10 Things ‘The Dog Days Are Over’ Says About Diane Nguyen: A Video Essay | Lite Writes

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 พ.ย. 2024

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  • @LiteWrites
    @LiteWrites  3 ปีที่แล้ว +53

    This video is a bit lighter than my Good Damage video, and from what I've seen we need more Diane videos, so I'm glad to offer my services ;)
    Also, if you want to keep up with updates with my next video, follow me on twitter!
    twitter.com/LukaMorganite

    • @dangkhoa0202
      @dangkhoa0202 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Loveee your Diane content. Keep it up!

    • @taratwal
      @taratwal 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Hey man! I have been enjoying your videos. I really would love to talk about a project i think youd love if youd be able to maybe email or something? I dont have a twitter haha(:

  • @morganbodhi9492
    @morganbodhi9492 3 ปีที่แล้ว +270

    diane has always been the character i’ve related to the most (myself being a pessimistic asian american feminist with high expectations for myself and those around me) and this episode hit me so hard, it’s now my favorite episode of bojack. i feel like i don’t see much commentary on it or diane in general so i appreciate this and the good damage video

    • @LiteWrites
      @LiteWrites  3 ปีที่แล้ว +37

      As a very white british guy with a similar disposition to Diane I was confused why so many disliked her as a character, but hey it meant I was pleasantly surprised to find a hole in the market for Bojack videos, as most of the Diane videos were vaguely about her purpose in relation to the characters she interacts with rather than her as an individual.

    • @butteredbisquet1544
      @butteredbisquet1544 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      I think the reason why people hate Diane because she faces many struggles BoJack does, but unlike him, she doesn't accept it and it makes people uncomfortable.

    • @drv4543
      @drv4543 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@butteredbisquet1544 yeah but Bojack's issues literally hurt people other people much more often+severely than Diane's. Bojacks actions are way more unsettling than Diane's wtf. Diane internalizes her pain unto herself, Bojack unleashed it on everyone around him. I love both characters but cmon lol.

    • @butteredbisquet1544
      @butteredbisquet1544 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@drv4543 yea, thats why i like diane more, she hurts less people and she calls them out, she is so important to the show.

  • @NeoShark89
    @NeoShark89 3 ปีที่แล้ว +198

    I think one of the most interesting an under-looked parts of the show Bojack Horseman is that it is the story of Bojack and Diane. The show starts with their introduction to one another and ends with what is most likely that last time they will ever talk to one another. That idea that the show charts this extremely important but ultimately fleeting relationship I think really helps sell the show as a connected whole, rather than just a collection of seasons.

    • @cabbage-soup
      @cabbage-soup 3 ปีที่แล้ว +15

      ppl really tend to downplay diane's importance to the show and it's rly such a pity. i've never heard the show framed this way before tho and im curious? how would that change interpretations of the show?

    • @NeoShark89
      @NeoShark89 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      @@cabbage-soup I think the only other popular framing would be that it is about Bojack's maturing but I don't really see that as being true. We've seen in several other seasons were he either a few weeks or months becomes a better person only to fall back into his bad habits and I don't see this as being any different. Even Bojack's attempted suicide isn't a first for him only being his "most successful" so to speak. And while the other characters, like Princess Coraline, have made a conscious effort to put some social distance between them, all the other characters still remain a part of his life. While the show may be called Bojack Horseman in truth it's not about him, but about the way interacting with him effects Diane. Unlike Bojack she does learn and grow as a person, becoming better able to live with the trauma of her past and to be able to separate herself from the toxic parts of her life whether that is Mr. Peanutbutter or Hollywoo or Bojack. In that way Diane and Bojack are foils, different visions of how one can deal with their pasts.

    • @shelbymachado8712
      @shelbymachado8712 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      It is only through this comment.... that I find myself thinking that the naming scheme of the two characters might be a reference to Jack and Diane by John Mellencamp...

    • @LL-gf6dr
      @LL-gf6dr 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@shelbymachado8712 omg brilliant

    • @Talisguy
      @Talisguy 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      It might be overlooked because it kind of blindsides you. The show (almost certainly intentionally) sets the BoJack/Diane relationship as being by far the most important one by making it _super obvious_ in the first few episodes that they're going to have a will they/won't they relationship plotline that runs throughout the show.
      She's the spiky but kind hearted love interest who isn't like those other showbiz phonies and is very pretty but doesn't seem to care about being pretty and she, like, _gets_ BoJack in a way that nobody else does. She's dating his hated jock rival but she's going to make him a better person through love and eventually they'll get together. You can see the story beat for beat and line by line in your head the second she first opens her mouth.
      ...Then the show proceeds to hit almost none of those beats and put new, much more interesting twists on the few it does hit. We were promised a lot of Diane/BoJack will-they-won't-they and got "no, they won't, and they shouldn't," and Diane written as a complex, rounded person who's part of an ensemble, has her own shit to deal with and struggles not to let her understandable and personal desire to see BoJack be better get her sucked into the all-consuming black hole of BoJack's bullshit. It's way more interesting than another one of _those_ stories, but also subtler and less prominent.

  • @LL-gf6dr
    @LL-gf6dr 3 ปีที่แล้ว +120

    Honestly, Diane can be summed up as someone with a weak sense of self. She is so preoccupied with being/doing good and making sure she can do what she can to make the world around her good... her personality falls by the wayside. This is typical of women growing up in abusive alcoholic homes where they are expected to parent their parents, and even when they succeed, it's never enough. She used other people for identity/validation; she tried going to Vietnam for identity/validation. She is being forced to confront who she really is with her marriage to Mr. peanutbutter ending, and it takes her some time to figure that out.

    • @321licata97
      @321licata97 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Diane has always been the character I most connect with on the show. This is a great way to frame her^^^ cuz you don’ t have to be (more like create) yourself when you grow up too fast

  • @cabbage-soup
    @cabbage-soup 3 ปีที่แล้ว +80

    a diane analysis video! everyone seems to hate diane, so this is the coolest thing ;~;
    reconnecting to a culture is always a myth, and it's so amazing that bojack was able to talk about diane's experience as a 2nd gen immigrant.
    i know it's pretty shitty to call someone a banana, but it's rly easy to feel like one most times. i'm used to feeling like an outsider in america, but i went back to my hometown, someone asked if i was an exchange student, and the disillusionment honestly hurt.

  • @thnhdng
    @thnhdng 3 ปีที่แล้ว +50

    Amazing work! As a Viet it was really an experience watching this episode being located in my own hometown and seeing how far from the truth yet strangely familiar it felt 😂 and yessss more Diane videos we’d love to see it ❤️

    • @LiteWrites
      @LiteWrites  3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Oh hey that's awesome! As said in the video I'm very white so I don't have much personal resonance with Diane's struggle here but I can sympathise for sure. Though seeing your home on in a film or TV show is such a strange feeling, definitely!

    • @cabbage-soup
      @cabbage-soup 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      what sorts of things did it get wrong i'm curious 0-0

    • @thnhdng
      @thnhdng 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@cabbage-soup mostly it's the architecture giving off old and outdated vibes with little to no colors, I would say the majority of places here are pretty modernized. also people seem to be wearing clothes dating back centuries ago for some reason 😂but they did get the super-tangled-up electric wires correct though lmao it's really bad

    • @longasau
      @longasau 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      Also the "Vietnamese" language that the characters speak is broken (broken grammar, exaggerated accent) that even for a Vietnamese like me it's really hard to understand 😅 People usually complaint that they got the Vietnamese culture so wrong and overused stereotypes in this episode, but that's the point: Diane feels disconnected with her own root. The Vietnam that she sees is the Vietnam that American media usually depicts: muted colors, old-fashioned costumes, awkward mix of modern and traditional architecture. Nguyens are everywhere, familiar faces around her, the landscape looks poster-ready, but they are nothing more than a surface-level mock-up of an idea that she wants to be a part of.

  • @naomistarlight6178
    @naomistarlight6178 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I'm a blogger, and I found the episode very relatable: The content being for herself. A way to work out her own issues. And the fact that we're always trying to sell something with our content, some idea or show or in the case of travel bloggers, travel experiences. But writing something popular to read and aesthetic to view is not the same as writing the entire truth you experience, warts and all. No one pays for that. Even if it's meaningful to a writer personally to write it. The internet gives us some more freedom than the traditional publishing channels, but everyone has to make a living, meaning we all have to bend our pens in the service of selling something.

  • @ydrinnrahii2989
    @ydrinnrahii2989 3 ปีที่แล้ว +23

    Beautifully crafted, as always. Your work rekindles my love for video essays. Keep up the great work!

    • @LiteWrites
      @LiteWrites  3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Thank you so much! I'll try my best :D

  • @cia1542
    @cia1542 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    i already related to diane, rewatching the series and getting to this point after a break up? hit hard, and now the episode always hits harder

  • @astral_dawn
    @astral_dawn 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Glad I found this channel, Diane is my favorite character and I really relate to her so it's nice to see videos talking about her more

  • @scottthorup5684
    @scottthorup5684 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Wow i really cannot describe how you put to words how i feel about Diane and this show. Thank you. Thank you so much. You really have a talent for this. THANK YOU.

  • @Afterthoughts
    @Afterthoughts 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    I never noticed Diane's dad eating beans out of a can. :')

    • @LiteWrites
      @LiteWrites  3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      ...totally didn't miss that until you pointed it out...

    • @krissy4052
      @krissy4052 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Average Boston man

  • @andyzhang7890
    @andyzhang7890 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Amazing video- really illustrates how much thought the writers put into her, managing to weave in themes and topics that most shows couldn’t even fathom covering, much less in the way this show does. Especially love how this show expertly goes against all the conventions that have been established in television for the past several decades. Honestly this show feels so real, so raw, so refreshing in ways that never fail to blow me away.

  • @charleyjoon
    @charleyjoon 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Just as wonderful as your Trauma video, keep it up! You bring up some fantastic points.

  • @hipersonicc9736
    @hipersonicc9736 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Thank you so much for your video about Good damage, Diane means so much to me, i relate a lot, and now this!!! You rock

  • @artistbutterfly4378
    @artistbutterfly4378 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Amazing video, I am happy to stumble upon it, I see so many videos of people absolutely hating her, which I found kinda of upsetting. She is complex and, deals with alot of things, that she hopes weren't for nothing.

  • @hellenle16
    @hellenle16 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    FINALLY SOMEONE TALKS ABOUT THE REACTION DIANE HAS WITH HER OWN CULTURE.
    I’m Vietnamese too, but it really annoyed me how Diane reacted to her own heritage like how a typical fellow American who isn’t aware of their own casual racism 😑
    And like I get it because of how her parents were, but literally there’s a HUGE Vietnamese community in California, New York, Texas, and multiple other places thanks to the giant immigration during the 60’s-maybe late 80’s. She could’ve reached out to THOSE people who have enough familiarity she wants, but willingness to share the Vietnamese culture!!

    • @nidohime6233
      @nidohime6233 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      But here is the thing, in Dyane house no one ever bother to tell anything about Vietnam. Is very likely she doesn´t even know there where such communities in the first place, since her family make sure they´re all act like americans not matter what.

    • @hellenle16
      @hellenle16 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@nidohime6233 she literally uses google and the internet, and her family shows clear signs of access to the internet. Not just that, she can literally GOOGLE businesses, or online forums to meet Asian Americans or people of Asian descent.
      Plus, during the show she works as a freelance writer AND professional reporter. At SOME point she must’ve ran into it.
      The only possible reason she could’ve not known is that she purposefully chose not to research or look it up on her own.
      Also, SHE KNOWS, she’s literally of Vietnamese descent. I’m sure at SOME point in her school life, and one of her many teachers. Would’ve ask the class to do a family tree or background presentation 🙄

  • @doctorwholover1012
    @doctorwholover1012 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Hot take but I think the reason people credit travel as the best way to find yourself is because when traveling you have to pack lightly and only whats important, and so are forced to leave behind most of your everyday distractions. Yes, you get new big distractions as you travel, but at the end of the day, instead of winding down in your bedroom filled with all the things your previous self wanted/needed and things you hoped would make your future self better, you're either camping or in a ongoing conveyor belt of generic hostels. Left without any of your small identifying possessions to distract yourself with, and alone with your thoughts, many people think deeply about themselves and come to realizations about how they either don't recognise or don't like the person they were at home.
    It's the difference between a colouring book page and a find the numbers to make the picture one; when you're constantly surrounded by guidelines, you tend to fill them, but when you're only given the most important points as benchmarks, you have the freedom to reshape yourself in your own image.
    Lots of people stay in basic patterns because it's easier to be a Xerox of a Xerox then to be something original; you can't blame the Xerox for the faults of the original image because it's just copying. Even if being a Xerox of a Xerox is soul-numbingly depressing, it's still easier for some than being responsible for outlining themselves.
    The trick is trying to maintain it when you return to your identifying possessions, because it's all right there to slip back into, much like we see Diane doing.

  • @eatatjoes6751
    @eatatjoes6751 3 ปีที่แล้ว +61

    This is kind of why I left Twitter -
    I am black, and point #4 is something that happens *constantly* if they aren't throwing shade at Africa for "helping with the slave trade."
    Like, no, Shannon, Africa is its own continent. It isn't just a prefix for African-American. Please stop.

    • @hbluemole6941
      @hbluemole6941 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      Africa isn't a country

    • @cabbage-soup
      @cabbage-soup 3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      america has a way of fetishizing other ppl's cultures to the point that sometimes ppl from minority cultures start fetishizing their own cultures as well. i mean, i know i have a weird sort of interest in christianity too, but the way in which white ppl fetishize other ppl's religions is just so weird.

    • @eatatjoes6751
      @eatatjoes6751 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      @@hbluemole6941 Continent, dammit. My point still stands that it's hypocritical.

  • @MayMay-qn2dd
    @MayMay-qn2dd 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    I really liked your nuanced take :)

  • @roku144
    @roku144 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Amazing! I love your perspectives

    • @LiteWrites
      @LiteWrites  3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Thanks for watching once again ;)

  • @phillipelenor7831
    @phillipelenor7831 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Never watched Bojack Horseman. Tried to and wasn’t able to get into it. Yet I’ve watch at least 5 videos analyzing Bojack Horseman. Starting to think I should give it another shot.

    • @alyssavue1385
      @alyssavue1385 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      The first season isn’t that great, but if you stick with it and watch closely, you can pick up a lot of the mature, depressive undertones and see how all the characters are subversions of their tropes by watching their traits translate into reality i.e. Diane being the “voice of reason” leading her to become more of a broken skeptic over time. It picks up during season 2, but the wait will be worth it since a lot of the character traits and traumas are generously built upon over time.
      It’s my favorite show, and it’s really saved me from myself, so I encourage you to try it again.

    • @BlitzoSuck33
      @BlitzoSuck33 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I didn’t expect Bojack the be the complete wreck that it is.
      Give it another chance. The show gets…dark.

    • @zannchristo
      @zannchristo 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      The first half of the first season is definitely the weak point of the series, but that's good, since you know the good stuff is coming later and they won't stop, give it one more try, if you get to 1x8 and still don't like it, wel... That's life

  • @thandiislost
    @thandiislost 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    hey dude, you make really beautiful and emotionally and culturally engaging content (: this is a rlly cool channel

  • @bart3nd3r_36
    @bart3nd3r_36 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Your videos are so insightful and they inspire me to write more!

  • @eddardstark9090
    @eddardstark9090 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    One thing, this channel is so underrated

  • @jgurias44
    @jgurias44 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    awesome video hope to see your channel blow up in the future!

  • @SteviReads
    @SteviReads 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    YES!! I'm so happy you've reached almost 2k subscribers!!

  • @morallyflexiblesapphic7287
    @morallyflexiblesapphic7287 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I NEED MORE BOJACK VIDEOS!

  • @tarinisingh1290
    @tarinisingh1290 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Beautifully worded! I guess you should try doing your take on ‘bo’ burnham’s Inside. In some ways him and ‘bo’jack seem similar.

  • @shadow_shine3578
    @shadow_shine3578 3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    Ok. That is It.
    I'm watching this show. I'll find a way, kick my siblings put of the room. I'm not going to just watch from outside. This is amazing but I know it'll mean more once I watch.

    • @LiteWrites
      @LiteWrites  3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Yay! You won't regret it!

    • @321licata97
      @321licata97 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      My friend, you are in for it. This show has been my comfort for years now. I can’t count how many times I’ve watched it through since the final season aired. To get to see it with fresh eyes... tbh I’m jealous 😂

  • @zekekasichiro-smith4725
    @zekekasichiro-smith4725 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    This is one of the most painful episode for me in the Bojack series. 😞🤧

  • @botanicalitus4194
    @botanicalitus4194 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    5:53 I got the reference XD

  • @jerryhayes9497
    @jerryhayes9497 ปีที่แล้ว

    Excellent video thanks 👍

  • @ACDBunnie
    @ACDBunnie 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    More Bojack vids plz?

    • @TheCommenterDragon
      @TheCommenterDragon 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      I really wish people were making more Bojack Horseman vids, but from what i've seen people on YT are barely talking about Bojack these days, i mean i know the series is over and done with but there's still lot's of stuff to cover about it.

  • @derpatellapie502
    @derpatellapie502 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    oh boy am i early

    • @LiteWrites
      @LiteWrites  3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Happens to the best of us ;)

  • @ryszakowy
    @ryszakowy 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

    she went to vietnam to "find herself" and she realized it's bullshit because nobody belongs anywhere and nobody exists on purpose
    and while the entire "finding yourself" crap is about taking a trip around the world and realizing that your place is where you make it
    diane was angry and annoyed
    she went all the way to the country of her ancestors and... she was just a tourist there
    she was a vietnamese girl in vietnam and got offended that other american tourists would assume she doesn't speak english
    the whole episode REALLY ends the charade
    show presents her as moral compass for others as morally correct
    and "dog days are over" shows her for what she truly is
    a self centered hypocrite who is very quick to point out faults in other and even go on entire rants about it but never taking any self reflection

    • @Talisguy
      @Talisguy 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Getting annoyed that American tourists assume you don't speak English because you look Asian _even after you explain that you're American in perfect, American-accented English_ is completely reasonable.
      There is an element of hypocrisy in that Diane herself displays some American tourist stereotypes in Vietnam (she went without learning the language or any of the local customs,) and she doesn't fully address them, but she was completely in the right during the "I am American" argument. Before she opened her mouth? Honest mistake. After she opened her mouth and said she was American and they still talked to her like she didn't understand English? Racist.

  • @FeministCatwoman
    @FeministCatwoman 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I am really glad I subscribed.