THE AESTHETICS OF NARRATION: A METAMODERN ANALYSIS

THE AESTHETICS OF NARRATION: A METAMODERN ANALYSIS OF BO

BURNHAM’S TELEVISION SPECIAL BO BURNHAM: INSIDE

Project submitted to St. Teresa’s College (Autonomous) in partial fulfilment of the

requirement for the degree of BACHELOR OF ARTS in English Language and

Literature

ANDREA MARIA ABRU

III B.A. English Literature

St. Teresa’s College (Autonomous)

Ernakulam

Cochin – 682 011

Kerala

Supervisor

Dr. Maria Theresa Chakkunny

Department of English

St. Teresa’s College (Autonomous)

Ernakulam

Kerala

March 2023

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this project entitled “The Aesthetics of Narration: A

Metamodern Analysis of Bo Burnham’s Television Special Bo Burnham: Inside” is

the record of bona fide work done by me under the guidance and supervision of Dr.

Maria Theresa Chakkunny, Assistant Professor, Department of English.

Andrea Maria Abru

III B.A. English Language and Literature

Ernakulam St Teresa’s College (Autonomous)

March 2023 Ernakulam

CERIFICATE

I hereby declare that this project entitled “The Aesthetics of Narration: A

Metamodern Analysis of Bo Burnham’s Television Special Bo Burnham: Inside” by

Andrea Maria Abru is a record of bona fide work carried out by her under my

supervision and guidance.

Dr. Maria Theresa Chakkunny

Department of English

Ernakulam St Teresa’s College (Autonomous)

March 2023 Ernakulam

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank God for giving me proper guidance throughout the process of

crafting this project.

I would like to extend my gratitude towards Dr. Alphonsa Vijaya Joseph, Principal, St

Teresa’s College (Autonomous) for her support.

I am deeply indebted to my guide, Dr. Maria Theresa Chakkunny, Department of

English, St Teresa's College (Autonomous), who was a constant source of support

from the very beginning; whose constructive feedback and guidance served as a

crucial component for the completion of this project.

I am grateful for Dr. Jeena Ann Joseph, who gave us a strong base on Research

Methodology and all other faculty members of the department for their help and

encouragement.

I am greatly thankful for Dr. Preeti Kumar, Head of Department of English, St

Teresa's College (Autonomous) for her constant encouragement and motivation.

Andrea Maria Abru

CONTENTS

Introduction 1

Chapter 1: Understanding Metamodernism 4

Chapter 2: The World of Bo Burnham: Inside 16

Chapter 3: The Aesthetics of Narration: Analysing Inside through 32

a Metamodern lens

Conclusion 43

Works Consulted 46

List of Figures Used

1. Fig 1: The Flaming Lips announce 2021-2022 tour. Picture by P Squared

2. Fig 2: Sam Levinson. “You Who Cannot See, Think of Those Can”.

Euphoria, Season 2, Episode 4. Various frames from this episode that is an

example of constructive pastiche.

Introduction

Welcome to the internet,

What would you prefer?

Would you like to fight for civil rights or tweet a racial slur?

Be happy,

Be horny,

Be bursting with rage,

We got a million different ways to engage! (Bo Burnham:

Inside 00:57:03 - 00:57:18)

Music has always been an important part of human existence, and just

like humans and human societies, it has drastically evolved from what it used

to signify and represent. Not only does it communicate ideas and serve as a

medium of expression, it also helps in providing relief to listeners. In this era

of the internet or post-truth, where information, be it credible or untrustworthy,

is right at your fingertips, people are presented with a plethora of ways to

express themselves like metamodernist creations such as fanfiction, remixes,

memes, blogging and vlogging, apart from the historically common ways of

expressing themselves through printed books and spoken word. Humans have

the need for intellectual stimulation, and these various mediums of expression

have catered to letting their thoughts flow as well as in communicating

messages in interesting ways. Music is also an integral part of politics and

dissent, and with the advent of the internet, all sorts of music from various

cultures have become accessible to everyone with access to the internet.

Various cultural movements have contributed to the emergence of new

genres, like Jazz from the African-American communities of New Orleans,

and Hip-Hop is another genre that has emerged from the Jazz genre.

Furthermore, as technology develops, new sounds and frequencies are made

easier to produce, which lead to the development of the Electronic Dance

Music and Dubstep genres. For millennia, music has helped communities

grow and communicate ideas, and in the 21st century, the content and

melodies of music can be analysed from a metamodern perspective.

American musical comedian Bo Burnham has used music to

communicate humour and pathos through his work, ever since he began

posting videos on YouTube in 2006. As a white male who grew up in a

predominantly white suburb, the content of his comedy has drastically

changed, and the internet has contributed to his current sense of sensitivity to

topics that weren’t addressed or a part of his community, which he lacked

when he was younger.

The aftermath of the popularisation of picture and video sharing apps

such as Instagram and TikTok entails the deterioration of attention spans, with

people excessively consuming media that ranges between 10-15 seconds at the

most, regularly. A lot of the bits and pieces of the songs of this film have been

popularised through these apps, not only because of its relevance but also

because of its appealing music production— the latter arguably plays a greater

role in these audio clips going viral.

This project attempts to analyse some of the metamodern elements of

the film Inside: Bo Burnham and prove that music has, in fact, become a new

tool for intellectual discussion and examines how people take notice and pay

attention to music that becomes a global phenomenon, with the rise of the

internet.

Chapter One outlines the theories of metamodernism and concepts that are

commonly found in work associated with the post-postmodern age, such as

Inside: Bo Burnham. Chapter Two sketches the summary of the television

special and Chapter Three analyses the film co-relating the theories discussed

in Chapter One to analyse and prove that music, in this day and age, is a vital

tool to create discourse with the help of various platforms on the internet.

Written, directed, filmed, performed and edited by Robert Pickering “Bo”

Burnham, Inside: Bo Burnham is a 2021 special that features a diverse range

of songs and sketches about his life indoors during the pandemic, and arguably

so, is essentially a documentation of his deteriorating mental health. Mental

health during the pandemic was a topic of grave concern as global prevalence

of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25% during the COVID-19

pandemic (World Health Organisation). Apart from this, he explores themes of

performativity and his relationship with the Internet and his audience, while

also addressing various social movements and phenomena, and topics such as

climate change. Other segments portray and discuss activities such as

Instagram posts of a certain demographic, Facetiming one’s mother, live

streaming video and sexting. This special received critical acclaim for its

music, meta-commentary and comedic bits, and won various accolades such as

Emmy Awards and a Peabody award.

Chapter 1

Understanding Metamodernism

“If you wake up in a house that’s full of smoke, don’t panic, call

me and I’ll tell you a joke.” - Burnham, Bo Burnham: Inside

Different forms of media, such as print and broadcast media, have

played an integral role in shaping human perception and judgement. With the

advent of the internet, these distinct media technologies and platforms have

merged together through digitization and computer networking, a phenomenon

termed media convergence or technological convergence (Gasher).

It also gave rise to ‘New Media’, commonly known as Web 2.0, which

includes communication tools related to the web such as online social media

platforms, wikis, virtual worlds, blogs and other such forums (“New Media”).

Metamodernism refers to the range of developments observed in areas of art,

culture and philosophy as a result of the drastic changes of the twenty-first

century. To understand metamodernism, one must have a rough understanding

of modernism, postmodernism and post-postmodernism.

Modernism is a prominent philosophical and artistic movement that

arose in the late nineteenth century out of the philosophical, political, scientific

and ideological shifts that followed the Industrial Revolution, and reached its

peak on the eve of the first World War. This movement reflected a desire for

the creation of new forms of philosophy, social organisation and art which

encouraged people to leave behind the obsolete culture of the past and rejected

the ideology of realism.

Often associated with the Age of Radio and Ezra Pound’s injunction,

“Make it new”, the movement evolved from the rejection of Enlightenment

positivism and faith in reason, and broke off from the peculiarities of the

Romantic period (Cunff; Bledsoe and Matthew). It became self-conscious and

began questioning language and its coherence. In other words, modernism is a

movement that rejected the Victorian standards of how art should be made and

consumed, and what it should mean.

Postmodernism is a critique of metanarratives of modernism, as it masks

the contradictions inherent in any social organisation or practise. It is a discourse

that entails several disciplines of study such as art, architecture, fashion,

sociology and literature, characterised by rejection and intermixing of

boundaries between low and high art using pastiche, parody, fragmentation,

ambiguity, among other tools. It dismissed the claims that facts are objective

since knowledge is conditional. Associated with Deconstruction and

Poststructuralism and the Age of the Television, it arose in tandem with the

power shifts and dehumanisation experienced by people with the advent of

consumer capitalism post the Second World War (Cunff). Postmodernism is

characterised by self-reference, pluralism, irony, epistemological relativism,

moral relativism and eclecticism.

What follows the age of postmodernism, or rather is emerging and

reacting to postmodernism, is post-postmodernism, which is a wide-ranging set

of developments in philosophy, critical theory, art, literature, culture and

architecture (Duignan). Metamodernism is one of the many attempts at

describing post-postmodernism. The term “metamodernism” was first

employed by the Dutch scholars Timotheus Vermeulen and Robin van den

Akker in their essay titled “Notes on Metamodernism” in the Journal of

Aesthetics & Culture in 2010.

It combines elements from both modernism and postmodernism to

express and explain a variety of mindsets, practices, forms and genres of the

twenty-first century (Kadagishvili 559). It is serious, sincere, it oscillates from

one polarity to another between diametrically opposed ideas, like enthusiasm

and irony, naivety and knowingness, totality and fragmentation, bright and plain

and so on, whereas Postmodernism is playful, insincere, unsteady and ironic

(Kadagishvili 561).

Associated with the Age of the Internet, its main philosophy is about

accepting and embracing the polarising nature of human beings (Cunff).

Metamodernism is described as the new artistic sensibility that oscillates

between a modern enthusiasm and a postmodern irony, between hope and

melancholy, between naiveté and knowingness, empathy and apathy, unity and

plurality, totality and fragmentation, purity and ambiguity (Vermeulen and van

den Akker).

According to Greg Dember and Linda Ceriello, the essence of

metamodernism is a conscious or unconscious motivation to protect the solidity

of the felt experience, as opposed to the scientific reductionism of the modernist

perspective and the ironic detachment of the postmodern sensibilities (Dember

and Ceriello). He proposed a list of eleven non-exhaustive methods that appear

frequently in metamodern work; hyper-self-reflexivity, the narrative double

frame (Eshelman’s performatism), oscillation between opposites, quirky, the

tiny (metamodern minimalism), the epic (metamodern maximalism),

constructive pastiche, ironesty, normcore, overprojection

(anthropomorphizing), and Meta-Cute.

Hyper-self-reflexivity refers to the idea of self-referentiality taken to an

extreme, where a system is not just self-referential, but also self-referential

about its own self-referentiality. It is a concept in media and communication

studies that describes a phenomenon wherein the media becomes aware of its

own presence, structure, and operation, while critically reflecting on them. It is

often used to describe postmodern media forms, where the distinction between

media and reality is blurred, and the media becomes self-conscious of its own

construction and representation of reality (Dember and Ceriello).

Metamodernism inherits self-reflexivity from postmodernism, but it

adapts to the purpose of affirming the felt experience. If the “self” being

reflected upon in a metamodern work is the work’s author, the result is a

highlighting of the author’s own lived, inner experience. In this case, the

author’s own self-reflection provides a model for the reader’s self-reflection,

and by extension, the reader’s own felt experience.

For example, I’m Still Here (2010) is a mockumentary directed by Casey

Affleck starring Joaquin Phoenix as himself. It follows him as he announces his

retirement from acting through his transformation in the public eye from actor

to a hip hop artist. Throughout the filming of the mockumentary, Phoenix

remained in character for several public appearances, giving most of the public

the impression that he was genuinely quitting acting. The film can be seen and

interpreted as a person’s fierce battle to defend their sense of self. Other

examples include Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s British comedy-drama television

series Fleabag, where the main character’s life is constructed through a

narrative lens, with the unnamed protagonist, referred to as ‘Fleabag’,

constantly breaking the fourth wall as a means of breaking down her inner world

(Antunes).

In his essay titled “Performatism, or the end of Postmodernism” (2000),

Raoul Eshelman argued that some literary works have escaped the confines of

postmodernist irony and scepticism by creating narratives built on nested

‘double frames’ (Eshelman). In Eshelman’s double frame, the outer frame is a

story imbibed with fantasy elements, with its own rules about how the world

functions. The reader, or audience, is left with no choice but to engage and

commit to that fantasy reality. The inner frame consists of the characters and

their emotions, so the consumers of the work are free to engage with the inner

frame’s emotional content ‘unironically’ due to the outer frame’s fantasy

element drawing a boundary that distinguishes the narrative from our reality.

Yann Martel’s award winning novel Life of Pi (2001) is an example of the

concept of the double frame, as the protagonist, Piscine Molitor Patel, narrates

two stories of surviving a shipwreck, one of which is an elaborate and obvious

lie and the other which is the cold ugly truth. The narrative coerces us into

believing the former story as it's more elaborate with its elements beautifully

woven together.

Oscillation between opposites refers to the fluctuation between modern

and postmodern cultural modes and values. In this context, oscillation refers to

the back-and-forth movement between two opposing poles or perspectives, such

as irony and sincerity, individualism and collectivism, among other factors, in

such a way that both the oppositional factors are engaged with, without

cancelling each other out or lingering at the average. It revives the positivist

aspects of modernism while retaining the postmodern awareness of context and

irony. The idea is that rather than being fixed in one mode, individuals and

society move fluidly between these poles, alternating between different modes

of thinking and being. This allows for a more nuanced and complex

understanding of the world. It is characterised by a desire for both sincerity and

irony, hope and scepticism, and tradition and innovation (Vermeulen and van

den Akker).

The term “quirky” emerged within the frameworks of film criticism and

is often applied to work with similar characteristics such as music, literature,

television and other media. As elaborated in James McDowell’s “Notes on

Quirky”, the quirky can be seen as a sort of double frame that encloses a

particular character instead of a narrative, with the outer frame being the

character’s eccentricities which reveal something outside the norms, giving the

consumers access to a kind of vulnerability as it prevents irony from dissolving

the character’s emotional truth or felt experience (MacDowell). It breaks free

from the schisms of irony and earnestness with the help of the double frame of

eccentricity.

The sitcom New Girl (2011-18) revolves around a group of roommates

and their friends in Los Angeles, and deals with the problems faced by the

characters pertaining to their age, relationships and careers. The main characters

each have their own eccentricities— Jess is an awkward and enthusiastic girly

girl, Nick is an intelligent and witty bartender who dropped out of law school,

Schmidt is obsessed over his social standing and views Jess as a personal

project, and Winston is a competitive former athlete who moves into the loft

after he gives up on becoming a professional, and Cece, Jess’s best friend who

10 
 
 
is  a  driven  and  realistic  extrovert.  These  friends  learn  to  cope  with,  and 
sometimes revel in each other’s eccentricities.      
“The  Tiny”  or  metamodern  minimalism  inherits  minimalism  as  a 
method  from  both  modernism  and  postmodernism.  “Minimalism”  is  a  term 
coined to encompass the movements in both classic music and visual arts that 
emerged after World War II at the onset of the postmodern period. As a general 
term, it is used to describe small and simple aesthetics, stripped off of ornateness 
or  clutter.  Modernist  work  employs  minimalism  in  order  to  reveal  the 
underlying structures of things, and postmodern work employs minimalism to 
undercut modernism’s penchant for grand narratives and its tendency to preach 
novelty, excessiveness and all things grand, metamodern art uses minimalism 
to create vulnerability and intimacy, bringing the reader of a work closer to the 
felt experience expressed in the work.  
  The mumblecore subgenre of independent films uses low-budget film 
production which focuses on the personal relationships between characters, by 
giving more emphasis to dialogues rather than the plot. Frances Ha is one such 
film directed by Noah Baumbach and written by Baumabach and his partner, 
filmmaker and actor Greta Gerwig. The film revolves around the life of Frances 
Halladay, a twenty-seven-year-old dancer who struggles with finding stability 
and reaching for her dreams as the people around her begin to settle down. The 
black and white comedy drama was shot using a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, which 
is primarily used in photography and as they didn’t spend too much on crews 
and sets, they could afford to shoot a few scenes in Paris.  
  “The Epic” refers to the rebellion against postmodernist tendencies to 
shame  grandeur  and  unabashed  self-expression,  such  as  extravagant 

performances, lush musical arrangements, embrace of technology without

caution, over-the-top sexuality, excesses that don’t stop at just being

provocative, but engage grandiose, hero-filled storytelling. Metamodernism,

unlike postmodernism, doesn’t lead towards randomness and destructive

anarchy, but rather it aids in storytelling, and hence it is a version of

maximalism. Metamodern work may feature both the tiny and the epic, side-by-

side in the same work, and that in and of itself is an example of oscillation. The

Flaming Lips is a psychedelic rock band from Oklahoma that centres their

performances around maximalism. Their concerts involve huge unique set

designs and grand special effects unlike regular performances.

Fig 1. P Squared. The Flaming Lips announce 2021-2022 tour, talk Space

Bubble Concerts on CBS. Written by Amanda Hatfield.

www.brooklynvegan.com, 3 May 2021.

Pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre and music, which

involves juxtaposing seemingly disparate elements from historically separated

genres and cultures. It imitates the style or character of the work of one or more

artists and in doing so, it pays homage to the original work, unlike parody.

Under postmodernism, pastiche was dissociative as juxtaposed elements that

would result in amusingly absurd art, in order to call into question the

unexamined premise of each work. In the context of metamodernism,

constructive pastiche is employed to build a space inhabited by a felt experience

that is not at home in either element or its own. This acts as a bridge for various

cultural combinations which are normally separated by conventional

divisions. An example of this can be seen in the second season of Sam

Levinson’s American teen drama Euphoria. In the opening scene of the fourth

episode, the main characters, Rue and Jules, are seen recreating famous

paintings and film scenes that depict lovers. This recreation is not a part of the

plot, rather the creator’s way of conveying their blossoming romance.

Fig 2. Sam Levinson. “You Who Cannot See, Think of Those Can”. Euphoria,

Season 2, Episode 4. 30 Jan. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ-

OUI8l3Xk.

"Ironesty" is a portmanteau of irony and honesty, and involves using irony and

self-awareness to challenge and deconstruct traditional values and beliefs while

also being sincere and authentic in one's expression. It is a way of navigating

the complexities and contradictions of contemporary society while remaining

open to the possibility of progress and transformation. In other words, ironesty

is irony/sarcasm/sardonicism/snark employed in the service of making an

earnest point, or expressing a heart-felt emotion (Dember and Ceriello). On a

similar note, Bo Burnham’s YouTube videos and stand up specials employ a lot

of ironesty, which is what he’s popular for.

Normcore refers to the deliberate efforts by people to make the

conscious choice to opt for indistinguishable clothing, going for the most

“normal” look possible. Normcore allows people to “hide”, that is, to exist

within a neutral identity, poised to jump freely into any subcultural scene, or to

“hang out and groove” in the mainstream. According to Linda Ceriello and Greg

Dember, the prioritisation of the emotional desire to connect with potentially

anybody over the intellectual agenda of defining cultural categories through

fashion choices is a metamodernist motivation. Ellen DeGeneres and Jimmy

Kimmel, who are both comedians and television talk-show hosts, are some

examples of people who dress normcore. Both Kimmel and DeGeneres wear

suits because that’s what talk-show hosts ‘normally’ wear (Dember and

Ceriello).

Overprojection or anthropomorphizing refers to the tendency of humans

to attribute human qualities, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities, such

as animals, objects, or abstract concepts. This helps in portraying inner, felt

experiences to the point where it imbues itself in non-human entities. Characters

like the Volkswagen Beetle car from the Herbie film series, and the characters

of the Wes Anderson film and Roald Dahl's book The Fantastic Mr. Fox are

some examples.

Meta-cuteness refers to the things that evoke a sense of childlike

innocence and simplicity, but its target audience is adults. It tries to puncture

modernist over-seriousness in a way that is kind and not snarky. Meta-cuteness

tends to overlap with overprojection and quirky. Examples include usage of the

glockenspiel, which is predominantly used in music made for children, in music

who’s target audience are adults, such as Remi Wolfe, Clairo and Beebadoobee,

vocals of children in the song “Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey” theme song from the

Malayalam film Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey (2022) and the popularisation of the

Hello Kitty-Sanrio aesthetic in fashion.

Chapter 2

The World of Bo Burnham: Inside

Bo Burnham: Inside on the superficial level may be labelled a musical

comedy television special, but upon deeper analysis, it is a sincere artistic

response to the changes that took place during the age of the internet. The

special is a metamodern response to the COVID-19 crisis. It has been described

as an ‘essential document’ of the current crisis (post COVID-19 fallout), and

this is seen in the sections “How the World Works” and “Welcome to the

Internet” (Quinn; Bo Burnham: Inside 00:14:04 - 00:18:18; Bo Burnham: Inside

00:56:31-1:01:06).

The film begins with a shot of Burnham entering his room, the same

studio space that he enters at the end of his 2016 special Make Happy. He also

wears a similar outfit, implying that he is picking up from where he left off. This

song conveys seemingly authentic and direct introspection of his present

situation:

If you'd have told me a year ago

That I'd be locked inside of my home

(Ah, ah, ah)

I would have told you a year ago

Interesting, now leave me alone”

Sorry that I look like a mess

(Ah, ah, ah)

I booked a haircut but it got rescheduled

Robert's been a little depressed, no

And so today I'm gonna try just

Getting up, sitting down

Going back to work

Might not help, but still, it couldn't hurt

I'm sitting down, writing jokes

Singing silly songs

I'm sorry I was gone

But look, I made you some content

Daddy made you your favourite

Open wide

Here comes the content

It's a beautiful day

To stay inside. (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:00:45 - 00:02:18)

Burnham begins the song by taking a jab at his introversion

(“Interesting, now leave me alone”). He also portrays mundane elements of the

pandemic where not getting haircuts at the salon was the norm due to restrictions

on people in light of the pandemic (Forbes). This is also the first time he brings

up the topic of depression, which is not only a recurring theme in this film, but

also a social problem that was brought to light and was, and still is, of paramount

importance. Burnham leaves an apology saying “I’m sorry I was gone, but look

I made you some content”, and immediately adds an element of humour by

adding “Daddy made you your favourite, open wide, here comes the content,

it’s a beautiful day, to stay inside”. By addressing that he was missing in action

for a while (due to his recurring panic attacks during live performances), and

the monotony of life indoors during the pandemic, he brings about elements of

both humour and pathos.

After the beginning, we get a glimpse into the process of making the

film; from the camera placements, lighting set-up and the microphone and

camera set-up (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:02:53 - 00:03:45). Post the behind-the-

scenes elements begins the song titled “Comedy”, a satirical song about the

world of comedy. Not only does the song poke fun about the idea that comedy

is solely about making people laugh, it also highlights the pressures faced by

him as a comedian living in the age of the internet. It talks about his

disillusionment experienced after pursuing comedy as a profession, as the entire

art form, like other art forms, have been commodified for the purpose of getting

maximum revenue. He also expresses his concern over political problems such

as climate change and war. and contemplates leaving comedy (Bo Burnham:

Inside 00:04:05 - 00:04:37). Burnham asks if he should stop trying to be funny

or if he should give away his money (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:05:08 -00:05:15).

The latter question is quickly answered with a “No”, poking fun at rich people

who hoard their wealth, including himself as his estimated net-worth is said to

be four million US dollars, thereby also being a form of self-criticism (Bo

Burnham: Inside 00:05:15 - 00:05:16).

His dilemma and confusion is conveyed through the spotlight on his face

while the rest of his surroundings are shrouded in darkness. The light switches

on as though it were a revelation, since he evidently does not want to leave his

profession, so he jokes about it by making it seem as though it’s a mission from

God to heal people with his comedy and that the world needs direction from a

white guy like him, which could be a jab at the rise in the trend of tone-deaf

celebrities partaking in superficial activities for various causes or white

supremacy in general (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:05:26; Bo Burnham: Inside

00:05:26 - 00:05:54). The lights get switched off once again, and Bo Burnham

says: “The world is so fucked up. Systematic oppression, income inequality, the

other stuff… And there's only one thing that I can do about it. While— While

being paid and being the centre of attention..’ (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:05:56 -

00:06:18). It is an example of self-introspection/ criticism since the lines imply

that Burnham does not necessarily pay attention to the “other stuff”, which

entail the refugee crisis, poverty, racism and other social issues, as they do not

personally affect him (@justinswensonofficial and @NoShameSocko).

The world’s so sad

Pain, war, genocide, racism, sexism

But I gotta remember there’s good things about it too,

Like the fact that none of that’s happening to me, score! (Bo

Burnham: Inside 00:12:16 - 00:12:33)

Burnham says that there’s only one thing he can do about it, while being

paid and the centre of attention, and that’s healing the world with comedy. He

speaks of “making a literal difference metaphorically”, which is an oxymoron

since he’s implying that he is making a difference but in a figurative sense

(@justinswensonofficial and @NoShameSocko; Bo Burnham: Inside 00:06:09

- 00:06:28). This persona of Burnham has an ill-informed desire to do good and

is a caricature of the typical white saviour complex (Cammarota). For a

moment, he sees the problem of white people taking up space in the first place

and decides to not speak, but quick enough, he says he is bored and that it's no

fun for him. It could be a caricature of the White Man’s burden propagated

predominantly amongst White American males who speak about the upliftment

of minority communities but not necessarily listen to the said communities

(Inside 00:06:50 - 00:07:05).

After the anaphora of ‘healing the world with comedy’ being used in the

song, Burnham talks about the impractical aspect of the statement by bringing

up how comedy would be useless if one wakes up in a house filled with smoke

or if one comes across men clad in white cloaks, which alludes to the Klu Klux

Klan, and quickly questions if he should be continue making jokes (Bo

Burnham: Inside 00:07:50 - 00:08:00). The pre-chorus and chorus are repeated,

and he mentions how he thought that he’d never return to this profession, but

this special marks his comeback, and is followed by a sudden transition to the

blinds of his window (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:08:00 - 00:09:19). This is

followed by a sincere message by Burnham, who talks about the nature of the

special, which is unlike other specials as it doesn’t have an audience and is

filmed in a room, and how he hopes that the viewers find some solace after

watching this. His poor mental health is also seen as he discusses suicidal

ideation, and he also talks about how this special is a “little all over the place”

so viewers should not expect to see smooth transitions. Aptly enough, this

message is abruptly cut by another distinct frame which marks the start of the

song “FaceTime With My Mom (Tonight)” (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:09:32 -

00:11:02).

The aspect ratio shifts from the 16:9 ratio to the 9:16 ratio to imply that

he’s using his smartphone to FaceTime with his mother. The song is a hilarious

take on the concept of video calling one’s mother, and the awkwardness and the

embarrassment that ensues due to the struggle of keeping the conversation

going. Moreover, as his mother’s generation is known to be technologically-

challenged, issues pertaining to the ease of communication are frequent, such

as how his mother covers the camera lens and keeps the phone at a distance of

only six inches from her face (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:12:10 - 00:13:28). The

song is filled with similar observations, and makes use of the negative space of

the 9:16 ratio by adding two frames on either side to shift the ratio back to the

original 16:9 (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:13:01 -00:13:20). As the song progresses,

the aspect ratio of the central frame slowly shifts back to 9:16, which signifies

the end of the phone call with his mother (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:13:15 -

00:13:25). The frame cuts to Burnham sitting in his room, seemingly doing

nothing. However, in a later frame, we see Burnham in the right corner of the

screen sitting on a chair, which could imply that he was dissociating (Bo

Burnham: Inside 00:13:56).

This ominous scene cuts to a seemingly happy children’s song titled

"How the World Works", which goes from talking about how amazing the world

is to becoming a critique of capitalism (@NoShameSocko and @Max202020;

Bo Burnham: Inside 00:14:05; Bo Burnham: Inside 00:15:51 -

00:16:46). Burnham uses ventriloquism and introduces a sock puppet named

Socko to the viewers, and begins conversing with it (Bo Burnham: Inside

00:15:12). The song is perhaps symbolic of Burnham’s internal anti-capitalist

thoughts which are suppressed for the sake of producing accessible content and

escaping censorship from the producers, since he benefits from these specials.

The title of the song could also be a reference to the eponymous book by Noam

Chomsky, and the overall message of the song is one of scepticism and critical

examination of the status quo, and encourages listeners to think for themselves

and question the systems and institutions that shape our lives.

After the song ends, the scene cuts into Bo Burnham settling down and

explaining how he was a former comedian and is currently a “Social Brand

Consultant” (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:18:19). He satirically explains the

importance of marketing during the age of the pandemic since “customers

expect a lot more from their brands than they did in the past” (Bo Burnham:

Inside 00:18:44 - 00:18:50). It eventually becomes obvious that he’s poking

fun at brands that take a stand on social causes while marketing their products,

not because they genuinely want social change but to create more brand

awareness (Grief; Bo Burnham: Inside 00:18:55 - 00:19: 07).

This abruptly but smoothly transitions to Burnham in a red-flannel,

singing “White Woman’s Instagram” with a change in the aspect ratio from 16:9

ratio to the 4:5 just as in “FaceTime with my Mom (Tonight)” except the aspect

ratio is the same as an Instagram post instead of a phone screen. (Bo Burnham:

Inside 00:20:23 - 00:24:25). This song is similar to “Straight White Male” from

his 2016 film Bo Burnham: Make Happy with a similar critique of the

shallowness of a white woman by being ignorant or wilfully dismissive of the

problems of the world online by their idyllic fabrication of reality, while also

the acknowledging the occasional earnestness that seeps through the facade of

social media (@momotaru et al.).

The song ends and cuts to a video of Burnham reacting to what seems

to be the video for White Woman’s Instagram (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:24:26).

This scene cross dissolves into a visual of Burnham’s setup, which then uses a

J-cut to transition to a monologue by Burnham about the importance of being

quiet, or to put it more bluntly like Burnham, of shutting up. He questions

whether it is necessary to have an opinion and expresses his frustration about

people putting out their opinions on everything they come across. His self-

awareness is evident as he proceeds to speak about how he isn’t shutting up, and

the scene cuts off to the song titled “Unpaid Intern” right before he begins

justifying himself, almost as if he’s refusing to take accountability for his

hypocrisy.

Unpaid Intern is a song with a jazz tune and black and white visuals,

describing the plight of unpaid interns and it ends with scat singing (Bo

Burnham: Inside 00:26:10 - 00:26:42). This immediately cuts to visuals of

Burnham on the left side of the screen, with a set up similar to YouTubers where

he reacts to the song (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:26:43 - 00:29:10). He then

explains that the idea behind the song was that there were plenty of songs about

the working-class in the past but not a lot of songs about the labour exploitation

of the modern world (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:27:05 - 00:27:13). When the song

comes to an end, he finds himself reacting to the video of him reacting to it,

which then loops two more times, which then gives him the time to introspect

and earnestly talk about his reaction to his reaction while also noticing his

physical appearance. This seemingly overwhelms him, which causes us to stop

playing the video.

This is followed by the infamous song ‘Bezos I’ which mocks Jeff

Bezos, former CEO of the American multinational technology company

Amazon.com Inc, for his seemingly endless wealth and ability to get away with

almost anything, and this song is reprised later in the film in the song aptly titled

‘Bezos II’ (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:29:15 - 00:30:12; @Donutbigboy et al.; Bo

Burnham: Inside 01:01:53 - 01:02:20). The song, which ends in Burnham

screaming into the microphone, abruptly cuts to a visual of him laying on a

pillow on the floor, next to several electrical equipment. He begins to do a

commentary on how big corporations exploit the neurochemical effects of the

brain to make profits and the flattening of the entirety of the human experience

into the lifeless exchange of superficial value which benefits them, and how

that’s maybe not ideal (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:30:12 - 00:31:29). He then

slowly and nonchalantly declares that he is horny.

This cuts to his song ‘Sexting’, with Burnham standing in front of a wall

with a projector aimed at him, projecting images of text messages that are

normally sent during sexting (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:31:30 - 00:34:46). The

song describes sexting, or the act of sending sexual text messages which saw a

surge during the pandemic, and the problems faced while sexting (Bianchi et

al.). Burnham has given a lot of importance to detail for the visuals in his song,

with the air-conditioning set to 69 degree Fahrenheit, alluding to the sex-

position 69, and a short scene of an elaborate text message to the person he’s

sexting projected onto Burnham entailing that there’s no pressure to keep

sexting and that their comfort matters, thereby revolving around consent (Bo

Burnham: Inside 00:31:33; Bo Burnham: Inside 00:33:37). After the song ends,

the visuals cut to Burnham sitting in front of the camera embodying the energy

of early 2010s YouTubers’ expressing gratitude for consuming their content,

but right before he gets into it he picks up at knife which makes his message

seem ominous, and is a potential depiction of the lack of control when it comes

to viewing content due to its addictive nature (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:34:47 -

00:35:29; Bo Burnham: Inside 00:34:52).

Following this, the scene cuts to Burnham’s bedroom with the camera

on the floor, with him in the left corner singing ‘Look Who’s Inside Again’ (Bo

Burnham: Inside 00:35:30 - 00:37:19). The parts of the song require him to sing

in one breath, like the first three lines, and since he falters on the last word, he

expresses his frustration and begins singing it again. In this song, Burnham

laments about how there isn’t much to say to be funny when you’re confined to

your room, which is juxtaposed with his comedic origin as a teenager writing

songs and filming them in his room. He ends the song by sighing ‘one more’,

which signifies how he always strives for perfection (Bo Burnham: Inside

00:37:15).

Right after this, the scene cuts to Burnham watching his first public

video on the projector’s screen, which is borderline problematic like most of his

old videos, which foreshadows his next song ‘Problematic’ (Bo Burnham:

Inside 00:37:19 - 00:38:00).

‘Problematic’ is a song performed by Burnham which addresses his

problematic past by talking about his upbringing and the demographic he was

exposed to (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:38:01 - 00:41:12). Not only is it an attempt

at explaining why he was the way he was when he was younger, it is also a song

where he takes accountability for his actions. The visuals for this song entails

religious imagery, which is supported by Burnham’s request to God to forgive

him for his sins as he didn’t realise what he did, which is similar to Jesus’ lines

during his crucifixion where Jesus asks God to forgive the people for crucifying

him, as they didn’t know what they were doing (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:40:46;

Bo Burnham: Inside 00:38:35). Burnham also pokes fun at celebrities and other

famous figures who immediately issue apologies for their questionable actions

instead of actually taking the time to self-reflect and change (Bo Burnham:

Inside 00:39:36). The aspect ratio of the visuals of this song is 2.35:1 or the

cinemascope.

The song then cuts to various visuals of the same setup, at different times

of the day, which cuts to a visual of Burnham sitting in a dark room when the

camera recording these visuals falls down (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:41:12; Bo

Burnham: Inside 00:41:54). Beside Burnham in the scene that follows the

camera falling is a digital clock with the digits 11:58. Burnham begins his

monologue, where he begins to explain how he began working on this special

six months ago, which cuts to a tiny frame of Burnham for one second, where

he looks confused (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:41:56 - 00:43:50; Bo Burnham:

Inside 00:42:11). It goes back to the previous frame and Burnham laments about

how he wanted to finish this special before he turned thirty, but he proceeds to

say that he turns thirty in less than a minute when the clock displays 11:59 (Bo

Burnham: Inside 00:43:03). Since he can’t complete it before he turns thirty, he

says that he’ll sit there and enjoy the rest of his twenties, and proceeds to wait

till the clock displays 12:00. As soon as the clock displays 12:00, it J-cuts to the

song ‘30’ with a cross fade transition.

‘30’ is a song that seems to have emerged from a mid-life crisis, with

him reminiscing about his childhood and lamenting about the lack of fulfilment

he feels and the song is peppered with ad libs expressing dread at turning thirty

(@NoShameSocko et al.; Bo Burnham: Inside 00:43:50 - 00:46:48). He ends

the song declaring that in 2030 when he’s thirty, he’ll kill himself. Similar to

the way he ends ‘Look Who’s Inside Again’, he ends the sighs, ‘We’ll do one

more’ (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:46:45).

He then goes on record and clarifies that he doesn’t want to kill himself,

and the phrase

“I do not want to kill myself’ is repeated multiple times (Bo Burnham: Inside

00:46:47 - 00:46:28). He also tells people that if they feel like killing

themselves, they shouldn’t, and pleads as if it sounds exhausting. The scene cuts

from Burnham ’s anti-suicide rant to a scene of Burnham sitting in front of the

projector that plays that video on his white shirt looking exhausted (Bo

Burnham: Inside 00:47:05). Burnham proceeds to express his frustration at

people who have suicidal thoughts by saying one of the most commonly used

responses of there being people that love people who love them, but he also tries

to be earnest by saying that that’s may not be necessarily true but attempts at

imparting a seemingly insincere ray of hope by saying that there could be people

that love you in the future. He also says that if he could be dead for eighteen

months, he would like to die on the very same day (Bo Burnham: Inside

00:47:23 - 00:47:25; Bo Burnham: Inside 00:47:42).

The scene that follows this rant is an intermission, where Burnham

cleans a glass screen (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:48:10 - 00:49:17). The scene that

follows is the room with the setup for the shoot, and Burnham begins singing

‘Don’t Wanna Know’ (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:49:39 - 00:50:41). The song

expresses Burnham’s desire to know about what the audience is feeling but also

his fear of knowing what they think, as his work becomes a part of his identity

as a creator and artist, which could affect him personally.

This immediately cuts to twitch-streamer Burnham on the right corner

of the screen, that seemingly glitched into the film earlier, playing a game by

SSRI Interactive called ‘Inside’, which requires the gamers to make their avatars

do actions like waking up, crying, standing up, walking around, trying to open

the door, using a flashlight and playing the piano till the day is complete

(Renfro; Bo Burnham: Inside 00:13:56; Bo Burnham: Inside 00:50:42 -

00:53:30). The name SSRI interactive could allude to SSRIs, which are

commonly used antidepressants, as they have seen a spike in sales and usage

during the pandemic (Pazzagli et al.).

The scene following this is a view of Burnham’s setup from another

angle, where Burnham unfolds his bed, turns off the lights and goes to sleep,

with a spotlight on his face. For a brief moment, the scene cuts to a door slightly

open with sunlight entering which could signify Burnham’s desire to step back

outside and feel the sunlight (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:53:31 - 00:54:16). Right

after, the scene cuts to Burnham singing his song ‘Shit’, where he describes how

he feels how filthy and how the feeling won’t go away (Bo Burnham: Inside

00:54:17 - 00:55:33).

The song follows a monologue by Burnham where he gets candid about

his mental health, and how it’s rapidly approaching new lows, and then as he

begins to describe how he feels, it cuts to a scene focusing on his face with

colourful lights in the background as he sings about how he feels, which sound

like common symptoms of a panic attack, to an upbeat tune and then cuts back

to the previous scene (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:55:34 - 00:56:30).

Immediately following this comes Burnham’s performance of the song

‘Welcome to the Internet’, an upbeat song that increases in pace eventually

towards the end (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:56:31 - 01:01:05). The song describes

the content available on the internet, often juxtaposing the useful or entertaining

with the useless or disturbing. The song’s chorus addresses the addictive nature

of the internet, and how it desensitises us to various things and keeps the minds

of people constantly engaged, thereby commodifying it. For the song’s bridge,

Burnham reminisces about the time of the internet’s genesis, when it was less

saturated with content and activity. He uses calm music while singing about

how it was always the plan to put the world in the hands of the people and then

pauses, before breaking into ominous laughter and using his piano to make it

sound disturbing with the context presented and repeating the chorus of the song

more sinisterly and then repeating it once again at a faster pace (Bo Burnham:

Inside 01:00:24).

This cuts to Burnham’s monologue about his initial apprehension about

not being able to finish the special, which then turned to apprehension about

finishing the special because when once the special is done, Burnham will have

to get back to his life (Bo Burnham: Inside 01:01:06 - 01:01:52). He declares

that he’s going to work on it forever and that he’s not going to release it, and at

the end of the monologue it cuts to Burnham singing ‘Bezos II’, which

comprises of him singing the words ‘Jeffery Bezos’ to upbeat noises and

congratulating him in the end, perhaps for making profits and becoming the

richest man alive during the pandemic while people lost their jobs (Bo

Burnham: Inside 01:01:53 - 01:02:20; Thapliyal).

This cuts to Burnham in a dark room looking perplexed and manic while

listening to people laugh, which then cuts to Burnham emulating a live

performance and doing a ironic stand-up bit about how real-world human-to-

human tactile contact can kill people, and all human interaction should be

confined to digital spaces, since the outside world is a mere theatrical stage

where one stages and records content for the digital world, and about how

pirates should laminate their maps (Bo Burnham: Inside 01:02:21 - 01:02:36;

Bo Burnham: Inside 01:02:37 - 01:04:18).

Following this is a performance of ‘That Funny Feeling’, which is a song

that reflects the nuances of the age of the internet by mentioning ironies,

contrasts and inappropriate pairings with calm acoustic coffee shop music

playing in the background (Bo Burnham: Inside 01:04:19 - 01:09:23). This cuts

to a seemingly anxious Burnham’s speaking to the audience, saying that he

began working on the special a year ago, which is a lot longer than he

anticipated. As he begins to speak further, Burnham exhibits signs of frustration

and aggression and then immediately storms out (Bo Burnham: Inside 01:09:24

- 01:11:19). This then cuts to a scene with Burnham possibly having a

breakdown, as he manically begins to let out muffled noises with his hands in

his face (Bo Burnham: Inside 01:11:20 - 01:11:36). This J-cuts to the

performance of the song ‘All Eyes on Me’, which emulates a real performance

with pre-recorded audio of audience cheering and appropriate lighting (Bo

Burnham: Inside 01:11:37 - 01:17:30). He talks about how he quit comedy

because he got severe panic attacks, but when he improved his mental health

and was ready to perform live in 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic hit. As he

continues to sing the song, it is revealed that some scenes were shot on a

camcorder.

This cuts to a video of Burnham waking up in the morning, brushing his

teeth, rewatching his content, using his equipment and editing the song ‘All

Eyes on Me’ (Bo Burnham: Inside 01:17:31 - 01:19:29). This cuts to Burnham

getting seated on his chair to play the song ‘Goodbye’, which he describes as a

‘possible ending song’. This is seemingly a younger Burnham, with shorter hair

and a trimmed beard, and as he plays the song, it crossfades to an older

Burnham, or the Burnham which viewers were accustomed to seeing towards

the end of the special (Bo Burnham: Inside 01:19:30 - 01:24:00). The song is

self-explanatory, as he bids adieu to the viewers. A montage of the behind-the-

scenes footage of the earlier scenes begins to play, and the song contains lyrics

from ‘Welcome to the Internet’, ‘Look Who’s Inside Again’ and ‘Comedy’ (Bo

Burnham: Inside 01:21:23). Burnham expresses his fear that he’ll become

irrelevant if his content doesn’t appeal to his audience, and at the same time

fears that performing could negatively affect his mental health. When this song

ends, it slowly fades into the scene with a slightly open door, and Burnham

decides to step out into the light. An audience is heard applauding, and after the

applause Burnham tries to go back inside but the door remains locked, which

causes him to frantically try and open the door whilst sounds of an audience

laugh play in the background (Bo Burnham: Inside 01:24:01 - 01:26:10).

This then slowly becomes a match cut of the same visual playing on the screen,

whilst Burnham watches it (Bo Burnham: Inside 01:26:11 - 01:26:24). The film

ends with the song ‘Any Day Now’ as the credits roll (Bo Burnham: Inside

01:26:23).

Chapter 3

The Aesthetics of Narration: Analysing Inside through a metamodern lens

Looking at Bo Burnham’s career, which spans almost seventeen years,

his career evolved from ambiguous borderline problematic satire to an

awareness of what and how to satirise from his position of privilege. After

plummeting to the world of fame, he began satirising the very medium that gave

him his stardom by repeatedly mentioning the downsides of his career and at

the same time expressing his urge to be a performer (Cox).

This special offers a unique, introspective and intimate look into the life

of Bo Burnham as well as of the human condition in the era of the Covid-19

pandemic, which is characterised by isolation. Burnham’s performances convey

a sense of disconnection and loneliness that many people have experienced

during this time.

The special is a documentation of the collective trauma of the pandemic

and its effects on our mental health. Burnham explores themes such as anxiety,

depression, and the difficulty of maintaining a sense of self in the digital age,

which are of paramount relevance.

Burnham's use of music, humour, and visual imagery creates an

engaging and relatable experience for viewers, and by using satire to skewer

everything from social media to politics, along with his sharp wit and incisive

commentary, the special provides viewers with an understanding of the zeitgeist

of the digital age.

The Covid-19 pandemic was a period of anxiety, isolation and loneliness

for many, and this gave the masses a lot of time for self-reflection and

introspection. Many of Burnham’s songs capture the feelings of anxiety and

isolation, such as his songs “Content”, “Facetime with My Mom (Tonight)” and

“Sexting” convey this while also being relatable to the masses, particularly

people that are part of the millennial and Generation Z demographic. In the song

“Content”, Burnham speaks about how he’s booked a haircut, but it got

rescheduled, which was due to the strict regulations on people entering public

spaces, such as hair salons (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:01:31). In his song

“FaceTime with My Mom (Tonight)”, he talks about the routine of FaceTiming,

which is the action of having a face-to-face conversation with someone through

the internet using the mobile application FaceTime, on the with his mother,

which started off as a way to keep in touch with her since stay-at-home orders

were issued to prevent the spread of the virus (AJMC). He also recognises that

this is a virtual interaction, which is why the aspect ratio changes from 16:9 to

9:16, since the latter is the aspect ratio for most smartphones. Although

technology plays an important part in bridging the communication gap, the older

generation finds it difficult to utilise this technology, which Burnham mentions

in the song (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:11:03 - 00:13:23) . In the song “Sexting”,

he talks about the isolation he suffered and how distances between people and

their significant others are bridged through the internet, but he also emphasises

that this doesn’t fully emulate physical interactions as it is solely confined to the

digital space by not changing the aspect ratio, unlike in the songs “White

Woman’s Instagram” and “Facetime With My Mom (Tonight)” which see a

change in the aspect ratio to convey to viewers that these songs are about the

virtual world (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:31:31) . In “Look Who’s Inside Again”

he alludes to his comedic origins while at the same time drawing parallels with

his current circumstances as he is forced to make content in the confines of his

room (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:35:30 - 00:37:19).

Burnham’s career has spanned over sixteen years, performing in front

of audiences and making people laugh while also peppering his performances

with satire laced social commentary. This became a source of income for him,

and plummeted him to fame. After the release of his special “Make Happy” in

2016, due to severe panic attacks, he took a five-year hiatus to recover and work

on his mental health. His tryst with fame began after his 2006 video titled “My

Whole Family” went viral, when it was posted on YouTube (Bo Burnham:

Inside 00:37:52 - 00:38:01). Since then, Bo has been a performer and often talks

about performing as an artist in his specials. In his song “Content”, he

apologises for staying away from making comedic content and that he’s back

with content for his fans. The song “Comedy” is a satirical song where Bo

introspects about whether comedy is relevant at a time like this, since although

comedy makes people laugh, it isn’t a solution to the world’s problems (Bo

Burnham: Inside 00:04:05 - 00:04:37). The song is performed with Burnham

embodying a white saviour complex persona, which is vastly different from his

real persona. Furthermore, he does a skit parodying a social brand consultant

where he satirises brands that use social issues to further their sales (Bo

Burnham: Inside 00:18:41- 00:20:21). Burnham also mentions corporations

trying to rope in social issues in his song “That Funny Feeling” (Bo Burnham:

Inside 01:05:47 - 01:05:50).

In the song “White Woman’s Instagram”, he uses his lyricism and

visuals to emulate a typical white woman’s Instagram account, and uses the 4:5

ratio of the Instagram posts to aid in that (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:22:53 -

00:23:18). Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking application

that is popularly used by Generation Z and Millennials, and this shows that

social media, though mostly described as a facade, can occasionally display

earnestness and oscillate between being sincere and insincere.

The performance of the song “All Eyes on Me” emulates a live-

performance, with the lights and pre-recorded audience reactions, and serves to

communicate with the viewer about wanting to receive attention, his break from

performing and his anxieties (Bo Burnham: Inside 01:11:37 - 01:17:30). The

song directly communicates Bo’s raw feelings without any inhibitions.

In the song “Goodbye”, Burnham attempts to reverse the roles by saying,

“If I wake up in a house that’s full of smoke, don’t panic, so call me up and tell

me a joke” by making the viewer a performer (Bo Burnham: Inside 01:23:03 -

01:23:09). The line is similar to a line from the song “Comedy”, where he’s the

performer communicating with the audience about having the desire to help the

world, but in this song, which is towards the end of the special, he realises that

he’s the one who’s in need of help (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:08:13 - 00:18:18;

@livhm and @NoShameSocko).

Double frame is a major metamodern element that is employed in the

songs “Comedy” and “White Woman’s Instagram” to convey sincerity. The

entire film is essentially a performance by Bo made to not only entertain

audiences but also document nuances of the era of the pandemic.

An important social issue talked about in the special is mental health.

Throughout the special, Burnham grapples with his own feelings of despair and

hopelessness, using humour and music to cope with the overwhelming emotions

he experiences. Performing songs in front of a live audience for Burnham is

anxiety inducing, but writing and singing them serves as a tool of self-

expression and emotional release. Apart from the monologues by Burnham

about mental health, the topic is mainly discussed by the songs “30”, “Don’t

Wanna Know” and “Shit”.

The song “30”, which is performed after Burnham’s monologue at

11:58pm on the day before his birthday about how he wanted to finish the

special before he turned thirty, begins with Burnham reminiscing about his

childhood and proceeds to continue by expressing his lack of feeling fulfilled

by comparing himself with what his grandfather did (Bo Burnham: Inside

00:42:04 - 00:46:47). He then talks about how his friends are having children,

conveying to the viewers how his anxieties of growing older are amplified. The

song ends with Bo expressing suicidal ideation, with Bo clarifying in a later

monologue that he doesn’t feel that way (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:46:50 -

00:46:56 ).

Anxiety and loneliness are major themes in the song “Don’t Wanna

Know”, which expresses Bo’s desire to know what people think of his work but

he’s afraid of criticism and immediately follows up by saying, “I don’t wanna

know”, since his work becomes a part of his identity as an artist, so any criticism

levied against his work could be taken personally by him (@Entorpy et al).

The song “Shit” is a more blatant expression of Burnham’s daily routine

during the pandemic, with him explaining that his clothes are dirty, he hasn’t

taken a shower in nine days and that he keeps staring at the ceiling waiting for

him to overcome the feeling, among other things (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:54:17

- 00:55:33). Losing motivation to stay hygienic is a symptom of declining

mental health.

As discussed earlier, Bo Burnham: Inside offers social commentary

about the problems plaguing the post-digital age. The song “How the World

Works” is one such song that discusses how the world works, by using a double

frame, the outer frame is introduced as a song directed towards kids, and the

inner frame constitutes the social commentary (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:14:04 -

00:18:18). It starts off with Burnham singing about simple facts about nature,

and highlights the good about the world. He then brings out his sockpuppet,

nicknamed Socko, to help him explain how the world works. Socko, a metacute

element in the film, begins by indirectly establishing the power dynamics

between the two, and then proceeds to bash the education system for

propagating false and classist narratives, and states that the world is built with

genocide and exploitation. Socko also delves into corruption and a brief

description of the capitalist framework upon which the world today functions.

Burnham, who seems uninformed, naive and willing to listen, asks Socko how

he can help, but Socko angrily calls out his shallowness by pointing out that

Burnham is trying to see these social issues through the lens of bettering

himself. This leads to Burnham trying to pull Socko off his hand to silence him,

which establishes the power dynamics between Burnham and Socko which

parallels the same for the ruling class and the working class respectively. The

song is essentially a metaphor for the power dynamics between the working and

ruling class.

The sixth track of Burnham’s special, titled “Unpaid Intern” employs

the element of constructive pastiche by using jazz beats (Bo Burnham: Inside

00:26:10 - 00:26:42). The genre of jazz emerged from the African American

working-class communities of New Orleans, and Burnham sings about how

interns are exploited without pay. This is followed by a video of Burnham

reacting to the music video similar to YouTubers who run “reaction” channels,

explaining that the idea behind this song is that unlike the past, the modern

world lacks music about the exploitation of labour (Bo Burnham: Inside

00:26:43 - 00:29:10). The music video then cuts to his reaction video, and

Burnham is forced to react to himself reacting to the song, which becomes a

loop until Burnham puts a stop to it. This is an example of hyper-self-reflexivity

in Bo Burnham’s work.

“Bezos I” and “Bezos II” are dedicated to Jeffery Bezos, who was the

former president of Amazon Inc (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:29:15 - 00:30:12; Bo

Burnham: Inside 01:01:53 - 01:02:20). The former song alludes to the

perpetuated rags-to-riches story, which was proven to be false since his parents

had invested a large amount of money (Hartmans). It also mentions two other

billionaires, Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffet, who have an estimated net

worth of $127 billion and $ 101 billion dollars. By bringing them up, in a song

about Bezos, he tries to imply that their wealth pales in comparison to Bezos,

who was the richest man alive with a net exceeding $200 billion.

The special also explores the nature of the digital age, with “That Funny

Feeling” capturing the essence of the era of the pandemic (Bo Burnham: Inside

01:04:19 - 01:09:23). He mentions the peculiarities of the era— its ironies,

contrasts, inappropriate pairings and the feeling of hopelessness while

observing the world— all while Burnham plays calming music with his guitar

(@mimizee and @kingkillmonger). In “Welcome to the Internet”, Burnham

uses upbeat circus-like music in the background as he sings about how there’s

endless content on the internet, and explores the dichotomy of the internet by

mentioning the type of content that’s found. Since the internet tries to

commodify the attention of the masses, there’s a niche for everyone to fit into,

making the internet extremely addictive (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:56:31 -

01:01:05). The chorus of the song aptly describes the impact of the internet,

since it has a monopoly over the minds of people and plays a major role in

shaping people’s beliefs and ideas. When Burnham says “Apathy’s a tragedy

and boredom is a crime” in the chorus, he refers to how the internet has

essentially killed any room for boredom and has desensitised people to sensitive

news, thereby creating a sense of apathy and nihilism in the minds of millennials

and Generation Z (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:58:16 - 00:58:19). The song “Don’t

Wanna Know” has the lyric, “Am I on in the background? Are you on the

phone?”, which acknowledges the passive consumption of media as a means of

keeping our minds stimulated (Bo Burnham: Inside 00:50:12 - 00:50:16).. The

video that follows this song, which shows Burnham emulating a typical Twitch

streamer’s game review, not only shows a huge part of internet culture, but it

also alludes to his mental health and his daily routine during the pandemic

(Cveticanin; Bo Burnham: Inside 00:50:42 - 00:53:30). Twitch, is a American

video live streaming service that focuses on video game live streaming that saw

a rise in viewership and streamers during the pandemic (Stephen). Apart from

these songs, songs such as “White Woman’s Instagram” and “Sexting” captures

the zeitgeist of the age of the pandemic, which makes the content relatable to an

average millennial or someone from Generation Z (Bo Burnham: Inside

00:20:23 - 00:24:25 ; Bo Burnham: Inside 00:31:30 - 00:34:46). Overall, the

entire film is hyper-self-reflexive and uses a double frame: the outer frame

constantly establishes that it is a special that is shot in the confines of one of Bo

Burnham’s rooms, and the inner frame being the messages that the various

songs attempt to convey.

Furthermore, some of these songs, such as “Bezos I”, “Bezos II”,

“Welcome to the Internet” and “Look Who's Inside Again”, have gone viral on

social media for their song’s pacing, which adds appeal in the eyes of the youth

(“yahoolife”). Although viral audio may not be used to convey the context of

the audio, it does get a good fraction of the people curious to know its origins.

This is evident since the special received widespread fame and garnered several

accolades, without the use of promotional material apart from his social media

posts. Through the American record label Republic Records, Burnham released

the songs from the special as an album called Inside (The Songs), which reached

the top ten on the Official Album Charts and was certified Gold because of its

extensive sales. Burnham became the first individual to win three Emmy awards

for his directing, writing and musical direction. The song “All Eyes on Me”,

which became the first comedy song to enter Billboard Global 200 charts,

proceeded to win the Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 2022 Grammy

Awards.

With Bo Burnham: Inside having leftist undertones, it not only reflects

the majority views of Generation Z and Millennials, but it also promotes a

more favourable outlook for leftist ideology. Social media is one of Gen Z’s

biggest sources of information, and it helps in getting various demographics to

interact with each other (Taylor). Social media such as Reddit has countless

‘subreddits’ or communities discussing the lyricism, music production and the

most important of all, the social commentary on the era of the Covid-19

pandemic.

Conclusion

Music has been an integral part of humanity since time immemorial,

serving as a form of entertainment, expression, and communication. It has the

power to evoke emotions and has the power to divide and unify the masses.

More importantly, it acts as a medium for social commentary. As discussed in

the previous chapter, music has become an increasingly popular tool for artists

to express their views on social, cultural, and political issues that plague the

world.

With its release, Bo Burnham: Inside (2021) has caused a paradigm

shift in how we perceive and document culture. Apart from the

cinematography, production and editing, Bo Burnham: Inside’s music

production and writing is the main highlight of the special. Arguably, the

visuals, monologues, editing and other aspects of the special help in

amplifying the message that the music tries to convey. The meta-commentary

by Burnham mostly discusses his music or is related to the discussion that is

put forth by his music. By using music to express his thoughts and emotions

on a wide range of topics, spanning from the pandemic and social media to

mental health, he connects with his audience by raising points of discussion

and making them introspect.

Chapter One delved into an explanation of metamodernism by

beginning with an explanation of the different types of media and the

phenomenon of media convergence, which occurred after the advent of the

internet. It went on to correlate various forms of media with Modernism,

Postmodernism and Post-Postmodernism, after which it defined

metamodernism using Vermeulen and van den Akker’s definition. This was

further expounded upon by Linda Ceriello and Greg Dember, who proposed a

list of eleven non-exhaustive methods that often appear in metamodern work,

which are hyper-self-reflexivity, the narrative double frame (Eshelman’s

performatism), oscillation between opposites, quirky, the tiny (metamodern

minimalism), the epic (metamodern maximalism), constructive pastiche,

ironesty, normcore, overprojection (anthropomorphizing), and Meta-Cute and

dove into these eleven methods with examples.

Chapter Two broke down the world of Bo Burnham: Inside by stating

how the film is structured with visuals and monologues revolving around the

music. The chapter discussed Bo Burnham: Inside so that it is made clear that

this special doesn’t deal with coping with complex emotions, but rather

addressing that they exist. Burnham gets people to introspect and slowly

attempts to temporarily desensitise people by addressing and making people

aware of their apathy and nihilism in subtle ways through his music. By doing

so, Bo slowly sensitises people to problems of the world that people are

already aware of. At the same time, he also tries to encapsulate the

overwhelming nature of the digital age with imagery of what one can expect to

come across on the internet and music production, while also building a sense

of community by conveying that it is a universal experience. The chapter also

showed how his monologues and parodies reinforce the messages put forth by

his music.

Chapter Three analysed the special and highlights the metamodern

elements of various segments in the film, while also analysing the music

according to various talking points that have been taken into consideration.

The first point of discussion was isolation during the era of the pandemic,

which gave rise to self-reflection and introspection among the masses, while

also witnessing the horrific state of the world. This was further elaborated in

the songs “Content”, “FaceTime with My Mom (Tonight)”, “Sexting” and

“Look Who’s Inside Again”. The second point of discussion was about

performativity and Burnham’s relationship with it, with the songs “Content”,

“Comedy”, “That Funny Feeling”, “White Woman’s Instagram”, “All Eyes on

Me” and “Goodbye” discussing Burnham’s evolution as an artist and his

relationship with performing. Mental health is the next point of discussion and

it discussed Burnham’s mental health issues in a way that it seemed not just in

a way that evokes sympathy, but also in a way that it makes it relatable by

conveying the collective apprehensions of the generation. Lyrics from the

songs “30”, “Don’t Wanna Know” and “Shit” are analysed to substantiate the

statements made. The next topic discussed how social commentary is a very

important part of the age of the internet, and how songs such as “How the

World Works”, “Unpaid Intern”, “Bezos I” and “Bezos II” talk about the

injustices and inequalities of the world which is upheld by the capitalist

economic system. Furthermore, the nuances and the nature of the digital age is

discussed with songs like “That Funny Feeling”, “Welcome to the Internet”,

“Don’t Wanna Know”, “White Woman’s Instagram” and “Sexting” that talk

about the peculiarities of the age, the commodification of attention,

desensitisation of people to sensitive media and passive consumption. Lastly,

it discussed the songs from the special with respect to its impact on the masses

and its reception by the listeners. All the songs in the special capture the

essence of the zeitgeist of the age of the pandemic

Overall, Bo Burnham: Inside is not only a cultural touchstone for the

COVID-19 era, but also an exemplary work of art that proves that music and

visuals convey a narrative. It captures the anxiety, loneliness, and absurdity of

our current moment, while also providing a powerful commentary on the ways

in which technology has shaped our lives. The show's relevance and resonance

make it a must-see for anyone looking to understand the cultural moment in

which we are living.

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