Bo Burnham: Make Happy (2016)
★★★★½
This review may contain spoilers.
I firstly wanted to mention that Make Happy is clearly blurring the lines much more than Words or What, it is clear that reality and fiction are undeterminable, meaning we don't know what the real Bo is like, I feel like in this special the real Bo plays are with making a show that is purly for him, the previous two specials while for him, felt crafted for an audience, this special feels crafted for him, beyond that I would not dare to assume what this means to him, or try to find out what the real Bo Burnham's beliefs are based on the special as he is clearly playing a character and has said multiple times, it is clear he is playing around with Death of the Author, Enunciation Theory but to determine what or where those are again would be pointless, it is important to examine the text for what it is, and examine based on previous text, but to not make assumptions about real Bo; so all mentions of Bo from here are based purely on stage persona Bo.
cool thing I noticed is in What there is a poem called I F**k Sl*ts, and it's about a man who had his heartbroken and that is why he is being demeaning and derogatory towards woman, in this we have eat a dick, in which a man is unable to emotionally connect with his feelings and tells his girlfriend to eat a dick, both of which communicate the same idea, but just in a radically different way.
the stage is way more expressive than the previous one, he interacts with the pipes, there are canon's and so much more going on here, the stage really does feel completely absurd like anything can happen and at the same time, really well placed.
I do find the making a PB&J while drunk, slow section goes on just a little too long, but never too long where I get ants or am like can we just move on, I just stop laughing by the time the joke has said it's first punchline and then I am just kind of sitting in awkwardness until we get to the next punchline, after that it picks up bit weird there is a weird awkward silence after my first initial laugh, which maybe is by design, or maybe not who knows.
he obviously touches on topics like race, homophobia and a couple other things that are worth noting but beyond the interaction with the text and the challenge to your own belief's that he is presenting, the engagement doesn't go beyond, don't be racist it's bad, don't be homophobic it's fucked up to treat someone poorly because they want to be themselves, which is great, this stuff needs to be talked about more.
in The Kanye Rant, specifically the burrito part, he laments about not being able to close his burrito, while in podcasts and such he has said there is no out right metaphor or deeper meaning, I do think to some degree there is a bit of meaning in bringing up two activities that he is trying to achieve but that seem out of his reach or incapable of doing, sticking his hands in pringles cans and being unable to wrap a burrito, which then becomes a section where Bo talks about wanting to make comedy and make other people laugh and smile but being incapable of making himself laugh or smile, that thank you I hope your happy as he has put it, is I hope your fucking happy, you have put me through all this and for what? when we transition into Are Your Happy, the song seems more sincere, as if he isn't talking to us the audience but rather to himself, his oh good it's just us, seems directed at himself, like he is talking to the Bo that is editing, asking himself these survey questions, the your on your own from here, are you happy is what the song is pondering in my opinion, telling us the audience that he is taking a break, telling himself that he needs a break.
as we watch Bo get up from the piano and walk outside and back into a normal life, things feel complete, we have watched someone struggle with what art is and watch him learn that he doesn't need others approval of what he is doing, as long as the thing that he is making is meaningful to himself then that is all that matters
