"Inside" - The Mind of a Generation
by Nathan Robertson
Over the past few weeks I’ve gotten a variety of responses to the question, “Have you watched Bo Burnham’s new special yet?”
No not yet, but I’ve heard its good!
No, I heard it’s depressing.
And more often than not, Who?
To all of these questions, I had the same response, “You have to watch it.”
Bo Burnham’s rise to fame began in 2006 when he started his own Youtube channel. Four comedy specials and multiple feature films later, his Youtube videos now have over 300 million views. In 2018 he made his directorial debut with Eighth Grade and in 2020 had a key performance in the Oscar winning Promising Young Woman. Burnham’s niche lies in his creative approach to joke-building and storytelling through the use of music. He’s made a reputation on his sly wordplay, clever staging, and overly blunt delivery. His rise to internet fame and understanding of the platform’s inner workings are what gives him such a strong sense of our current generation’s obsession with all things online. However, Burnham’s confident and abrasive stage presence is a well-constructed facade for a man who struggles deeply with panic attacks and anxiety that caused him to take an almost 5-year break from doing stand up. His inner turmoil is clear throughout this special where he explores topics from the struggle of Facetiming with our moms to the pedagogically classist false teaching that denies the world was built by blood and exploitation. Yeah. Dark comedy to say the least.
Inside feels like an hour and a half long dreamscape. Burnham himself explains that this is an experiment stitched together with rough cuts and homemade light shows. Yet those things are what make it so special. Burnham has his finger on the pulse of this generation like no one else. Anyone with a lack of respect for him would simply call it angst, but what he presents is so much more than that. It is the portrait of a man who feels devalued by the very thing that seemingly made him matter. There are many people who feel the cut of this double-edged sword, the desire to have our differences known on a platform that expects us to fit a perfect mold. Burnham is so good at exploiting this danger, while also showing us how much he feels the pull himself.
Inside is really funny. It’s also really sad. Throughout the special, we see Burnham’s slow decline as he eventually admits to himself, “I am not well,” as he bursts into tears. It’s almost surprising how much he seems to be struggling even though all the signs are there. But why? Well, the special tells us, the internet is really good at making us looking very okay when we’re very much not.
Burnham pulls off some really impressive staging in such a limited space. In the opening sequence, he creates a layered soundscape with a headlight and a disco ball. He also uses aspect ratio in a really effective way that always hits home the theme of each song. It's made all the more impressive by the fact he made this entire thing by himself. His sense of direction is clear and it makes me excited for what comes next.
Bo Burnham’s Inside isn’t for everyone. It is at times vulgar and a tough sit, especially for those who may have deeply struggled with loneliness and depression during this pandemic. However, for those who are looking for some good laughs, but also an opportunity to be challenged in a nonconventional way, this may be for you.
Jesus’s words in Matthew 6 hit home here when culture is pushing us to worry about our influence and perception, 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”