The Mycenaean

Just like every other high school junior, I had the opportunity to read The Great Gatsby in my English class. During this time, I happened to be watching the Netflix show Bojack Horseman. 

Processing both of these works at the same time allowed me to see parallels between the two. The comparison between both works is imperfect, but the overarching themes of Fitzgerald’s great American novel give deeper meaning to a cartoon about an anthropomorphic horse.

To sum up both pieces quickly, The Great Gatsby is about a mysterious, rich man who yearns for his past love. Bojack Horseman is about a washed-up 90s TV star with a drug problem. 

If you have not read The Great Gatsby or watched Bojack Horseman, there will be spoilers ahead. Additionally, it is helpful to know the plots of both works to understand the rest of the article.

The Main Characters

To understand the parallels between both works, it is crucial to realize the character archetypes they both have in common.

The titular characters in both works are similar in terms of life events. Bojack Horseman and Jay Gatsby both live mostly alone in a large house, and wrestle frequently with memories of their pasts.

The beginning of Bojack Horseman introduces Diane Nguyen, who ghost-writes Bojack’s memoir. Diane mirrors Nick Carraway, the narrator in The Great Gatsby. Diane and Nick are observers of Bojack and Gatsby, respectively. They both see the titular characters for who they really are and provide them with support, as well as reality checks.

In The Great Gatsby, the main conflict is Gatsby pining over his past love, Daisy, who consumes his every thought and action. In a literal sense, the character most in common with Daisy in Bojack Horseman is Charlotte — an old friend of Bojack’s. In a symbolic sense, Bojack’s drug addiction displays parallels to Gatsby’s romantic desire.

In Gatsby, Myrtle is a character caught in the crossfire of Jay Gatsby’s actions. If you’ve read the novel, you’ll remember she was having an affair with Daisy’s husband, and Gatsby and Daisy ended up running her over with a car. In Bojack Horseman, the character Sarah Lynn had a similar fate to Myrtle. Bojack roped Sarah Lynn into a drug-induced bender, and Sarah Lynn ended up dying. 

The Rise to Fame/Power

Gatsby grew up poor, without fame or connections. He rose to power through corrupt methods that tainted people’s opinions of him.

To become rich, Gatsby became involved with organized crime. He took advantage of the prohibition of the time period, and sold alcohol illegally. He was associated with a mobster and committed many shady actions. Because of his immorality, he was able to rise to the top and soon became a highly talked about man in New York. 

Bojack Horseman also started out as a relatively average person. He was an aspiring actor, and had a friend named Herb, who had written a TV show that he wanted Bojack to star in. The show was picked up, and Bojack and Herb worked together on it for a little while — until Herb fell under scrutiny for his sexual orientation. 

To continue the show, Bojack had to throw Herb under the bus. The TV station fired Herb while Bojack remained the star. 

When I watched this part of Bojack Horseman I was upset at Bojack’s actions, but it was only when I made the connection between Bojack and Gatsby that I was able to understand the full extent of the situation. 

Both Bojack and Gatsby desired power, whether in the form of fame or money. Both of them threw their morals out the window to achieve their success. In Gatsby, this corruption represents the ugliness of the American Dream. Because their stories are so similar, I realized Bojack is also symbolic of a bigger idea, displaying the immorality of Hollywood and the TV industry.

In my English class, many students criticized Gatsby’s character and actions. I was the same way with Bojack. However, I’m not sure this behavior is fair. 

Can any of us be sure that we would not do similar things for success, given the chance? That’s what makes both works so appealing — the characters are real. The audience finds solace in that, as well as self-reflection.

The Parties

Jay Gatsby was a thrower of lavish parties, with hundreds of guests. As the reader gets further into the book, they realize these parties are all for one purpose — to get Daisy to show up. However, I think these parties serve another purpose. Gatsby bought a huge, empty house. He needed to fill it with people to not be alone. 

Gatsby would often allow his party guests to stay long past their welcome. He was also very insistent on getting to know Nick, seeming to just want a friend.

Bojack Horseman also flooded his house with party guests. These parties featured drugs, alcohol, and people Bojack did not know. After one of these parties, a young guy named Todd showed up. He ended up crashing on Bojack’s couch and never left.

Additionally, like Gatsby with Nick, Bojack would often spend more time than necessary with Diane. She was originally just supposed to ghost-write Bojack’s biography, but Bojack prolonged the process to continue to see Diane. 

The blatant loneliness of Gatsby made me realize why Bojack behaved the way he did. Neither of those characters could stand their own thoughts, so they adopted destructive habits to cope. Gatsby gave everything he could to regain a lost love, and Bojack turned to drugs.

The Pool

Gatsby died in his own pool, after Myrtle’s husband shot him. He had referenced the pool multiple times throughout the novel, saying that he had not used it all summer.

Bojack also had a pool in his house. Bojack nearly died in his pool due to a drug overdose. When I watched the episode where Bojack narrowly evaded death, the whole time I was thinking: “He’s just like Gatsby.” 

Gatsby’s death in the pool symbolized a cleansing death, washing clean the sorrows in his life. After Bojack’s near-death experience in his pool, he changed his life, got sober, and became a new man, so his experience was also cleansing.

No one showed up to Gatsby’s funeral, and Gatsby was too late to realize who he could really rely on in his life. Unlike Gatsby, Bojack was able to make amends with the people that mattered, and set new priorities for his life.

I am glad I was able to watch Bojack Horseman using the same analytical perspective with which I read The Great Gatsby. It made me enjoy both works even more than I would have — and allowed me to derive more meaning from each.