TV Guide - "The Trouble With Todd"

[scarletlatitude]

https://www.tvguide.com/news/bojack-horseman-todd-asexual-representation/

17 June 2019

 

This is about the Bojack Horseman character who is asexual. The article is much longer, but here is the gist of it.

 

Quote

While the writers take great care to not treat Todd's asexuality as a joke, the fact that Todd's key character trait is absolute wackiness and penchant of getting himself into the wildest scenarios work against some key scenes that center his asexuality.

 

In the Season 5 episode "Planned Obsolescence," Todd goes to meet his girlfriend Yolanda's (Natalie Morales) parents. The family happens to be hypersexual to an absurd extreme; the family house is adorned with pornographic imagery and her parents talk about sex non-stop. Every female member of the house tries to sleep with Todd, complete with slapstick visual gags. Todd has to trick Yolanda's mom into putting on every piece of clothing she owns, and her twin sister dresses as Yolanda in an attempt to trick him into bed. In a Scooby-Doo-esque sequence where Todd is trying to escape both women, a gigantic barrel of heirloom lube spills everywhere, making the entire house a slip and slide of "sexy" proportions. The only reason this avalanche of human bodies covered in couture KY happens? Because Yolanda isn't out to her parents, and slapstick jokes are propelled by pitting Yolanda and Todd's asexuality against her family's hypersexuality.

But a lot of these jokes are a very real fear for ace people with regards to interacting with their families. Yolanda is concerned about coming out to her family because she doesn't think they'd understand that she isn't like them. Not only will they not understand, they are portrayed as so absurdly hypersexual that they wouldn't even have the framework to begin to understand. I've had similar fears about expressing my asexuality to friends and family because to them it's a completely natural instinct. How do you explain to someone that something they inherently feel and expressly taught by both real life and pop culture to pursue is so completely outside an ace person's desires? That your natural instinct has nothing to do with desiring sex, and everything to do with desiring a connection with someone?