There are 5 main characters in Bojack Horseman: * Bojack - The titular horse from Horsin’ Around, and the protagonist of the series. An aimless fading star, hitting a midlife crisis. * Diane Nguyen - His ghostwriter and friend, a woman struggling to reconcile her principles and her lifestyle. * Todd - His layabout roommate; kind, compassionate, and often the instigator of B-plots * Princess Carolyn - His sometime girlfriend, agent, and a dedicated career woman seeking to excel in her professional and private lives. * Mister Peanutbutter - His frenemy; an ever-enthusiastic and cheerful character, keen to see the best in everything. Refuses to believe Bojack is anything but his best friend.
tidy_bojack %>% filter(word %in% c("bojack", "peanutbutter", "carolyn", "diane", "todd")) %>% mutate(word = as.factor(word)) %>%
count(word) %>% ggplot(aes(x = reorder(word,n), y = n)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity", fill = "steelblue") + coord_flip() + xlab("Character") + ylab("Frequency") + ggtitle("Character Naming Frequency", "Who is mentioned or addressed the most?")
This chart counts direct references to characters in all dialogue throughout the entirety of the four series of Bojack Horseman. Bojack’s prominence is unsurprising given his titular role, however the proportion of references to other characters bears some discussion.
If we consider the roles of the characters:
Diane is a sometime love-interest, friend, and frequent advisor to Bojack. She features prominently in the first season as his ghostwriter, and later works alongside Princess Carolyn during the filming and marketing of Secretariat. In Season 4, she branches out separately from Bojack, as do most characters, and establishes her story independently.
Todd is a frequent source of B-Plots, commenting himself on his zany adventures. He alternates between Bojack’s foil, comic relief, and periodically a morality pet due to his naivete and trusting natures.
Mister Peanutbutter is a rival in Bojack’s eyes; Diane’s boyfriend; and a frequent collaborator with Todd. His reduced frequency may not be due to appearing less often, but rather not being referred to by name.
Finally, Princess Carolyn is a character often referred to by name. But she also features less-heavily in a number of the storylines.
This plot does not tell us, however, how the frequency is distributed over the entirety of the series. Let us consider that below:
tidy_bojack %>% filter(word %in% c("bojack", "peanutbutter", "carolyn", "diane", "todd")) %>% mutate(word = as.factor(word)) %>%
count(season, word) %>% ggplot(aes(x = reorder(word,n), y = n, fill = season)) + geom_bar(stat = "identity") + coord_flip() + xlab("Character") + ylab("Frequency") + ggtitle("Character Naming Frequency - By Season", "Who is mentioned or addressed the most?")
This plot shows how the show has evolved from a single focus to an ensemble cast.
Bojack, Diane, and Todd, have all declined in frequency over the course of the series, while Mister Peanutbutter and Princess Carolyn have risen in prominence. This does not necessarily indicate that the characters occur less frequently. To determine that I will have to complete my transcription project.
This tells us that Bojack, Diane, and Todd, are all referred to by name less frequently. If they are established characters, the viewer will not need to hear their name so often, having become familiar with them. Instead of being the object of interaction, they can become the subject, and drive interactions with others.
In contrast, Mister Peanutbutter and Princess Carolyn were more frequently seen as side characters in the early seasons. Their more frequent mention might indicate more involvement with other characters, and more focus in a plotline, rather than being supporting elements.
This analysis is not truly revealing from a statistical perspective. It shows how many times a name is mentioned and nothing more. Tallying this by episode, as well as by season, could be an interesting future development, examining whether some characters receive less attention as others receive more.
I am also curious to look at the dialogue of the characters, to see if their frequency of being referred to parallels their frequency of interacting with other major and minor characters.