A Literary Analysis of "Content" from Bo Burnham's Inside
How Burnham uses the device of division of self to craft a narrator character that combines remarkable self-awareness with a lack of self-assuredness.
Author’s Note: This article deliberately does not deal with any of Bo Burnham’s biographical or historical context. Although he repeatedly suggests biographical overlap, the personas portrayed in Bo Burnham’s Inside will be treated as characters and each’s statements will be analyzed within the context of each song or sketch. Watch Inside on Netflix.
Bo Burnham’s Inside opens with the song “Content” in which he uses a division of self to draw attention to the narrator’s inability to trust his own power as an agent. “Content” is only just over a minute long but in that short time it sets up the stream-of-consciousness, seemingly random, self-reflective, lighthearted, fast, witty tone that characterizes much of the special. This article will not attempt to pin down any of Burnham’s actual opinions but instead carefully trace the moments of division of self which typify the song in order to see a consistent pattern in which the narrator struggles with what to do, how to feel, or who to be.
The first division of self is temporal. The first words of the song are “If you’d have told me a year ago that I’d be locked inside of my home I would have told you a year ago, ‘Interesting, now leave me alone’.” (Inside, 00:01:10) Burnham’s narrator admits that if he had been confronted with a truth in the past, he would not have believed it and would have rejected the speaker. Whether or not we believe “locked inside of my home” refers to mental illness or the COVID-19 pandemic, the message is that the narrator would have chosen not to believe it and continued without changing his behavior. The fact that this has been called out in the very first sentence of the first song of the special signals the significance of this; Burnham’s narrator has enough self-awareness to recognize his tendency to reject taking proactive actions regarding his future--even when it has to do with his own wellbeing.
The second division of self involves the narrator splitting into the role of his own parent. The narrator sings, “Sorry that I look like a mess. I booked a haircut but it got rescheduled,” only to correct himself, singing, “Robert’s been a little depressed” to which the narrator calls weakly in response, “No!” (Inside, 00:01:26) In these four lines we see evidence of three actors. It starts with the narrator apologizing for his appearance (because his haircut was rescheduled), a parent explaining the real reason the narrator is disheveled (depression), and the person the narrator and the parent are addressing (which could be the viewer1 or an imagined third party). This division establishes that our narrator is an unreliable one who doesn’t always understand the factors that have shaped him (note that is true whether or not the narrator is a mess because of the rescheduling or if he’s actually depressed--in either case his divisions of self are not presenting a consistent message).
The third division of self sees the narrator more fully assume the role of a parent. The narrator apologizes for having been absent saying, “I’m sorry I was gone. But look, I made you some content.” (Inside, 00:01:56). Apologizing for not being present implies that this person’s presence had been expected and that this person had been absent for a prolonged enough period to characterize them as having been ‘gone.’ This suggests the narrator is channeling an absent parent who has abrogated their parental responsibility. When the narrator goes on to sing, “Daddy made your favorite, open wide,” (Inside, 00:02:02) it confirms that the person apologizing for his absence was a parent--this makes sense because a parent could have provided the narrator the guidance he apparently lacked.2 If the narrator is able to act in the role of his own parent it suggests that the narrator should have been able to seek this guiding force within himself but he was unable to. In adopting the role of ‘Daddy’ and situating his internet content as food Burnham’s narrator makes the addressee his child--the consumer of the internet content (in other words, us, the viewers, society). Instead of helping himself he’s attempting to help the larger world but he’s doing so in an apparently misguided way since we know internet content to be a poor substitute for food (and a poor distraction from the parent having been absent). The song ends with the observation that “It’s a beautiful day to stay inside.” (Inside, 00:02:11) This phrasing echoes parental advice but subverts it--where the audience anticipates a call for a child to go play outside the narrator instead suggests a beautiful day should be spent consuming internet content. We know this bastardization of common advice is likely to be poor for our health. This strengthens the earlier suggestion that Burnham’s narrator is mistrustful of the supervisory powers emanating from within himself.
Following these instances of division of self we’ve found that Burnham’s narrator rejects truthful warnings, is unreliable about his current state, lacking a trusting guiding force, and mistrusting of himself. Despite the narrator’s strong self awareness and criticism of modern society’s reverence for internet content, the most striking indictment is of the narrator’s own ability to draw conclusions about himself and take action based on them. Situating “Content” as the first song in the special places a fascinating frame around this seemingly disjointed series of parodies; The narrator appears not only unable to draw his own conclusions, he appears to be completely out of touch with himself to the point of slipping effortlessly in and out of versions of himself. The first song, “Content,” suggests that the special might not be as disjointed as it seems and instead, that a strong central concept will be Burnham’s narrator’s remarkable self awareness paired with his stunning lack of self assuredness.
Normally this viewer is not spoken to directly which is why I’ve called them out as an actor in the scene.
Interesting to note that what the parent provides instead of life-sustaining sustenance (perhaps the guidance Burnham’s narrator seeks) he provides internet content as a replacement.