Big Mouth (2017-present) is one of the more recent additions to the resurgence of adult animation. Created by Nick Kroll; Andrew Goldberg; Mark Levin; and Jennifer Flackett, the Netflix series features a group of young Americans facing puberty in the modern world. The series creates an embodiment of their hormones through the characters of the Hormone Monster and Monstress, who soon become characters with their own lives as the series progresses. At face value, the show is a comedy about the confusing period of time all humans face: adolescence. Yet, as the show progresses, it becomes more sophisticated, exploring issues like sexual consent and assault, feminism, divorce, sexuality, abortion, contraception and mental health issues such as depression. The show is liberal, taking a feminist stance against slut-shaming, being openly pro-choice, advocating for acceptance of all sexualities and taking a stance against men who abuse their power.
The show, whilst spending a good portion of time making masturbation jokes, can be informative and uses some complex narration. The show uses non-linear narration, a wide range of narrators, and uses intertextual references as high-brow as Albert Camus and popular culture references such as the Valentine’s Day special episode which is told in the style of the film When Harry Met Sally (1989). Additionally, the series uses metafiction, ‘a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, exposing the fictional illusion. Metafiction uses techniques to draw attention to itself as a work of art, while exposing the “truth” of a story’. This device is often used to create a comedic effect, usually in the form of satire, such as in the canonical novel Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes. Although metafiction is associated with the postmodernist movement, it can be traced as far back as Don Quixote and James Hogg’s The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824) which uses metafiction and psychological mystery. An established device in literature, metafiction can be found in film as early as the 1960s but gaining popularity from the 1990s, with films like Scream (1996) and The Truman Show (1998). Later, television also used this device as seen in The Simpsons (1989-present), South Park (1997-present), Entourage (2004–2011), The Office U.K. (2001–2003) and The Office U.S. (2005–2013), Rick and Morty (2013-present) and Black Mirror (2011-present), to name a few. In almost all of these examples, metafiction is used for comedy, be it Scream satirising the genre of horror whilst employing that genre itself, or Entourage satirising Hollywood whilst being a product of that culture itself. So whilst it is used for comedy, that comedy is employed to create a point about modern cultural values. In more philosophical works such as The Truman Show or Black Mirror, metafiction is used to address issues such as the possibility of free will. The form of metafiction, therefore, is wide-raging and is used to explore philosophy, culture and art itself.
Blurring the boundaries between what is fiction and what is not, or between author and audience, is a common feature of metafiction and often appears in Big Mouth.
In this episode, Nick Birch, a main character of the series, addresses the audience and the show itself whilst drunk for mere comedic effect, similar to earlier in the episode where he calls attention to the fact that he is a cartoon character.
However, other than jokes does this series use metafiction to make a deeper observation? In a recent symposium I attended, Dr Paul Crosthwaite presented on his recent book The Market Logics of Contemporary Fiction (2019) and the concept of market metafiction. He describes this new sub-genre as literature which is aware not only of its own fictionality but of its place within the contemporary marketplace as a work of fiction. He describes this form as emerging due to the pressures of conglomerate publishing houses and authors internalising a neoliberal market logic. Whilst listening, certain scenes from Big Mouth came to mind, so I plan to apply the concept of market metafiction to this series to investigate what the series says about its own place within the Netflix marketplace.
Early in the season, the show makes a satirical gesture towards the nature of binge-watching Netflix shows and how that affects audience viewing. In the middle of episode four in season one, the Hormone Monster, called Maurice, in conversation with Andrew Glouberman, another major character of the series, says ‘you’re picturing it, we’re talking about it’ which was a running joke from another character in the previous episode. Andrew, confused, asks for clarification, and Maurice replies both to Andrew and to the audience ‘it’s a call back to the last episode. They’re binge-watching it. You’re binge-watching it, right? I can’t wait for you to see the next one’. Obviously acknowledging its own fictionality and blurring the boundary between fiction and real-life, the show not only makes a comedy out of its own fiction but acknowledges its own place within the Netflix marketplace.
Binge-watching, the practice of watching whole seasons in a short space of time, has been hailed by health experts as detrimental to our health, normalised online in the form of “memes”, and subtly encouraged by Netflix itself.
It is no secret that Netflix analyses user data to determine what people watch; what people stop watching and when; how fast people watch a series; what date, time and area you watch in; what device you watch on and how to market certain films and series to specific people. This is how Netflix continues to make and provide content that people enjoy. By subtly adding an instant play to the next episode, or by advertising similar movies after one has ended, Netflix subtly encourages this binge-watching culture. The success of a show is measured by the percentage of people watching a show the whole way through and whether people watch it quickly. If people enjoy the shows available then they are less likely to cancel their subscription, thus, creating “binge-able” shows keeps the profits up for Netflix. At present, it is difficult to find studies on how binge-watching culture has changed the art of the television series beyond the shift to dumping a whole series at once rather than the traditional weekly episodic form. Most studies at present are more concerned with the effects on the viewer rather than the effects on the art itself, but at this moment in episode four of Big Mouth, the question of how the art form might be changing to accommodate for “binge-ability” is raised.
Later, in season three, another market metafictional moment calls to attention the advertising methods used by Netflix to keep viewers watching.
Another effect of Netflix’s ability to collect vast data on its users is its ability to track what people watch and provide more material similar to it. Netflix will use actors, genres, and directors and will ensure that if people are enjoying films made by the same people or starring certain actors, they will invest in those people and market accordingly. Steve Swasey, VP of Corporate Communications, discusses the investment of streaming House of Cards (2013–2018), a hugely popular Netflix series, and explains that:
Here, Jay Bilzerian, another major character of the series, thanks the real-life Chief Content Officer of Netflix for creating a show he feels is specifically designed for him, an effect created by the algorithms described by Swasey.
Here, the series calls attention to its own place as a product to be consumed on Netflix and its place within the marketing algorithms of Netflix.
There are plenty more metafictional moments in Big Mouth, such as season one episode six when Nick is banned from Netflix by his parents as a punishment, turns to the camera and says:
Or the following episode, when Maurice and Andrew discuss the episode itself within the episode:
And even in season one episode ten, where the characters discuss the topic of the whole show itself, ending with a look to the camera and questioning whether the audience thinks a show about ‘a bunch of kids masturbating’ is perverted.
These moments reinforce the metafictional currents that flow throughout the show and question the platform it is funded by and is streamed on, especially in the scenes analysed above. The metafiction of the series is also intertextually linked with other Netflix shows which operate on a metafictional level, such as fellow animated series BoJack Horseman (2014-present) or the philosophically loaded science fiction series, Black Mirror. BoJack Horseman uses metafiction to call into question viewers sympathies with the main character, BoJack, and reinforce that this character is complicated but not to be admired. The series equally uses metafiction to question how the media sympathises with anti-heroes in general and excuses men for immoral behaviour. Black Mirror also uses metafiction in their interactive episode Bandersnatch (2018) to call attention to the way that Netflix analyses viewer behaviour, a topic I covered in a previous blog post. This growing trend of metafiction, and in some cases market metafiction specifically, may indicate a developing trend of narratives which self-critique the streaming giants which are monopolising the film and television industry. As these narratives rely on platforms like Netflix to be made in the first place, market metafiction may be the only way for narratives to be critical of algorithmic dictated viewing. Whilst metafiction may often be comical, it is worth bearing in mind that there may be deeper levels of satire lurking beneath the surface.
