Shaina Morris
"The first time I saw myself was not in a successful actor sharing my racial identity, a courageous heroine in a novel, or even a prize-winning female scientist. The first time I saw myself was in a drunken, raunchy, animated horse with a long-dead acting career and a penchant for self-destructive activities.
Bojack Horseman, the title character of the Netflix comedy, resonated with me in a way that no kind of media had before. His development throughout the series centers around his persistent depression and substance abuse, with hard hitting realism far from the glamour of Thirteen Reasons Why and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. My personal struggles with these exact issues were mirrored in the show, my frustration encapsulated in the quote 'I don't know why I feel shitty! I just want... to not feel shitty anymore.' Finally somebody, even a fictional horse, understood my persistent emptiness, nihilism, and apathy. Finally here was somebody who understood my substance use as an escape from a meaningless life.
Bojack Horseman showed me that it's okay to let myself feel the way I do, but also that 'it gets easier.' 'But you have to do it every day, that’s the hard part. But it does get easier.'"
