I got into Bo Burnham about a month before Inside came out, and was sad that he doesn't perform anymore, until netflix recommended Inside for me. I thought it's gonna be some kind of... story of his life thingy I choked on my water when "But look, I made you some content! Daddy made you your favorite open wideee~"
This is a great analysis but there is one big-picture thing I really wish people would take away from Inside. Maybe it resonated with you as a fellow creator or because of pandemic lockdown but it hit me as an encapsulation of mental health in general. That isolation, helplessness, derealization, and existential dread you felt and empathized with Bo due to the pandemic? That's how a lot of people with mental health issues feel all the GD time. A lot of those issues can stem from or at least be exacerbated by growing up with the internet.
Absolutely, as someone who also suffers from anxiety and panic attacks to say I felt see by this thing is an understatement. It was cathartic and actually quite healing.
"googling derealization, hating what you find" as a line broke me, and made me feel like someone else really understood. Back in early/mid 2019 I started seeing a psychologist who told me that I have a dissociative disorder, and told me that derealization was a part of it. I went through that exact process, 2 years ago, and shut down. I've spent two years trying to fix myself, 2/3 of which has been locked down in a pandemic, shut away from almost my entire support system. I've experienced the symptoms most of my life, sure, but I spent years treating just the depression (and a bunch of things it turned out weren't the problem, instead of my trauma). Having this lockdown on top of it, right after I find out the truth and really get a chance to work on it? Nahhhh, no thanks. Long story short, this felt like the most chaotic, intense therapy session... But very effective.
@@thebatman1482 Exactly. That to me is a huge clue that although it was filmed during the lockdowns, it's not "about" that. It's not a pandemic that's making us feel isolated, detached, and anxious. It's the culture of social media forcing us to live life with an audience and almost watch a different version of us live it from the sidelines.
@@Cat-o-mancer of course he is forced inside because of a pandemic, but he's been inside for most of his life. He's been inside after make happy, and when he was ready to go out, "the funniest thing happened". The funniest thing could have been another panic attack or a mental breakdown, and nothing in Inside would have changed, maybe just the facetime with my mom part since she could have visited his son. Also, welcome to the internet is the best song ever written about the internet and how fucked up this whole invention has become.
It was a decent satirical reflection on western culture. Songs are catchy and sometimes thought provoking but that provacation is in some cases shallow and naive. I would say it is creative content from a likeable guy. It's not a masterpiece. The culture that deems this masterpiece, is the same that is mocked mercilessly for being shallow and incapable of meaningful communication. As Bo would say, "read a freaking book".
@callmecatalyst While I do agree that most of the film probably isn’t just Bo alone by himself the ENTIRE time, I do believe that he still was going under the mental stress of needing to stay quarantined. Again, I’m sure he didn’t literally stay in his house the entire time, but I do think he was still not doing well. Anyway, what do I know, I don’t know him personally, just saying my opinion.
@callmecatalyst Totally agree. This work is undoubtedly a masterpiece. But Bo himself has never been secretive about every line of his work being, as you say, meticulously calibrated and planned out. The light coming through the shutters gave it away real quick that it wasn't really midnight on his birthday. But I am sure Bo knew that and put it in exactly for that reason.
Honestly it is probably best marketed as a comedy, even if it doesn't really fit. Definitely is new/different genre and I don't think it would fit well under any other mainstream genre, but it is sort of an evolution in comedy so it fits best to market it as such. With the pandemic, the rise in mental health problems, and general societal degradation, this special was good example of how comedy can evolve to be a coping mechanism to help people deal with a fucked up degrading situation.
The one thing I'll never understand is why people think "unpaid intern" skit is making fun of reaction channels. It just is a reaction in that format but that's it, the point is obviously endless cycle of self criticism
Probably both, honestly. I think the reaction video was his stab at TH-cam, similar to the other songs and skits about Instagram and Twitch. Using modern societal obsessions to make points about the world and the individual.
It's a surface-level interpretation. I thought it was making fun of reaction channels as well. I had to watch it again to put together the true meaning.
As with anything of this caliber, people will connect with it in different ways. Some won't see past the superficial commentary, and others will get Inside (heh) the piece and really understand the infinite nuances of it.
my favorites have to be: “can’t handle this right now” , “all eyes on me” , “we think we know you” , “are you happy” for a number of reasons they all in some way show his mental state and how it’s slowly deteriorating and in “all eyes on me” i acknowledged that and if you go back to “can’t handle this right now” after watching inside you can tell he is on the verge of a panic attack and all the shit about a burrito it’s about how he can’t handle everything that’s going on and he ordered too much and can’t handle it all. bo doesn’t deserve the title of comedian he is an artist at its finest
I like how we got a slightly different take away from Unpaid Intern. For me, I saw it less about stripping away layers to get true honesty, and more as a visualisation of anxiety and the overthinking that goes with it; the idea that you rethink what you said or did over and over again, and constantly thinking about your thoughts etc. you can spiral down a deep hole if you don't find a way to break it. This needs more views :)
Yeah, it's the default mode region of the brain that deals with self reflection that spirals out of control when trying to deal with the immensity of the effect our action has on others and the world as a whole and yet, the futility of any singular action.
THIS! But I also think it serves as a STUNNING example of all the ~stereotypical~ poses and subjects typically seen on a WWI.. He does the photos soo well to have you entertained (and perhaps impressed) by how on point it is, but also to pull you into the roll of judging it (and her) for better or worse… I think the passed mom (and dad 😩) post is there to snap everyone into reality (like you were saying) but also to remind us that these are real women/people that have real/upsetting/relatable/unique/etc experiences and who’s entire lives are absolutely NOT the sum of the stereotypical post trends they (and others) have posted. So essentially being about how social media trends and clever pics do not and cannot be who someone actually is While also giving me the impression that he is actually completely backing these women for the way they use these images as a sort of fun or somewhat creative escape from their own reality WHILE being unafraid to call them out for their seeming blissful unawareness of their own white privilege Ex: mentioning some of the culturally ignorant/appropriative belongings (dreamcatcher from UO) - and - their own lack of initiative to do the research to ensure they’re not being insensitive, incorrect, or racist (LOTR vs MLK quote) But. Honestly. Every time I watch it I feel like I get a little bit more from the whole thing so.. that opinion could absolutely be expanded on after the next watch (tbh prob later today 🥸)
I took the line "we were overdo, but it'll be over soon" to be a bit more apocalyptic to be honest. I'm sure its a bit layered, with more than one meaning, but he does allude to climate change and this gradual deterioration of society that's occurring. I think that's one of the main things he's grappling with throughout the special. The fact that the world is pretty irreversibly fucked, so what do we do now? And whats the point in all of this?
"White Woman's Instagram" was one of my favorite songs in the special, which I loved. The joke itself is hilarious, but then it subverts the joke itself to invite the audience into one of the most important themes of the special, the need to transcend the cultivated artificality of the modern internet and recognize the real person on the other end of it.
Inside was truly a masterpiece, never have I felt so many feelings at once from a piece of media. Bo has only gotten better and better over the years, just when you think hes made his magnumopus, he makes another.
Inside is probably the only other film (?) besides Soul that has truly healed me over the course of the pandemic. For the longest time, I stopped reviewing movies and tv like I had been at the start of 2020, because I didn’t think it was good enough to stand next to the professional critics I was constantly seeing on my social media. It was only when I realized how truly unhappy & mentally unhealthy I was trying to imitate everyone else’s work that I decided to create my projects in the way I enjoyed. To add to that, Burnham was afraid of coming out so to speak, in that he’s been constantly scared of offending someone in a time when many believe that comedy has no place in a serious world. Don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t seen it already, but the ending was so impactful in its themes of acceptance & depiction of the creative process that I now feel comfortable making those mistakes as an artist, because there will always be mistakes made in perfecting one’s art (the concept of trial and error). As long as one tries to move on, learn from them & be respectful that’s what really matters. It’s all about the willingness to try, to bring people together, to learn from our mistakes and the special depicts that so well.
I was so... relieved to see that Bo had had his plans ruined by all this. I know that sounds horrible but I took all the money I had saved up over the years and moved away from everyone and everything I have ever known to pursue an acting career in January of 2020. I got locked down and had no chance to even make new friends. No Agents were accepting new actors because they didnt have work for the ones they had. My panic attacks that I hadn't had in 5 or 6 years came back in isolation. I ran of out money, achieved nothing and moved back home in December. Got back on antidepressants in March. I had started thinking about my next steps recently. That maybe I wouldn't give up. But fear of rejection has kept me "inside." I relate to Bo so much in that comedy, film, art are the ways that I cope and I want to give those things to others because I feel like it's all I have to give. And it feels like it is silly and doesnt matter to anyone at all. "If you wake up in a house that's full of smoke, don't panic. I'll call you up and tell you a joke." What good is comedy in a house fire? But Bo later says, "If I wake up in a house that's full of smoke, I'll panic. So call me up and tell me a joke." When things go wrong he seeks out comedy to cope. I do the same thing. So if there are other people out there like Bo, like me, who use catharsis and humor and art to get through life and give it clarity and meaning and context, then maybe what I'm doing is worth doing.
@@84Elenai saw it earlier this year before Inside released and I really loved it, probably one of the funnier Netflix specials I’ve seen and has a surprising amount of depth to it, given our current times
In interviews he constantly says that his favorite part of making art is working with other people, it's one of the reasons he stopped stand up. Knowing that makes him making this all alone in a room even sadder.
Watching that song in particular I had to pause. It in a way helped or pushed me to realise I’m actually not good right now and pushed me to fix it before I wallowed and got worse again. Bro bo is amazing for helping while doing nothing but everything
For me it was the Goodbye song which had a medley of some of the other songs from earlier in the special. I'd managed to just feel one or two things at a time until the medley reminded me of all of them (all of the time!) and it was just overload. So this is how it ends.
Way too much of this was way too real for me. In addition to how difficult covid is, depression, and what I know Bo goes through. I can't bring myself to watch the whole thing again. It was rough.
"You say the ocean's rising Like i give a shit You say the world is ending Honey it already did You're not gonna slow it Heaven knows you tried Got it? Good Now get inside" These lines resonate on such a deep level for me. I can't tell you how much the concept of "yeah the world in general is fucked and there's bigger things than me going on but MY issues (mental and otherwise) are the ones I have to contend with on a daily basis. So while I want to be a good person and do my part, I just don't care enough with all I have going on within myself. Despite how myopic it is in comparison to the rest of the world. The second half then goes into the idea and reality that there's not really anything YOU as an INDIVIDUAL can do yet you (and we as in the human race) will continue trying anyway. So accept what is, make the most of it, stop trying to be a hero, and join the rest of us "inside" Damn. That really hits me
As someone who has anxiety when it comes to continuing projects and had his own troubles during Covid, I must say this really spoke to me. I'm so happy Inside exists.
I was so... relieved to see that Bo had had his plans ruined by all this. I know that sounds horrible but I took all the money I had saved up over the years and moved away from everyone and everything I have ever known to pursue an acting career in January of 2020. I got locked down and had no chance to even make new friends. No Agents were accepting new actors because they didnt have work for the ones they had. My panic attacks that I hadn't had in 5 or 6 years came back in isolation. I ran of out money, achieved nothing and moved back home in December. Got back on antidepressants in March. I had started thinking about my next steps recently. That maybe I wouldn't give up. But fear of rejection has kept me "inside." I relate to Bo so much in that comedy, film, art are the ways that I cope and I want to give those things to others because I feel like it's all I have to give. And it feels like it is silly and doesnt matter to anyone at all. "If you wake up in a house that's full of smoke, don't panic. I'll call you up and tell you a joke." What good is comedy in a house fire? But Bo later says, "If I wake up in a house that's full of smoke, I'll panic. So call me up and tell me a joke." When things go wrong he seeks out comedy to cope. I do the same thing. So if there are other people out there like Bo, like me, who use catharsis and humor and art to get through life and give it clarity and meaning and context, then maybe what I'm doing is worth doing.
@@FilmSpeak That’s absolutely true. And Einstein gets credited with whatever drivel they’re repeating at Twelve Step meetings. And sometimes… …sometimes you might hear a random quote from Lord of the Rings incorrectly attributed to Malcom X
@@FilmSpeak One of the reasons I related so well to “All Eyes on Me” is that I had a similar (but somewhat opposite) reaction. I was just at the very beginning of the process of learning to do stand-up when “the funniest thing happened”. If you like, you can check out my amateurish first attempts on my channel.
I never felt that "white woman's instagram" was mockery at all. All of the shots were beautiful, the things in them nice, and Bo looked hot in the flannel acting feminine just like the girls who do this kind of thing do. It felt like he was kind of mocking the people who think those things are dumb and bad for being cliche lol. Just my opinion tho, obviously.
Seriously though, how does Bo get to be an incredible director, multi-instrumentalist songwriter, stand-up comedian AND look that good in an off-the-shoulder flannel shirt with a scrappy beard
@@deViant14 it's bad for society, but he's also not demonizing the people that do what they have to do to succeed and beat the algorithm. That's a constant in this, Bo himself is a victim, and he sympathisers with everyone else who has to put on a show to survive. The genuine moment in Instagram shows a brief moment of sincere human expression then right back to the fake, superficial, meaningless content we all expect.
He clearly finds our inability to step away from painting our own lives (which no one gives a fuck about) prettier deplorable. And the fact that the loudest most expressive people are by nature not at all unique or innovative. Which kind of reflects heavily on him because his expressions between his art have never accurately reflected his feelings about our apathy towards our impending self-wrought doom.
I mean it IS cliche but it's subjective to call dumb or not. I felt like it was mocking white women's Instagram but showing that there's alot more depth to certain posts than what most expect. Mainly because of the mother segment he sings
I actually think that when Bo says "Hey, what can you say? We were overdue. But it'll be over soon" he's referring to the human race, to life as we know it, to everything. Hence "Twenty-thousand years of this, seven more to go" referring to the climate crisis, as referred back later in All eyes on me (You say the ocean's rising like I give a shit. You say the whole world's ending, honey, it already did). He's talking about how we've gotten used to all this stupid things that make no sense, that funny feeling is the anxiety, the sense of dread. Until there's nothing more, and probably it's better that way. A very dark interpretation maybe :D
I fully agree with you. And its actually wild to see someone portraying this in art because in my day to day life, I feel like I am an extremist if I allude to the world as we know it coming to an end within our lifetimes, but clearly thousands if not millions of people resonated with what Bo is saying, just as you have described. So, it may be dark, but I don't think its out of touch or inaccurate, in facts, it seems perfectly accurate.
I have watched this special 7 times at this point in time. I have related greatly to this special, as a content creator and person I felt the emotions and anxiety expressed through Bo’s performance. I never thought I would ever have felt such a connection to a piece of art, and yet here I am. Bo will never see this comment but I am thankful for him releasing the special. I’m sure there are many others who feel the same.
Every video I've watched so far on Inside has been like "WHOA this is so crazy and deep, I can't even get into it." Whereas real youtubers like this guy ACTUALLY dig into it and break it down. Thank you and great work!
To me, that funny feeling felt like it had a lot deeper meaning. It honestly seemed like he was talking about something very serious maybe even depression
I felt like he was talking about the end of the world,like when he mentions smell of summer in autumn,referencing the climate change. And lines about being overdue,obviously. Like,he is listing all these absurd things amongst some horrible things,and its a funny feeling,cause we brought the end on ourselves and we dont even want to realise it fully,and nothing really matters anymore,but it should,but then again,there all these absurd, unimportant things that shouldnt and yet they are present more than needed in our minds,and inbetween,like a passer by,the really important info,about shootings,about climate change,that gets swallowed up by all the post modern stupidities in song,same as it gets in life and in terms of the attention or the amount of thoughts that we give to it. Like, everything is super fucked up,really bad,were reaching the point of no return,but we cant and wont proccess it fully,due to the way information is all mixed up and fed to us by media. So,instead of a full realisation adn coming to terms with it,we get a "funny feeling".
20k years, 7 more to go is probably talking about human civilization and climate change. In addition to "you say the world is ending, honey it already did" maybe implying that our fate is set (since we clearly can't change, btw a huge, MASSIVE in your face theme throughout this special. All attempts at progress or improvement are co-opted by capitalism and/or exacerbates the problem. ("Can anyone shut up", while himself not shutting up). All the stuff about brands exploiting social change. The "funny feeling" song is all about capitalism and consumerism engulfing everything. If that's not about climate change, it could be about his own depression, meaning he already experienced his world ending emotionally. Perhaps coming to the realizations he clearly has. I know the state of the world and so many dumb people and those easily manipulated (often thanks to the internet) that changing anything to improve worker conditions, our mental health and the internet, or save the planet seems impossible. So as he said, we're overdue. We tried, it doesn't matter "we're all gonna go where everybody knows" I'm pretty sure is death.
Reducing Inside to "the artistic process" doesn't sit right with me. I think it's much deeper, human and much more of a normal/common experience than artistic achievement.
yes but the review is told from an artist's perspective. everyone can find something for themselves in this special and this interpretation is just one of many
This is probably the BEST analysis of Inside I’ve seen on here yet! It hit all the points I was thinking of exactly. Especially the end when he’s locked out of the room with the applause. Thank you for this!! I’m glad I’m not alone in this thinking.
I turned 30 during the pandemic, and it was pretty rough. I usually take ANYONE'S birthday pretty seriously, but this one was a big personal one. And while we did a online DND one shot... It felt so disconnected. Like I was so happy everyone was there, and so were they... But it just felt so... Not what I needed when I was cresting that 20-30 hump. I'm a very social person and the whole almost year and a half was miserable. My aunt turned 50 during the pandemic (October 1st) and she had a whole ordeal planned and then had to cancel it, only to be found with Covid herself just before Thanksgiving (she's an essential government worker for the city's bridges). It's weird the milestones this past year has taken away, when you didn't know they'd be some of the most important.
@@beautybard I did, but the campaign was wrecked by a so called best friend when he got drunk at my belated party and headbutted another player. Destroying months of homebrew efforts and cartography in a matter of seconds. Lockdown was a blessing in disguise, at least I could log off if someone was problematic
when the special ended, i just sat there in shock, with tears in my eyes. the message that the internet has become a second world and that once you commit to something, you'll regret it...
I like that people look at this special in very different ways. For me the artists journey and to an extend the toxicness of the internet really weren't all that prevelent of themes. If I were to make such a video I would start with the depression, the isolation, self doubting and the nature of parasocial bonds between artist and art enjoyer. Because those were the main themes I took away from it.
As an aspiring artist who fights with mental health a lot, this special both helped me and broke me. One thing it showed me, is that I'm not nearly where I want to be as an artist - I actually started learning how to play the guitar and picked up my keyboard again to improve my piano skills. The special also made me overthink my connection to social media and to created content on it. I also fell into kind of a whole for a few days after seeing the special, I even called in sick at work for a few days, because I was evaluating so much about my mental health, how I deal with it and what my outlook on life is. Overall, Inside is extremely special to me. Bo is the artist who made me wanna become an artist too, many years ago. And now, he made me reflect again. Inside is the best piece of content I've ever seen.
I’m not sure if it’s just because I had been primed for utter despair via That Funny Feeling, but I got a WILDLY different read off of Bo’s smile at the end of the film. Really, I don't see the smile as denoting any level of joy - just the grim masochistic satisfaction that, despite the ruinous effect on his mental health, his ongoing struggle can at least be seen as entertaining to a crowd. In spite of his self-diagnosed uselessness and lack of meaning in his actions, he can continue to be a spectacle as long as he suffers in a way that is interesting to perceive. Remember, that smile was immediately preceded by Bo being played for a fool twice in a row - first he walks out of the door expecting the warmth of sunlight only for the light source to be a spotlight, and then he is made into a foolish spectacle in his struggle to re-enter a room he wasn’t entirely prepared to leave after that isolation. Watching this back, Bo didn’t care that he was suffering; he was getting a reaction, he was getting laughs, and it didn’t matter what effect it had on him as long as those eyes stayed trained on him. To me, that smile sealed his self-destruction. If at all accurate, I just hope that this interpretation applies to the performative character of Bo, not Robert himself
Wow, great interpretation of the end. I hadn't been able to make much of it, but I think you make a great case. As for how the real Bo is doing, I may never know, but I dislike when internet people are like assuming that because he is portraying these heavy topics it must mean he is horribly depressed in real life, seems like projection to me to assume he'd be doing that poorly.
we needed this special and it came to us all at the perfect moment. Everyone I know that has seen the special connects with it on a deep level and somehow its a different experience for everyone. I loved it so much and watched it at the absolute worst moments in my life. Just days after being released from the hospital where I'd almost died from severe covid I found the special in my netflix recommended videos and sat down to watch essentially what I had gone through for the past month and a half with a smile on my face because it felt like someone actually understood what I went through on a personal level. I've never laughed so hard in my life at the irony Bo presented and cried so hard at the empty moments when you truly feel alone. Thank you Bo, you really did help me through a very tough time and I am grateful.
There were multiple times watching this that I felt like I was close to having a panic attack, which I think was exactly the feeling that it was supposed to produce. Kind of like how Thom Yorke has said that Radiohead's OK Computer should make the listener feel nauseated. It's a sign of a great work when it's supposed to make you feel sick and succeeds.
Great essay man! For me inside was a grower really enjoyed it the first time but was not as enthusiastic as others. It really stuck with me after and rewatching it a couple of days later I really came to love it. I think Pretty much all of Burnhams specials work that way for me possibly due to how layered his comedic style is.
15:30 "we were overdue, but it'll be over soon" in context with the song's other lyrics like "a gift shop at the shooting range, a mass shooting at the mall"--meaning overdue for the fall of society, but the fall will be quick & we're nearing the end
He's a genius. Everytime i finish the special I get depressed cause I don't want it to end haha. And who knows when daddy's gonna give us more content.
The part in this video around 10 minutes in where you guys talk about art being at war with modern attention spans was everything and is so true. I find myself fighting to sit through whole movies sometimes and I catch myself and I get so mad. It's sad, we've trained ourselves for instant gratification.
I really wonder if Bo is seeing how Much he inspired a large group of ppl, creating new content from fractions of the show. Or use it to express themselves in a way. They couldn’t before
I hadn’t interpreted the ending as an optimistic one when I first viewed it. The feeling I had when it finally cut to credits was actually pretty morbid. Bo, separate from any audience members watches by himself and smiles, not because it’s over, but because he’s laughing at the absurdity of his own miserable cycle. It’s like to him, every time he works on something he really doesn’t want to let it go. He knows there’s an audience for his content, he knows he will be met with cheers and applause. But when those cheers go away, Bo knows the hecklers will come. He knows that if he could just go back and change a few things, maybe it’ll be so perfect, no one is going to laugh at him or jeer him for his mistakes. He almost waits for it, and it reminds me of his line “come out with your hands up we’ve got you surrounded.” And you can see him throughout the special, as in between skits or songs there will be short transitioning periods where Bo will be sitting in a room, just rewatching what he recorded. He’s constantly thinking to himself, “no this sucks, they will tear me apart I need more time”. When I first saw the special, to me Bo spends so much time self reflecting, and worrying about his art, that his ending smile to me felt more cynical than uplifting. That being said I love this video and it’s given me a lot more to think about when listening to the tracks again.
"Welcome to the Internet" is about how the motive for the internet itself is intentionally malicious and ruining humanity as we know it. Surface level it means one thing to most people...but for those who actually understand whats going on in this reality see's the genius in this song. Bo knows whats up, he just layers it well for all levels of understanding. Its.....incredible.
Watching Inside was a surreal experience. The atmosphere Bo creates is simultaneously claustrophobic, comforting, depressing, existential and life-affirming. I found that it wasn't just his content but the production overall that put his genius on full display. In particular, the great tonal dissonance of the emotional 'music videos' and the clips of Bo talking and working perfectly exemplified the artists', and to a greater extent the person's, need to be different people at different times. The idea that someone suddenly hits record and emotion and showmanship appear from a vacuum, and when we aren't being filmed we perhaps find some reprieve from the call to act. This is a double-edged sword, however, as it can be those calls to act that actually wake us from our depressive slumber. Great video!
This is the best synopsis I've heard & I've listened to like so many of them! & Done a lot of analysis myself. You do really well to capture the sentiment & the heart & dualistic, complex aspect of what Bo is trying to communicate! Oftentimes, I think, the other TH-camrs stop a little to short of capturing the love that Bo in fact has for humanity, rather than simply unchecked nihilism & self-hate!
although i disagree with some things you said, i think this was one of the most thoughtful and realistic analysis of inside i've seen. thank you for this :)
That's what I find so wonderful about art. People interpret it in their own way and often reflect it against their own life experiences and emotions. 😊
Thanks for putting this perspective on the film out there. I searched a few videos to see if I was crazy, and after the 3rd "this song's about this" bs, I found yours and it perfectly conveys the isolated torment of making something and falling in love with it, but then having to give it away. If you aren't an artist with a product you can still on some level relate to that, but it seems lost in the heat of trying to decipher songs that are layered themselves.
Inside for me, felt like an hour-long episode of the black mirror, felt chills, felt fear, and felt a lot of anxiety that I thought I buried. It was so greatly made that I couldn't help feeling what he was feeling. It was by no means funny but I can see the appeal and the purpose. He was a grade S entertainer and a damn good content creator. More than anything... he just makes me both appreciate and fear time.
20:30 I genuinely needed to hear this, and I don't know why I'm crying so much now, but hearing that it will be worth it, that my efforts aren't pointless, it makes me sad in the happiest way. Thank you.
I didn't connect during the pandemic because I was living my own pandemic, but holy hell, this man nailed everything. Looking back through the lens of this being made during the worst of it all, he captured Pretty much every emotion I felt during the time.
I feel a redux if “Art us dead” could have been a great addition to this special- or possible incorporated into his final piece. I believe “art is dead” was a turning point in Bo’s sound and lyrical themes.
Bo Burnham truly has a very special way of sharing his ideas with his audience. While other creaters talk about it directly and share their opinion, Bo make us feel something and engage with it till the very end. This is very hard nowadays because of the very short attention span of the younger generation. And as it was already said, this is one of the best and most important works that came out of the 2020 pandemic.
2.5 years of work down, many months to go on mine and my friend's animation graduation film.. the bit at the end about letting your creation go into the world made me choke up. Finishing the film and having people see and appreciate it motivates me every day - but at the same time I dread the deep darkness that will come once all the stress is over. Why go through all that in the first place? The pandemic shrugged us artists off as "non essential" - I often wonder what rose coloured dream I must be living in to be able to pursue such an education in the first place. I want to give something to the world, but does the world want or need it?
I think you missed the mark a bit on the lyrics in one case. The lines "Hey, what can you say. We were overdue, but it will be over soon. You wait" is about the end of mankind, not him working on this special. He mentions other clues to this in the song. "The live action Lion King, the Pepsi half time show. 20,000 years of this, 7 more to go" and "...Summer air and early fall. The quiet contemplation of the ending of it all" This song is about the reasons why we are doomed as a species, not about the things he finds annoying. At leas that is what I took from this.
To take it further. All the examples are capitalism and consumerism co-opting progress and social movements, or making something worse. Mocking brands and influencers for pretending to care about things while actively contributing to the problem. He seems to have a very fatalistic attitude (can't really blame him). He also says "you say the world is ending... It already did" is maybe acknowledging that we can't budge the machinery we have set up. It's going to keep crashing down the tracks, destroying our minds, bodies, and planet, co-opting any resistance, until it all implodes. Def reading some of my own thoughts into it but I think you're right it's along those lines
Yup. Also I think the choice of a 1970s acoustic vibe was no coincidence for this particular song. It's like a hippie anthem without any optimism anymore.
I'm a writer and just,,, Inside hit so close to home on so many levels. Especially Content and Don't Wanna Know. Content is a few different things. It's the change of being stuck inside and so having more time to work, but having less time for other things because you're stuck inside. "Going back to work" is a little funny because for me, all it is is grabbing my phone and opening up Google Docs. But that's hard sometimes, y'know. Sometimes it _is_ hard to do that and you kinda gotta force yourself to do it. And the last few lines especially hit close. That's the writer's block, man. That's the bullshitting your way through a creative slump because you _have_ to write this next part that comes after, but you can't just _skip_ this because it'll ruin the pacing and flow. Don't Wanna Know is the reader engagement. Because I write online, I'm able to easily talk to people who read my stories. Only thing is, not a lot of people leave comments. And as a creator of any sort of content, one of the things you crave most in fan interaction. You're constantly waiting for the day when someone goes, "Hey! I noticed that and , are those two related? Is saying that ?" and you get to talk to them about it. And because a lot of smaller creators don't have many followers or a reliable following, you're constantly debating with yourself on how you can attract more attention. Should I hint at this, should I leak that, should I give a full explanation as to this character's motivations in this part, etc. It can get really frustrating and discouraging, because no one gives you feedback - positive or otherwise - and so you have no idea what they think. Is it boring? Is the pacing off? Are you _really_ reading? Should I give away some plot details to try and drum up some excitement? Don't Wanna Know captured that feeling perfectly.
I dont think Inside only applies to the artist experience, but the human experience. Humanity is getting more and more isolated due to the internet, more and more divided due to political conflict, and more and more scared due to impeding doom. Life gets more repetitive with senseless reaching for more, for better, for more modern, just more more more, money, success, progress. But deep inside we all know that it’s probably useless because we destroy ourselves and our habitat in the progress. I think Inside tries to capture a kind of pre-apocalyptic feeling rather than just being narrowed down the an artists POV.
I recently watched Eighth Grade and I found that infinitely harder to watch than Inside. The internet was brand new when I was that age, so there were certain things I couldn't relate to, but holy shit...the constant, uncomfortable prickly feeling of being 13 and wanting attention and validation...but at the same time wanting to die the second anyone actually looks at you, was so perfectly captured throughout. The scene with her sitting in her dad's lap broke me harder than the entirety of Inside. For me, Inside felt comforting and cathartic. Finally someone GETS IT. I love this special so much for what it says and represents, but also just...the songs are so freaking good. Bezos I is a fucking bop.
Honestly i hope he makes something more similar to his other specials as well. The offensive shit was super funny, but i don't know if society will be as approving of it because everyone is offended by the smallest thing now. He has many options and i can't wait to see where he goes with it
Goodbye hits me so hard. I cry Everytime I here the house full of smoke part. I suffer from self doubt and feeling irrelevant to people so I spend most of my time inside my own head.
It’s comment sections like this that makes me wish Netflix had a comment section. Mainly so I can feel validated in everything I feel and think through it but also so there’s an accurate representation of the film or show or short that’s advertised
"I'm gonna work on this untill I die. And then it'll end" he said something like that in the film. I dont know if you included it. But it really sticks out to me. Also throughout the second half of the show I was hoping he got naked to show how he was feeling and how pathetic he was in those moments
I personally think that That Funny Feeling is about the feeling of being stuck in your head and stuck on the internet. The feeling of time passing too quickly and watching the world and the news feeling detached and empty is something I think other people that have grown up with the internet can relate to, especially if your brain uses it as a form of escapism. If you fall into it, it can be very agoraphobic, and painful. You have this weird numb and painful feeling as you pause and look up to experience life only to go back and fall into that torturous cycle again. The artificial comfy woods and campfire remind us of the outside, the real world, the calm, awake, present feeling we miss so much, which we lost during quarantine. (I say we, but really I mean me) I think it’s amazing how effectively Bo captures that feeling without strictly naming or using adjectives to describe it.
when you said "bo inadvertently" and "wonder if the emotional outburst was planned" oh boy, there are no accidents when it comes to Bo, he's an amazing artist and everything he does is so carefully planned, that's one of the amazing things when it comes to his craft.
I like to call all his work "carefully curated earnestness." It is fake and it is real. Its a performance that is describing genuine feelings and experiences. In his previous work he has even point blank said it. The song Art is Dead is about this concept. In, I believe, Make Happy he point blank says he's "not honest for a second" up there. He talks about life as performance regularly. He says that, but when you something like Can't Handle This, it so obvious that it's genuine. Earnest.
What an amazing video you put together. I'm grateful you put this together and broke down key things i really needed to hear. I love bo burnham and I LOVE THIS FLIM. Much love to everybody!
I cried while watching Inside. Watching Bo suffer was hard and I could sympathize with him. My mental health was starting to get better before the pandemic hit. Then a hell broke loose and I just.. tanked. I'm still not okay.
This is bloody brilliant analysis! The one you watch once and say "f*ck you, good bye" to all the others! Im feeling over the top satisfied with your video! Great Job! "Lets keep going" !
"Imagine rurning 30 in the summer that was the nightmare of the summer of 2020" Been there. Bo and I are so close in age it's crazy, like by a couple months..
Inside reminded me in many ways of the Monkees' 1968 film Head. Like that movie was very much of its generation and its fears and the way a comedy group sees itself and its relationship to audience and fame. Both take sharp stabs at commercialism and the entertainment industry and the very idea of joking during supremely fucked up times. Inside is of course much different than Head, but so are we, or as Bo Burnham put it in a relatable way, "When my granddad was 27, he went off to Vietnam / when I was 27, I built a birdhouse with my mom."
On the thesis note, the line "buddy you found it, come out with your hands up we've got you surrounded." He made the little sounds until he found the good ones and brought them out to show us.
Great essay ! I really love your take on the ending, I think it's very clever. I only knew Bo from watching his movie Eighth Grade and his acting performance in Promising Young Woman, so I watched Inside by pure curiosity and it made a huge impact on me. It's creative as hell, the visuals are insane, the songs are fire and the emotion is raw. I've seen it three times now and it has stuck with me ever since. I related to a lot of it personally, from the artistic process and the insecurities, to the fact that I turned 30 just two months before the pandemic hit and how it made me question my life. I binged all of Bo's specials after this and there are so many layers in everything he does. He's a brilliant man. Can't wait to see what he does next.
“We were over due but it will be over soon” is a reference to the impending politically motivated violence. That funny feeling is a reference to his existential anxiety about societal collapse.
That’s what bo does, he cn do a performance on performing being honest or lying bt he always tells u which he’s doing. Inside will not b topped in our time
I think socko put it best;
‘Not quite dead, not quite alive.
It’s like a constant state of sleep paralysis.’
I love this quote. It’s also very true
Yes.
bc after all, Reality is naught but a persistent illusion.
"Daddy made you some content" was a reality check
Agreed.
And we choked on it
I got into Bo Burnham about a month before Inside came out, and was sad that he doesn't perform anymore, until netflix recommended Inside for me. I thought it's gonna be some kind of... story of his life thingy
I choked on my water when "But look, I made you some content! Daddy made you your favorite open wideee~"
This is a great analysis but there is one big-picture thing I really wish people would take away from Inside. Maybe it resonated with you as a fellow creator or because of pandemic lockdown but it hit me as an encapsulation of mental health in general. That isolation, helplessness, derealization, and existential dread you felt and empathized with Bo due to the pandemic? That's how a lot of people with mental health issues feel all the GD time. A lot of those issues can stem from or at least be exacerbated by growing up with the internet.
Absolutely, as someone who also suffers from anxiety and panic attacks to say I felt see by this thing is an understatement. It was cathartic and actually quite healing.
"googling derealization, hating what you find" as a line broke me, and made me feel like someone else really understood.
Back in early/mid 2019 I started seeing a psychologist who told me that I have a dissociative disorder, and told me that derealization was a part of it. I went through that exact process, 2 years ago, and shut down.
I've spent two years trying to fix myself, 2/3 of which has been locked down in a pandemic, shut away from almost my entire support system.
I've experienced the symptoms most of my life, sure, but I spent years treating just the depression (and a bunch of things it turned out weren't the problem, instead of my trauma). Having this lockdown on top of it, right after I find out the truth and really get a chance to work on it? Nahhhh, no thanks.
Long story short, this felt like the most chaotic, intense therapy session... But very effective.
He never says "covid 19", "coronavirus", "pandemic" and I think he never even says "quarantine" in the whole special. Only "the funniest thing ever".
@@thebatman1482 Exactly. That to me is a huge clue that although it was filmed during the lockdowns, it's not "about" that. It's not a pandemic that's making us feel isolated, detached, and anxious. It's the culture of social media forcing us to live life with an audience and almost watch a different version of us live it from the sidelines.
@@Cat-o-mancer of course he is forced inside because of a pandemic, but he's been inside for most of his life. He's been inside after make happy, and when he was ready to go out, "the funniest thing happened". The funniest thing could have been another panic attack or a mental breakdown, and nothing in Inside would have changed, maybe just the facetime with my mom part since she could have visited his son. Also, welcome to the internet is the best song ever written about the internet and how fucked up this whole invention has become.
"existential masterpiece" may just be the best way to describe it
hahaha damn right man!
It was a decent satirical reflection on western culture. Songs are catchy and sometimes thought provoking but that provacation is in some cases shallow and naive.
I would say it is creative content from a likeable guy. It's not a masterpiece. The culture that deems this masterpiece, is the same that is mocked mercilessly for being shallow and incapable of meaningful communication.
As Bo would say, "read a freaking book".
@@ThomasValadez-tv Shallow and naive in what way? Would love to hear more…
@@ThomasValadez-tv way to say a whole lot without saying anything
Him waiting for the clock to tick over to 30 years broke me.. way too real for me
I turned 30 in August 2020. That shit hit me hard
@callmecatalyst Cheers ! also underrated comment^^,
this should be a comment on its own wow
When he said he was going to enjoy his 20s for 1 more minute and actually waited. Then he turned 30 and said yay!!
@callmecatalyst While I do agree that most of the film probably isn’t just Bo alone by himself the ENTIRE time, I do believe that he still was going under the mental stress of needing to stay quarantined. Again, I’m sure he didn’t literally stay in his house the entire time, but I do think he was still not doing well. Anyway, what do I know, I don’t know him personally, just saying my opinion.
@callmecatalyst Totally agree. This work is undoubtedly a masterpiece. But Bo himself has never been secretive about every line of his work being, as you say, meticulously calibrated and planned out. The light coming through the shutters gave it away real quick that it wasn't really midnight on his birthday. But I am sure Bo knew that and put it in exactly for that reason.
i like how everyone agrees that netflix mis-marketed the film as a comedy
Honestly it is probably best marketed as a comedy, even if it doesn't really fit. Definitely is new/different genre and I don't think it would fit well under any other mainstream genre, but it is sort of an evolution in comedy so it fits best to market it as such. With the pandemic, the rise in mental health problems, and general societal degradation, this special was good example of how comedy can evolve to be a coping mechanism to help people deal with a fucked up degrading situation.
It's funny as hell. I didn't know it was promoted as comedy but all I heard was that it was brilliant.
The one thing I'll never understand is why people think "unpaid intern" skit is making fun of reaction channels. It just is a reaction in that format but that's it, the point is obviously endless cycle of self criticism
Probably both, honestly. I think the reaction video was his stab at TH-cam, similar to the other songs and skits about Instagram and Twitch. Using modern societal obsessions to make points about the world and the individual.
It's a surface-level interpretation. I thought it was making fun of reaction channels as well. I had to watch it again to put together the true meaning.
@@NasukaStar Yeah it's the first thing that comes to mind but there is literally no commentary about the format.. it's .. just the format
It's self-criticism.....
As with anything of this caliber, people will connect with it in different ways. Some won't see past the superficial commentary, and others will get Inside (heh) the piece and really understand the infinite nuances of it.
“Comedy” makes “Sad” hit different
same way Cant Handle This is so much like All Eyes On Me!!!
I told my husband I felt like a lot of these songs were sequels to many of his previous work.
@@elleh8520 very much spiritual sequels
my favorites have to be: “can’t handle this right now” , “all eyes on me” , “we think we know you” , “are you happy” for a number of reasons they all in some way show his mental state and how it’s slowly deteriorating and in “all eyes on me” i acknowledged that and if you go back to “can’t handle this right now” after watching inside you can tell he is on the verge of a panic attack and all the shit about a burrito it’s about how he can’t handle everything that’s going on and he ordered too much and can’t handle it all. bo doesn’t deserve the title of comedian he is an artist at its finest
@@unb- i feel like the entire intro to 'what.', the 'this is bo burnham' part, is his self-criticism talking
I like how we got a slightly different take away from Unpaid Intern. For me, I saw it less about stripping away layers to get true honesty, and more as a visualisation of anxiety and the overthinking that goes with it; the idea that you rethink what you said or did over and over again, and constantly thinking about your thoughts etc. you can spiral down a deep hole if you don't find a way to break it.
This needs more views :)
I thought the same thing especially when it’s exactly what i do...
Yeah, it's the default mode region of the brain that deals with self reflection that spirals out of control when trying to deal with the immensity of the effect our action has on others and the world as a whole and yet, the futility of any singular action.
Yeah the idea that he might have 'broken character' is laughable too
THIS! But I also think it serves as a STUNNING example of all the ~stereotypical~ poses and subjects typically seen on a WWI..
He does the photos soo well to have you entertained (and perhaps impressed) by how on point it is, but also to pull you into the roll of judging it (and her) for better or worse…
I think the passed mom (and dad 😩) post is there to snap everyone into reality (like you were saying) but also to remind us that these are real women/people that have real/upsetting/relatable/unique/etc experiences and who’s entire lives are absolutely NOT the sum of the stereotypical post trends they (and others) have posted.
So essentially being about how social media trends and clever pics do not and cannot be who someone actually is
While also giving me the impression that he is actually completely backing these women for the way they use these images as a sort of fun or somewhat creative escape from their own reality
WHILE being unafraid to call them out for their seeming blissful unawareness of their own white privilege
Ex: mentioning some of the culturally ignorant/appropriative belongings (dreamcatcher from UO) - and - their own lack of initiative to do the research to ensure they’re not being insensitive, incorrect, or racist (LOTR vs MLK quote)
But. Honestly. Every time I watch it I feel like I get a little bit more from the whole thing so.. that opinion could absolutely be expanded on after the next watch (tbh prob later today 🥸)
you just put in words what i was thinking
I took the line "we were overdo, but it'll be over soon" to be a bit more apocalyptic to be honest. I'm sure its a bit layered, with more than one meaning, but he does allude to climate change and this gradual deterioration of society that's occurring. I think that's one of the main things he's grappling with throughout the special. The fact that the world is pretty irreversibly fucked, so what do we do now? And whats the point in all of this?
That’s how I’ve taken it as well.
Yeah me too
Yes! Thank you.
Same.
He also says humanity has made our choice it's just a matter of when now
"White Woman's Instagram" was one of my favorite songs in the special, which I loved. The joke itself is hilarious, but then it subverts the joke itself to invite the audience into one of the most important themes of the special, the need to transcend the cultivated artificality of the modern internet and recognize the real person on the other end of it.
Excellently put
Inside was truly a masterpiece, never have I felt so many feelings at once from a piece of media. Bo has only gotten better and better over the years, just when you think hes made his magnumopus, he makes another.
Inside is probably the only other film (?) besides Soul that has truly healed me over the course of the pandemic. For the longest time, I stopped reviewing movies and tv like I had been at the start of 2020, because I didn’t think it was good enough to stand next to the professional critics I was constantly seeing on my social media. It was only when I realized how truly unhappy & mentally unhealthy I was trying to imitate everyone else’s work that I decided to create my projects in the way I enjoyed. To add to that, Burnham was afraid of coming out so to speak, in that he’s been constantly scared of offending someone in a time when many believe that comedy has no place in a serious world. Don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t seen it already, but the ending was so impactful in its themes of acceptance & depiction of the creative process that I now feel comfortable making those mistakes as an artist, because there will always be mistakes made in perfecting one’s art (the concept of trial and error). As long as one tries to move on, learn from them & be respectful that’s what really matters. It’s all about the willingness to try, to bring people together, to learn from our mistakes and the special depicts that so well.
Love this. Thanks for sharing and glad the film resonated so much with you. It's truly something inspiring.
I was so... relieved to see that Bo had had his plans ruined by all this. I know that sounds horrible but I took all the money I had saved up over the years and moved away from everyone and everything I have ever known to pursue an acting career in January of 2020. I got locked down and had no chance to even make new friends. No Agents were accepting new actors because they didnt have work for the ones they had. My panic attacks that I hadn't had in 5 or 6 years came back in isolation. I ran of out money, achieved nothing and moved back home in December. Got back on antidepressants in March. I had started thinking about my next steps recently. That maybe I wouldn't give up. But fear of rejection has kept me "inside."
I relate to Bo so much in that comedy, film, art are the ways that I cope and I want to give those things to others because I feel like it's all I have to give. And it feels like it is silly and doesnt matter to anyone at all. "If you wake up in a house that's full of smoke, don't panic. I'll call you up and tell you a joke." What good is comedy in a house fire? But Bo later says, "If I wake up in a house that's full of smoke, I'll panic. So call me up and tell me a joke." When things go wrong he seeks out comedy to cope. I do the same thing. So if there are other people out there like Bo, like me, who use catharsis and humor and art to get through life and give it clarity and meaning and context, then maybe what I'm doing is worth doing.
If you haven't seen it before, watch Right Now, 2019 (Aziz Ansari). Based on your comment, I think you might like it.
@@84Elenai saw it earlier this year before Inside released and I really loved it, probably one of the funnier Netflix specials I’ve seen and has a surprising amount of depth to it, given our current times
@@Jed_Elias lovely! Happy to hear that you liked it!
In interviews he constantly says that his favorite part of making art is working with other people, it's one of the reasons he stopped stand up. Knowing that makes him making this all alone in a room even sadder.
Honestly, I was on the verge of tears this entire special (comedy my ass lksdjf) but All eyes on me was the song that broke me.
Watching that song in particular I had to pause. It in a way helped or pushed me to realise I’m actually not good right now and pushed me to fix it before I wallowed and got worse again. Bro bo is amazing for helping while doing nothing but everything
For me it was the Goodbye song which had a medley of some of the other songs from earlier in the special. I'd managed to just feel one or two things at a time until the medley reminded me of all of them (all of the time!) and it was just overload. So this is how it ends.
Way too much of this was way too real for me. In addition to how difficult covid is, depression, and what I know Bo goes through. I can't bring myself to watch the whole thing again. It was rough.
That Funny Feeling and All Eyes On Me really broke me. Those songs are filled with so much emotion.
"You say the ocean's rising
Like i give a shit
You say the world is ending
Honey it already did
You're not gonna slow it
Heaven knows you tried
Got it? Good
Now get inside"
These lines resonate on such a deep level for me. I can't tell you how much the concept of "yeah the world in general is fucked and there's bigger things than me going on but MY issues (mental and otherwise) are the ones I have to contend with on a daily basis. So while I want to be a good person and do my part, I just don't care enough with all I have going on within myself. Despite how myopic it is in comparison to the rest of the world.
The second half then goes into the idea and reality that there's not really anything YOU as an INDIVIDUAL can do yet you (and we as in the human race) will continue trying anyway. So accept what is, make the most of it, stop trying to be a hero, and join the rest of us "inside"
Damn. That really hits me
As someone who has anxiety when it comes to continuing projects and had his own troubles during Covid, I must say this really spoke to me. I'm so happy Inside exists.
I was so... relieved to see that Bo had had his plans ruined by all this. I know that sounds horrible but I took all the money I had saved up over the years and moved away from everyone and everything I have ever known to pursue an acting career in January of 2020. I got locked down and had no chance to even make new friends. No Agents were accepting new actors because they didnt have work for the ones they had. My panic attacks that I hadn't had in 5 or 6 years came back in isolation. I ran of out money, achieved nothing and moved back home in December. Got back on antidepressants in March. I had started thinking about my next steps recently. That maybe I wouldn't give up. But fear of rejection has kept me "inside."
I relate to Bo so much in that comedy, film, art are the ways that I cope and I want to give those things to others because I feel like it's all I have to give. And it feels like it is silly and doesnt matter to anyone at all. "If you wake up in a house that's full of smoke, don't panic. I'll call you up and tell you a joke." What good is comedy in a house fire? But Bo later says, "If I wake up in a house that's full of smoke, I'll panic. So call me up and tell me a joke." When things go wrong he seeks out comedy to cope. I do the same thing. So if there are other people out there like Bo, like me, who use catharsis and humor and art to get through life and give it clarity and meaning and context, then maybe what I'm doing is worth doing.
We should be friends. I hope you’re able to get back the opportunity you once created for yourself. ❤️
When Lucas spoke about art never being finished…
…he was quoting daVinci.
Knowing what I do about Da Vinci, it's likely he wasn't trying to be deep when he said that. Mfer had worse problems finishing projects than I do.
Fair point. I’ll own that one, it just felt appropriate to quote a filmmaker given we’re talking about a film and that is a quote Lucas is known for.
@@FilmSpeak That’s absolutely true. And Einstein gets credited with whatever drivel they’re repeating at Twelve Step meetings.
And sometimes…
…sometimes you might hear a random quote from Lord of the Rings incorrectly attributed to Malcom X
@@paultheaudaciousbradford6772 Well played…well played 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
@@FilmSpeak One of the reasons I related so well to “All Eyes on Me” is that I had a similar (but somewhat opposite) reaction. I was just at the very beginning of the process of learning to do stand-up when “the funniest thing happened”.
If you like, you can check out my amateurish first attempts on my channel.
I never felt that "white woman's instagram" was mockery at all. All of the shots were beautiful, the things in them nice, and Bo looked hot in the flannel acting feminine just like the girls who do this kind of thing do. It felt like he was kind of mocking the people who think those things are dumb and bad for being cliche lol. Just my opinion tho, obviously.
Seriously though, how does Bo get to be an incredible director, multi-instrumentalist songwriter, stand-up comedian AND look that good in an off-the-shoulder flannel shirt with a scrappy beard
It was implied the whole time it was superficial, often fake. But no it didn't give a hard opinion of whether that's good or bad.
@@deViant14 it's bad for society, but he's also not demonizing the people that do what they have to do to succeed and beat the algorithm. That's a constant in this, Bo himself is a victim, and he sympathisers with everyone else who has to put on a show to survive. The genuine moment in Instagram shows a brief moment of sincere human expression then right back to the fake, superficial, meaningless content we all expect.
He clearly finds our inability to step away from painting our own lives (which no one gives a fuck about) prettier deplorable. And the fact that the loudest most expressive people are by nature not at all unique or innovative. Which kind of reflects heavily on him because his expressions between his art have never accurately reflected his feelings about our apathy towards our impending self-wrought doom.
I mean it IS cliche but it's subjective to call dumb or not. I felt like it was mocking white women's Instagram but showing that there's alot more depth to certain posts than what most expect. Mainly because of the mother segment he sings
I actually think that when Bo says "Hey, what can you say? We were overdue. But it'll be over soon" he's referring to the human race, to life as we know it, to everything. Hence "Twenty-thousand years of this, seven more to go" referring to the climate crisis, as referred back later in All eyes on me (You say the ocean's rising like I give a shit. You say the whole world's ending, honey, it already did).
He's talking about how we've gotten used to all this stupid things that make no sense, that funny feeling is the anxiety, the sense of dread. Until there's nothing more, and probably it's better that way.
A very dark interpretation maybe :D
I fully agree with you. And its actually wild to see someone portraying this in art because in my day to day life, I feel like I am an extremist if I allude to the world as we know it coming to an end within our lifetimes, but clearly thousands if not millions of people resonated with what Bo is saying, just as you have described. So, it may be dark, but I don't think its out of touch or inaccurate, in facts, it seems perfectly accurate.
preach
I have watched this special 7 times at this point in time. I have related greatly to this special, as a content creator and person I felt the emotions and anxiety expressed through Bo’s performance.
I never thought I would ever have felt such a connection to a piece of art, and yet here I am.
Bo will never see this comment but I am thankful for him releasing the special. I’m sure there are many others who feel the same.
Every video I've watched so far on Inside has been like "WHOA this is so crazy and deep, I can't even get into it." Whereas real youtubers like this guy ACTUALLY dig into it and break it down. Thank you and great work!
To me, that funny feeling felt like it had a lot deeper meaning. It honestly seemed like he was talking about something very serious maybe even depression
I felt like he was talking about the end of the world,like when he mentions smell of summer in autumn,referencing the climate change. And lines about being overdue,obviously. Like,he is listing all these absurd things amongst some horrible things,and its a funny feeling,cause we brought the end on ourselves and we dont even want to realise it fully,and nothing really matters anymore,but it should,but then again,there all these absurd, unimportant things that shouldnt and yet they are present more than needed in our minds,and inbetween,like a passer by,the really important info,about shootings,about climate change,that gets swallowed up by all the post modern stupidities in song,same as it gets in life and in terms of the attention or the amount of thoughts that we give to it. Like, everything is super fucked up,really bad,were reaching the point of no return,but we cant and wont proccess it fully,due to the way information is all mixed up and fed to us by media. So,instead of a full realisation adn coming to terms with it,we get a "funny feeling".
20k years, 7 more to go is probably talking about human civilization and climate change. In addition to "you say the world is ending, honey it already did" maybe implying that our fate is set (since we clearly can't change, btw a huge, MASSIVE in your face theme throughout this special. All attempts at progress or improvement are co-opted by capitalism and/or exacerbates the problem. ("Can anyone shut up", while himself not shutting up). All the stuff about brands exploiting social change. The "funny feeling" song is all about capitalism and consumerism engulfing everything.
If that's not about climate change, it could be about his own depression, meaning he already experienced his world ending emotionally. Perhaps coming to the realizations he clearly has. I know the state of the world and so many dumb people and those easily manipulated (often thanks to the internet) that changing anything to improve worker conditions, our mental health and the internet, or save the planet seems impossible. So as he said, we're overdue. We tried, it doesn't matter "we're all gonna go where everybody knows" I'm pretty sure is death.
That funny feeling is the feeling that something isn't right.
Reducing Inside to "the artistic process" doesn't sit right with me. I think it's much deeper, human and much more of a normal/common experience than artistic achievement.
100% agree.
yes but the review is told from an artist's perspective. everyone can find something for themselves in this special and this interpretation is just one of many
This is probably the BEST analysis of Inside I’ve seen on here yet! It hit all the points I was thinking of exactly. Especially the end when he’s locked out of the room with the applause. Thank you for this!! I’m glad I’m not alone in this thinking.
Thank you so much! There’ve been a lot of great Inside pieces so you saying that means a lot 🙏🏻
I legitimately think that my world view may have changed watching this special, and I am too scared to figure out if it was for the better or not
Hopefully for the better. Maybe turn your phone off and go hug your family or friends.
I turned 30 during the pandemic, and it was pretty rough. I usually take ANYONE'S birthday pretty seriously, but this one was a big personal one. And while we did a online DND one shot... It felt so disconnected. Like I was so happy everyone was there, and so were they... But it just felt so... Not what I needed when I was cresting that 20-30 hump. I'm a very social person and the whole almost year and a half was miserable.
My aunt turned 50 during the pandemic (October 1st) and she had a whole ordeal planned and then had to cancel it, only to be found with Covid herself just before Thanksgiving (she's an essential government worker for the city's bridges). It's weird the milestones this past year has taken away, when you didn't know they'd be some of the most important.
This first paragraph could have come from my own mouth. Solidarity!
@@SuperG3cko Did you play DnD too? Hahaha
@@beautybard I did, but the campaign was wrecked by a so called best friend when he got drunk at my belated party and headbutted another player. Destroying months of homebrew efforts and cartography in a matter of seconds. Lockdown was a blessing in disguise, at least I could log off if someone was problematic
when the special ended, i just sat there in shock, with tears in my eyes. the message that the internet has become a second world and that once you commit to something, you'll regret it...
I like that people look at this special in very different ways. For me the artists journey and to an extend the toxicness of the internet really weren't all that prevelent of themes. If I were to make such a video I would start with the depression, the isolation, self doubting and the nature of parasocial bonds between artist and art enjoyer. Because those were the main themes I took away from it.
As an aspiring artist who fights with mental health a lot, this special both helped me and broke me.
One thing it showed me, is that I'm not nearly where I want to be as an artist - I actually started learning how to play the guitar and picked up my keyboard again to improve my piano skills.
The special also made me overthink my connection to social media and to created content on it.
I also fell into kind of a whole for a few days after seeing the special, I even called in sick at work for a few days, because I was evaluating so much about my mental health, how I deal with it and what my outlook on life is.
Overall, Inside is extremely special to me.
Bo is the artist who made me wanna become an artist too, many years ago.
And now, he made me reflect again.
Inside is the best piece of content I've ever seen.
I’m not sure if it’s just because I had been primed for utter despair via That Funny Feeling, but I got a WILDLY different read off of Bo’s smile at the end of the film.
Really, I don't see the smile as denoting any level of joy - just the grim masochistic satisfaction that, despite the ruinous effect on his mental health, his ongoing struggle can at least be seen as entertaining to a crowd. In spite of his self-diagnosed uselessness and lack of meaning in his actions, he can continue to be a spectacle as long as he suffers in a way that is interesting to perceive. Remember, that smile was immediately preceded by Bo being played for a fool twice in a row - first he walks out of the door expecting the warmth of sunlight only for the light source to be a spotlight, and then he is made into a foolish spectacle in his struggle to re-enter a room he wasn’t entirely prepared to leave after that isolation. Watching this back, Bo didn’t care that he was suffering; he was getting a reaction, he was getting laughs, and it didn’t matter what effect it had on him as long as those eyes stayed trained on him. To me, that smile sealed his self-destruction.
If at all accurate, I just hope that this interpretation applies to the performative character of Bo, not Robert himself
Wow, great interpretation of the end. I hadn't been able to make much of it, but I think you make a great case. As for how the real Bo is doing, I may never know, but I dislike when internet people are like assuming that because he is portraying these heavy topics it must mean he is horribly depressed in real life, seems like projection to me to assume he'd be doing that poorly.
we needed this special and it came to us all at the perfect moment. Everyone I know that has seen the special connects with it on a deep level and somehow its a different experience for everyone. I loved it so much and watched it at the absolute worst moments in my life. Just days after being released from the hospital where I'd almost died from severe covid I found the special in my netflix recommended videos and sat down to watch essentially what I had gone through for the past month and a half with a smile on my face because it felt like someone actually understood what I went through on a personal level. I've never laughed so hard in my life at the irony Bo presented and cried so hard at the empty moments when you truly feel alone. Thank you Bo, you really did help me through a very tough time and I am grateful.
There were multiple times watching this that I felt like I was close to having a panic attack, which I think was exactly the feeling that it was supposed to produce. Kind of like how Thom Yorke has said that Radiohead's OK Computer should make the listener feel nauseated. It's a sign of a great work when it's supposed to make you feel sick and succeeds.
Great essay man! For me inside was a grower really enjoyed it the first time but was not as enthusiastic as others. It really stuck with me after and rewatching it a couple of days later I really came to love it. I think Pretty much all of Burnhams specials work that way for me possibly due to how layered his comedic style is.
Thanks man! Yeah the lingering effect of the film is unreal. I’ve had the entire album stuck in my head for over a month now!
I feel very blessed that our generation has some amazing minds as Bo
There are so many aspects to Inside that make it a masterpiece… I don’t know one video could cover all of them but, you did a pretty good job at it.
Man, even watching a review of Inside makes me almost cry.
15:30 "we were overdue, but it'll be over soon" in context with the song's other lyrics like "a gift shop at the shooting range, a mass shooting at the mall"--meaning overdue for the fall of society, but the fall will be quick & we're nearing the end
He's a genius. Everytime i finish the special I get depressed cause I don't want it to end haha. And who knows when daddy's gonna give us more content.
The part in this video around 10 minutes in where you guys talk about art being at war with modern attention spans was everything and is so true. I find myself fighting to sit through whole movies sometimes and I catch myself and I get so mad. It's sad, we've trained ourselves for instant gratification.
I really wonder if Bo is seeing how Much he inspired a large group of ppl, creating new content from fractions of the show. Or use it to express themselves in a way. They couldn’t before
I hadn’t interpreted the ending as an optimistic one when I first viewed it. The feeling I had when it finally cut to credits was actually pretty morbid.
Bo, separate from any audience members watches by himself and smiles, not because it’s over, but because he’s laughing at the absurdity of his own miserable cycle.
It’s like to him, every time he works on something he really doesn’t want to let it go. He knows there’s an audience for his content, he knows he will be met with cheers and applause. But when those cheers go away, Bo knows the hecklers will come. He knows that if he could just go back and change a few things, maybe it’ll be so perfect, no one is going to laugh at him or jeer him for his mistakes. He almost waits for it, and it reminds me of his line “come out with your hands up we’ve got you surrounded.” And you can see him throughout the special, as in between skits or songs there will be short transitioning periods where Bo will be sitting in a room, just rewatching what he recorded. He’s constantly thinking to himself, “no this sucks, they will tear me apart I need more time”.
When I first saw the special, to me Bo spends so much time self reflecting, and worrying about his art, that his ending smile to me felt more cynical than uplifting. That being said I love this video and it’s given me a lot more to think about when listening to the tracks again.
It's like Sisyphus isn't it?
"Welcome to the Internet" is about how the motive for the internet itself is intentionally malicious and ruining humanity as we know it. Surface level it means one thing to most people...but for those who actually understand whats going on in this reality see's the genius in this song. Bo knows whats up, he just layers it well for all levels of understanding. Its.....incredible.
Watching Inside was a surreal experience. The atmosphere Bo creates is simultaneously claustrophobic, comforting, depressing, existential and life-affirming. I found that it wasn't just his content but the production overall that put his genius on full display. In particular, the great tonal dissonance of the emotional 'music videos' and the clips of Bo talking and working perfectly exemplified the artists', and to a greater extent the person's, need to be different people at different times. The idea that someone suddenly hits record and emotion and showmanship appear from a vacuum, and when we aren't being filmed we perhaps find some reprieve from the call to act. This is a double-edged sword, however, as it can be those calls to act that actually wake us from our depressive slumber.
Great video!
This is the best synopsis I've heard & I've listened to like so many of them! & Done a lot of analysis myself.
You do really well to capture the sentiment & the heart & dualistic, complex aspect of what Bo is trying to communicate! Oftentimes, I think, the other TH-camrs stop a little to short of capturing the love that Bo in fact has for humanity, rather than simply unchecked nihilism & self-hate!
Thanks for making this, this is the best analysis I've watched today - and I've been on a binge.
Cheers man! That’s very kind of you.
Agreed with this, well done.
although i disagree with some things you said, i think this was one of the most thoughtful and realistic analysis of inside i've seen. thank you for this :)
That's what I find so wonderful about art. People interpret it in their own way and often reflect it against their own life experiences and emotions. 😊
Thanks for putting this perspective on the film out there. I searched a few videos to see if I was crazy, and after the 3rd "this song's about this" bs, I found yours and it perfectly conveys the isolated torment of making something and falling in love with it, but then having to give it away. If you aren't an artist with a product you can still on some level relate to that, but it seems lost in the heat of trying to decipher songs that are layered themselves.
Inside for me, felt like an hour-long episode of the black mirror, felt chills, felt fear, and felt a lot of anxiety that I thought I buried. It was so greatly made that I couldn't help feeling what he was feeling. It was by no means funny but I can see the appeal and the purpose. He was a grade S entertainer and a damn good content creator. More than anything... he just makes me both appreciate and fear time.
Loved this video - keep up the good work!
Thank you so much!
this vid just earned you a new subscriber
Bless 🙏🏻 thank you man!
@@FilmSpeak 👌
20:30 I genuinely needed to hear this, and I don't know why I'm crying so much now, but hearing that it will be worth it, that my efforts aren't pointless, it makes me sad in the happiest way. Thank you.
I didn't connect during the pandemic because I was living my own pandemic, but holy hell, this man nailed everything. Looking back through the lens of this being made during the worst of it all, he captured Pretty much every emotion I felt during the time.
I feel a redux if “Art us dead” could have been a great addition to this special- or possible incorporated into his final piece. I believe “art is dead” was a turning point in Bo’s sound and lyrical themes.
Bo Burnham truly has a very special way of sharing his ideas with his audience. While other creaters talk about it directly and share their opinion, Bo make us feel something and engage with it till the very end. This is very hard nowadays because of the very short attention span of the younger generation. And as it was already said, this is one of the best and most important works that came out of the 2020 pandemic.
2.5 years of work down, many months to go on mine and my friend's animation graduation film.. the bit at the end about letting your creation go into the world made me choke up.
Finishing the film and having people see and appreciate it motivates me every day - but at the same time I dread the deep darkness that will come once all the stress is over. Why go through all that in the first place?
The pandemic shrugged us artists off as "non essential" - I often wonder what rose coloured dream I must be living in to be able to pursue such an education in the first place. I want to give something to the world, but does the world want or need it?
I think you missed the mark a bit on the lyrics in one case. The lines "Hey, what can you say. We were overdue, but it will be over soon. You wait" is about the end of mankind, not him working on this special. He mentions other clues to this in the song. "The live action Lion King, the Pepsi half time show. 20,000 years of this, 7 more to go" and "...Summer air and early fall. The quiet contemplation of the ending of it all" This song is about the reasons why we are doomed as a species, not about the things he finds annoying. At leas that is what I took from this.
To take it further. All the examples are capitalism and consumerism co-opting progress and social movements, or making something worse. Mocking brands and influencers for pretending to care about things while actively contributing to the problem. He seems to have a very fatalistic attitude (can't really blame him). He also says "you say the world is ending... It already did" is maybe acknowledging that we can't budge the machinery we have set up. It's going to keep crashing down the tracks, destroying our minds, bodies, and planet, co-opting any resistance, until it all implodes.
Def reading some of my own thoughts into it but I think you're right it's along those lines
Yup. Also I think the choice of a 1970s acoustic vibe was no coincidence for this particular song. It's like a hippie anthem without any optimism anymore.
I'm a writer and just,,, Inside hit so close to home on so many levels. Especially Content and Don't Wanna Know.
Content is a few different things. It's the change of being stuck inside and so having more time to work, but having less time for other things because you're stuck inside. "Going back to work" is a little funny because for me, all it is is grabbing my phone and opening up Google Docs. But that's hard sometimes, y'know. Sometimes it _is_ hard to do that and you kinda gotta force yourself to do it. And the last few lines especially hit close. That's the writer's block, man. That's the bullshitting your way through a creative slump because you _have_ to write this next part that comes after, but you can't just _skip_ this because it'll ruin the pacing and flow.
Don't Wanna Know is the reader engagement. Because I write online, I'm able to easily talk to people who read my stories. Only thing is, not a lot of people leave comments. And as a creator of any sort of content, one of the things you crave most in fan interaction. You're constantly waiting for the day when someone goes, "Hey! I noticed that and , are those two related? Is saying that ?" and you get to talk to them about it. And because a lot of smaller creators don't have many followers or a reliable following, you're constantly debating with yourself on how you can attract more attention. Should I hint at this, should I leak that, should I give a full explanation as to this character's motivations in this part, etc. It can get really frustrating and discouraging, because no one gives you feedback - positive or otherwise - and so you have no idea what they think. Is it boring? Is the pacing off? Are you _really_ reading? Should I give away some plot details to try and drum up some excitement? Don't Wanna Know captured that feeling perfectly.
Am I the only one who started singing ~Jeffrey Bezos~ in my head to the end-screen music?
Great analysis! Your thoughts and insights are superb!
I dont think Inside only applies to the artist experience, but the human experience. Humanity is getting more and more isolated due to the internet, more and more divided due to political conflict, and more and more scared due to impeding doom.
Life gets more repetitive with senseless reaching for more, for better, for more modern, just more more more, money, success, progress. But deep inside we all know that it’s probably useless because we destroy ourselves and our habitat in the progress.
I think Inside tries to capture a kind of pre-apocalyptic feeling rather than just being narrowed down the an artists POV.
This was a great commentary!
Thank you so much!
I love how good this thing was that u can find 5 different interpretations of the same things and all 5 of them are very interesting to think about...
I recently watched Eighth Grade and I found that infinitely harder to watch than Inside. The internet was brand new when I was that age, so there were certain things I couldn't relate to, but holy shit...the constant, uncomfortable prickly feeling of being 13 and wanting attention and validation...but at the same time wanting to die the second anyone actually looks at you, was so perfectly captured throughout. The scene with her sitting in her dad's lap broke me harder than the entirety of Inside.
For me, Inside felt comforting and cathartic. Finally someone GETS IT. I love this special so much for what it says and represents, but also just...the songs are so freaking good. Bezos I is a fucking bop.
Honestly i hope he makes something more similar to his other specials as well. The offensive shit was super funny, but i don't know if society will be as approving of it because everyone is offended by the smallest thing now. He has many options and i can't wait to see where he goes with it
Gary Shandling would've been so proud of Bo....
This was such an amazing breakdown of this special. Thank you for making this.
Goodbye hits me so hard. I cry Everytime I here the house full of smoke part. I suffer from self doubt and feeling irrelevant to people so I spend most of my time inside my own head.
Love Bo. Great commentary.
Agree very much in calling this an art film.
9:01- You can't hide your instant ramen from me
It’s comment sections like this that makes me wish Netflix had a comment section. Mainly so I can feel validated in everything I feel and think through it but also so there’s an accurate representation of the film or show or short that’s advertised
"I'm gonna work on this untill I die. And then it'll end" he said something like that in the film. I dont know if you included it. But it really sticks out to me.
Also throughout the second half of the show I was hoping he got naked to show how he was feeling and how pathetic he was in those moments
I personally think that That Funny Feeling is about the feeling of being stuck in your head and stuck on the internet. The feeling of time passing too quickly and watching the world and the news feeling detached and empty is something I think other people that have grown up with the internet can relate to, especially if your brain uses it as a form of escapism. If you fall into it, it can be very agoraphobic, and painful. You have this weird numb and painful feeling as you pause and look up to experience life only to go back and fall into that torturous cycle again. The artificial comfy woods and campfire remind us of the outside, the real world, the calm, awake, present feeling we miss so much, which we lost during quarantine. (I say we, but really I mean me) I think it’s amazing how effectively Bo captures that feeling without strictly naming or using adjectives to describe it.
The fact that all eyes on me got me to tears
YOU HAVE DONE THE VERY BEST ANALYSIS 😭
Bo on the floor in a mess of cables is a mood. 😔
when you said "bo inadvertently" and "wonder if the emotional
outburst was planned"
oh boy, there are no accidents when it comes to Bo, he's an amazing artist and everything he does is so carefully planned, that's one of the amazing things when it comes to his craft.
I like to call all his work "carefully curated earnestness." It is fake and it is real. Its a performance that is describing genuine feelings and experiences.
In his previous work he has even point blank said it. The song Art is Dead is about this concept. In, I believe, Make Happy he point blank says he's "not honest for a second" up there. He talks about life as performance regularly. He says that, but when you something like Can't Handle This, it so obvious that it's genuine. Earnest.
th-cam.com/video/FQ7tJgxN0w4/w-d-xo.html
This is the deepest look into inside from what I've seen.
One of Bo's best points in the special, was that Authenticity and Commerce cannot coexist.
Bro I've just noticed at 9:02 that "instant ramen" flash and I've almost died laughing
“Imagine turning 30 in the nightmare that was 2020”
Me: turned 30 in June of 2020….yeah I can imagine
It's weird, because the special felt like a cry for help. Not for him, but for other people going through similar times.
George Lucas never 'abandons' his movies haha
What an amazing video you put together. I'm grateful you put this together and broke down key things i really needed to hear. I love bo burnham and I LOVE THIS FLIM. Much love to everybody!
Oh boy did you find a much more positive way to hear those verses from That Funny Feeling than I did 🥲
I cried while watching Inside. Watching Bo suffer was hard and I could sympathize with him. My mental health was starting to get better before the pandemic hit. Then a hell broke loose and I just.. tanked. I'm still not okay.
This is bloody brilliant analysis! The one you watch once and say "f*ck you, good bye" to all the others!
Im feeling over the top satisfied with your video! Great Job! "Lets keep going" !
the look bo had for this fits him really well, makes him a pretty hood looking guy
"Imagine rurning 30 in the summer that was the nightmare of the summer of 2020"
Been there. Bo and I are so close in age it's crazy, like by a couple months..
Inside reminded me in many ways of the Monkees' 1968 film Head. Like that movie was very much of its generation and its fears and the way a comedy group sees itself and its relationship to audience and fame. Both take sharp stabs at commercialism and the entertainment industry and the very idea of joking during supremely fucked up times. Inside is of course much different than Head, but so are we, or as Bo Burnham put it in a relatable way, "When my granddad was 27, he went off to Vietnam / when I was 27, I built a birdhouse with my mom."
Excellent analysis of an awesome aural and visual work of art!
I just finished the movie, and was watching with a critical eye to the transitions frames, a perfectly edited hall of mirrors.
That Funny Feeling haunts me.
On the thesis note, the line "buddy you found it, come out with your hands up we've got you surrounded." He made the little sounds until he found the good ones and brought them out to show us.
Great essay ! I really love your take on the ending, I think it's very clever. I only knew Bo from watching his movie Eighth Grade and his acting performance in Promising Young Woman, so I watched Inside by pure curiosity and it made a huge impact on me. It's creative as hell, the visuals are insane, the songs are fire and the emotion is raw. I've seen it three times now and it has stuck with me ever since. I related to a lot of it personally, from the artistic process and the insecurities, to the fact that I turned 30 just two months before the pandemic hit and how it made me question my life. I binged all of Bo's specials after this and there are so many layers in everything he does. He's a brilliant man. Can't wait to see what he does next.
“We were over due but it will be over soon” is a reference to the impending politically motivated violence. That funny feeling is a reference to his existential anxiety about societal collapse.
That’s what bo does, he cn do a performance on performing being honest or lying bt he always tells u which he’s doing. Inside will not b topped in our time
I love Bo.. Thanks for the review!
There's like, a 100 mile long hug train just waiting for Bo. I think he needs it