with you but it's necessary to take these things into account

  • @potatopotayto8332
    @potatopotayto83324 ай бұрын

    nope, sorry, this one isn't flying. not for me. you just keep squinting hard at his actions from his perspective, giving him too much grace, and relying a fuckton on the time period. even something like slavery could be attempted to be justified with biology or philosophy or general rudimentary science. even if this is a good analysis, i don't think it's a good idea. i don't think we need more people justifying the actions of powerful, privileged, emotionally stunted men - even if they're fictional. you often take the absolute most charitable interpretation of everything he says. he didn't say he wouldn't have bothered with the lobotomy because it was making his life difficult, he did so because he missed his wife! he didn't yoink beatrice's doll because he didn't bother to think of a better way to get rid of it, he just didn't know any better! about the "beatrice framing" device - we know. the audience is aware that joseph isn't a monster who's deliberately making his family's life miserable. we know that he cares about them all, at least to some degree. the thing is that this doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things. again, even a dictator's actions could be attempted to be justified by saying he was just acting with the wellbeing of his country in mind. yes, bojack horseman is a show about understanding flawed people. but they also literally had to make bojack kill someone and almost have sex with a minor to get across the fact that you're not supposed to like him. this is one of those moments.

  • @abelcanocarriel1343

    @abelcanocarriel1343

    4 ай бұрын

    I agree with all you said. This video is triggering me so damn hard.

  • @psycholonya

    @psycholonya

    4 ай бұрын

    i think i, at most, followed until the lobotomy point. its not unbelievable to think that he would have had a connection with his wife and wouldve wanted to help her, believing in his ignorance that lobotomy wouldve helped her. however the rest of the video felt as if it was painted with a tint of bias- and manipulated so that op would actually be able to 'defend joseph sugarman'. alexis mentioning the show's theme of working past generational trauma and making the choice to break free from it at the end gave me whiplash since i was under the impression that we were *not* blaming characters for remaining ignorant to the consequences of their actions because 'thats just how that generation was'.

  • @juicebox7372

    @juicebox7372

    4 ай бұрын

    ​@abelcanocarriel1343 You're only triggered because of your own experiences and your own trauma forcing you to only think about things from how you would feel in beatrice shoes. You have bias empathy (Which isn't a real word but its the best way to describe it

  • @potatopotayto8332

    @potatopotayto8332

    4 ай бұрын

    @@psycholonya i agree! the point of people thinking lobotomies were actually effective at the time was something that i think the video got right. i don't doubt joseph did want to help, but as you said, a lot of the points in this video are painted *to* defend joseph.

  • @potatopotayto8332

    @potatopotayto8332

    4 ай бұрын

    @@juicebox7372 i think saying somebody is "only triggered" because of their own experiences is a little disingenuous. this video is defending somebody who represents a lot of awful things about society and common forms of opression and/or mistreatment. it's not projection on their part

  • @quiensoy6995
    @quiensoy69954 ай бұрын

    You're a genious! I didn't consider it from this perspective and you actually changed my mind, great video :)

  • @AnnaMichalska-sj5me
    @AnnaMichalska-sj5me4 ай бұрын

    Dude, you're actually so good at this

  • @minimelon327
    @minimelon3274 ай бұрын

    Here's a challenge if you're up for it: Can you do an "In Defense of Slade" from 2000s Teen Titans

  • @cecilereyna
    @cecilereyna3 ай бұрын

    I get your point, but he's the true monster of the show. I don't hate Beatrice or Bojack despite of being jerks but Joseph? damn he's disgusting.

  • @AdaminTranzit

    @AdaminTranzit

    Ай бұрын

    btw I dont hate any character really otehr then prolly buttersotch but josphen I believe has done waaaay less bad things then bojack or maybeee beatrice.

  • @kalebrowland5891
    @kalebrowland5891Ай бұрын

    This was a really good video. I thought this kind of unbiased character analysis could be done for Joseph Sugarman I was glad to see you were up to the challenge.