Bo Burnham created “Inside” as a comedic, relatable special that focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on the world, forcing people into isolation and onto technology. The hyper connectedness that has followed us out of lockdown is critiqued and questioned throughout this special, with satire such as “White Woman’s Instagram” reflecting the unrealistic standards of social media and the lack of authenticity online.
Burnham starts with talking about his mental health issues and loneliness during lockdown, and how this comedy special serves as a documentation of his work over the year alone. He lightens the tone of several heavy issues such as suicidal thoughts with jokes, and these differing approaches to the various topics he discusses serve as a way to bring important issues into the scope of the special without being too serious and turning viewers away. Burnham constantly emphasizes the struggle for society to choose between being authentic online versus presenting a pristine image of yourself [1]. He also questions whether we have gone too far in technology to allow our kids near it, as “Welcome to the Internet” discusses the many sources and topics of information you can find.
The computing technology he discusses varies across the special. The “Welcome to the Internet” is a brief overview of the vast amount of information readily available to everyone who has access online. The constant connectedness of society and the push for external validation makes viewers question what the right ethical solution is to “having a little bit of everything all of the time”. Is it getting away from technology entirely? Setting technology back on the right path? Keeping the youth away from constant connectedness?
Burnham explores the consumerist mindsets of people online pressuring for content. He highlights the absurdity of societal norms today, especially when it comes to the internet. He also emphasizes that while the lockdown allowed technology to keep us connected, the impacts on people’s mental health from this is still yet to be determined. Throughout this comedic critique of modern day life and the impacts of technology woven into it, Bo Burnham presents a picture of a questionable new world that we are in, and urges viewers to question their stance on this instead of simply following the trends.
Notes:
Personal and Societal Issues he wants to discuss and thinks are relatable to a wide audience
Exploration of COVID-19 Lockdown Isolation
Struggling with mental health
Authenticity with humor mixed in to lighten the discussion and make it easier to confront
By being vulnerable, he relates to his audience
Shared understanding by releasing this one-man show to the internet
Resonates
Analyze digital culture through the lens of technology impacting daily life and
The benefits and issues with constant connectivity in social media
Questions difference between personas that social media pushes for compared to authenticity online
Criticizes technology and more specifically social media for making a place fueled by societal endorsement
Artistic aspect:
Burnham experimented with how he used technology to portray each scene in one room, and as a one-man production, he was able to have both very serious and comedic scenes in one place with simple manipulations of lights, angles, and sounds
Commentary on the state of the world during the pandemic
Burnham addresses themes like consumerism, existential dread, and the absurdity of modern ways of life with technology
Criticizes the societal norms based on how technology shapes our behavior
Sources:
Stuckey, Q., "All Eyes on Me: Pandemic-Induced Mental Illness and Performance in Bo Burnham's Inside"(ResearchGate, 2023), https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Quentin-Stuckey/publication/366781179_All_Eyes_on_Me_Pandemic-Induced_Mental_Illness_and_Performance_in_Bo_Burnham's_Inside/links/63b44073a03100368a4df661/All-Eyes-on-Me-Pandemic-Induced-Mental-Illness-and-Performance-in-Bo-Burnhams-Inside.pdf (Accessed: September 30, 2024).