Thoughts & Prayers
What will it take to finally get sensible gun control passed in this country? Schools, churches and concerts have become places to keep your guard up, instead of feeling safety. Most recently, the death of 17 high school students and faculty wasn’t enough carnage for Florida to ban assault rifles. So what will it take? According to Netflix’s BoJack Horseman, it’s going to get worse before it gets better. The episode “Thoughts and Prayers” calls out how Hollywood, the media, and the government react to mass shootings.
BoJack Horseman is an animated dramedy that follows washed up actor Bojack and his friends through their serious and sometimes not-so-serious issues. Bringing comedy to many serious topics such as mental illness, self-esteem and addiction, the series didn’t hold back when it came to gun violence either.
The episode “Thoughts and Prayers” is one of the shows best. After a mass shooting at a mall threatens the release of actress Courtney Portnoy’s new movie Ms. Taken (which has a graphic shooting scene in a mall), her agents Lenny and Princess Carolyn struggle to find a positive spin on the ordeal. At one point Lenny says he is “sick and tired of real life gun violence getting in the way of us telling stories that glamorize gun violence.” The show pokes fun at the industry of Hollywood and the hypocrisy of them condemning guns and then making movies that glamorize them. At the end of the day, it is a way to both stay in the public good graces and still sell movie tickets. The characters show no real empathy for the tragedy, but haphazardly throw around their “thoughts and prayers” to seem sympathetic. Very reminiscent of when politicians who receive money from the NRA tweet out their “thoughts and prayers” to the victims, and then don’t pass any legislation to try and stop it from happening again. One of the main takeaways from the episode is how meaningless and overused the term “thoughts and prayers” has become.
Still attempting to profit from the shooting, Lenny and Princess Carolyn get Diane Nguyen who is a writer for a feminist blog, to spend time with Courtney to help find a positive spin on the gun issues. Diane is anti-gun and reluctant at first but after Courtney pulls a gun on a man who got aggressive with them, Diane changes her mind. She realizes the safety a gun can provide a women, and writes a post to the blog about how a man “can’t understand what it feels like to constantly have your guard up.” She likes the safety and sense of comfort the gun brings her and turns the issue into one of female empowerment. Her stance on guns is very similar to a lot of pro-gun arguments today. Wanting to defend yourself, your home and your family is not a bad thing. Having this liberal, left leaning character of Diane suddenly endorse guns perfectly captures the complex and delicate issue of guns in America.
After six mass shootings happen within the same episode, the final straw is when there is one committed by a women. After ignoring the past six shootings, the government finally takes action against guns because men have started to feel unsafe. Diane gives a speech at the state capitol for the legislators to either make the public space a safe place for women, or ban all guns. So the state of California bans all firearms. The ending of the episode calls to attention how the white males in office often will not act on issues until it starts to affect them.
“Thoughts and Prayers” encompasses the helplessness felt by the nation after a mass shooting. The redundancy of the phrase “thoughts and prayers”, the hypocrisy of Hollywood, and the inaction by politicians are all perfectly called out within this single filler episode.
