White Womens Instagram REACTION

[@godzillaeyes]

I love how when she's talking about her dead mom, the view widens from the Instagram square to show the messy room and how her life is bigger and more complicated that than the neat image she portrays on Insta, and then shrinks back down as she returns to talking about her accomplishments. So genius.

[@stephonix616]

So subtle and lovey. 🥰

[@TherapeuticReactions]

Genius indeed!!

[@554cortez]

Thought that was the most brilliant part. The opportunity to be genuine subverted by the constant need to perform.

[@713tink]

That’s the point. One is fake, one is real.

[@JoelWende]

I’ve always felt that this song is intended to be a lot kinder to the instagrammers than a lot of people take it to be. There’s that one verse where the instagrammer is talking to her mom, who has clearly passed away. It shows a lot of vulnerability. I think Bo is reminding us that whilst there’s all this stuff we ‘artsy intellectual types’ make fun of online, there are real human beings with real emotions behind that stuff!

[@TherapeuticReactions]

Hey Joel! Great comment! That's what I got from it as well 😄

[@drakedasnakeroberts3165]

The moms not dead, the whole verse is misdirection. She just moved away.

[@12thLevelSithLord]

@@drakedasnakeroberts3165 Definitely disagree. If we presume that Bo's playing the same character throughout the video, she's just turned 27 which means her mom's been gone since she was 17. What parent would move away when their child is still only 17, and it's not some fucked up relationship the kid would be happy to be away from? I think it's more likely she just lost her parents at a young age and is trying to put on a happy face for the 'gram.

[@lukeewald6781]

I also think he’s clearly commenting on our need to 1. Make posts to dead people to our IG audience (dead people won’t see this- so this, even though real, is still performative). And 2. Humblebrag (cuts away from the “I miss you” stuff to talking about her accomplishments in a backhanded bragging way). While also 3. Humanizing the IG woman and challenging us for laughing. What a mindfuck.

[@historydragonsandmagic]

You laugh until you realize she not only lost her mom but her dad too. Classic Bo gut punch. 🤜

[@TherapeuticReactions]

As long as the photos are pretty and everything looks fine everything is fine, right? Messed up world 😟

[@xchristinex001]

And the 27 photo, if her mum has been gone a decade then she lost both parents as a teenager and that makes it even more heartbreaking.

[@nuncapasaran9374]

It's kind of wild how he lures us into making fun of her (as people do on the internet, without context about people's lives) and we realize she's actually triumphed in ways maybe we haven't learned how to yet. She's overcome grief in a certain sense, she's worked hard for her own independence, she's being brave in seeking love. Like who the fuck are we to judge her lol.

[@emily-bz7ez]

“pretty boy” is the most accurate initial thought when watching this video

[@cherylwallingford3688]

Not sure if its been mentioned, but Bo won 3 Creative Arts Emmys for INSIDE a few days ago. He's up for another Emmy Award ( Best Variety Special) at this coming Sunday award show. Congrats Bo!

[@TherapeuticReactions]

Damn, no one did! Well deserved and it makes me happy to know that!! Thank you and congrats Bo!

[@UrbanNilssonOssian]

He won three of the six he was nominated for?! That's amazing!

[@TherapeuticReactions]

@@UrbanNilssonOssian 🎉🎉🎉

[@pepethefrog6809]

But we all know he doesn't care about that shit. LOL

[@BewareTheJabberwock]

In the part where she “speaks” to her mom, she says “mom, I’ve got a boyfriend and I’m crazy about him...” Later in the video 5:31 - is a second reference that is beautifully positive. She gets married! “Three little words (I love you), a couple of doves, and a ring on her finger from the person that she loves.” Note the BRILLIANT “wedding bell” chime Bo adds to the background for only these lines. ❤️ (LOVE your channel! Thank you! 😁)

[@ahm911]

what a find!

[@Azizzmuck]

Someone else pointed it out in another video, but the story begins before the break down in the middle. The balloons say she’s 27, which means she lost her mom at 17, and presumably her dad before that, so she’s been on her own since before she was an “adult”. Making her wanting to assure her mom how good her life is more poignant, and less narcissistic as some have recommended. Further building on the idea that this song is really about there being a real human behind the photos struggling and being themselves.

[@jorgen7702]

We all know this song was just Bo's excuse to make all those nice photos

[@TherapeuticReactions]

Oh and what nice photos indeed 🤩

[@TherapeuticReactions]

Hey everyone! Reaction starts at 0:25, hope your doing great! Enjoy :)

[@praseetharae8815]

If you haven’t already, I would recommend that you watch the entire special through at some point. Can absolutely happen after watching the songs individually for the KZbin content, but in my personal opinion there is a lot of in-between shots in the gaps between songs that show even more depth than the songs themselves and provide a lot of context for Bo. New here but always fascinating to see people discuss Bo’s work!

[@TherapeuticReactions]

Thanks for that recommendation, I will! And welcome! Happy to have you hear :)

[@nuncapasaran9374]

I love this song very much. I think as in other songs, Bo structures his songs in very specific and really smart ways. Like the evolution from beginning to end we feel differently at each part. The beginning feels like we're almost a little derisive of these instagram posts, without knowing this woman. Then with the expanded ratio we get the complexities of her life--at least a little bit. Loss, love, and her struggle to build her own meaning in life. Then we immediately return to the instagram posts. But at least for me, I felt different seeing this section with the context of her life in mind. It felt like I kind of understood more where her drive to post some of these things comes from. She just wants to express the life she's been trying to live, maybe some idealized version of it but she aspires to be positive and bold, and she's doing her best.

[@TherapeuticReactions]

❤️❤️❤️

[@pLobzina]

Find someone who looks at you like ReactionGuy looks at Bo Burnham's videos ☺️

[@TherapeuticReactions]

Aww! That's beautiful! Haha ❤️❤️

[@joelsmith48]

You should take a look at "We Think We Know You." It is the finale to his special "what". It is yet another one that is funny but helps you yet understand something about Bo and how his fame affects him.

[@TherapeuticReactions]

Most definitely will! Thank you Joel!

[@GwydionsAstralCoffeehouse]

I wonder if it all started with Bo thinking, "If I was a white woman, I'd have such a beautiful Instagram page..." 🤣

[@TherapeuticReactions]

😂😂

[@4dultw1thj0b]

I'd say follow your dreams Bo ;)

[@ericdaniel2596]

Watch the film Eighth Grade that Bo Burnham directed back in 2018. It's a perfect encapsulation of how funny, cringy, and hard that time in our lives can be. It's a great film and highly recommended for fans of Bo Burnham.

[@jesuschristbutafab9923]

Bo rocked all of those outfits flawlessly

[@TherapeuticReactions]

Absolutely agree

[@pallemaniac]

If I didn't know better I could bet my life that Bo actually is a professional white woman. 📷🤔😂 Great reaction, Peace from Sweden!

[@TherapeuticReactions]

😂😂😂 Peace and love, thank you ❤️

[@jlerrickson]

Speaking of Bo being an actor, you should see the film "Promising Young Woman" if you haven't. Bo is on the cast, but more than that the film wrestles with some very difficult topics. It might be right up your alley.

[@TherapeuticReactions]

Thank you for that recommendation ! I'll check it out 🤗

[@dirtgrub3452]

I love how the song starts off with the small IG like frame with all of the lyrics talking about very a manufactured idea of a person that society has fashioned clearly displaying how insincere or fake Instagrammers can be but make their life seem so wholesome and perfect and then the shot widens to expose reality with the lyrics talking about how this woman misses her mother that passed away 10 years prior (when she was 17 because there are balloons that show 27 earlier on) and then she says in her caption "Mamma I miss you, give a hug and kiss to dad" and then you realize that both of her parents are gone so she may not be quite as happy as her IG makes her seem yet she still pushes on. Then the frame goes back to the IG photo frame and continues with more wholesome content that I personally feel is now an Instagram account full of things to make herself feel happy after losing both of her parents but... isn't her life.

[@Gicrus]

I have yet to listen to this song without crying, I lost my mother two years ago

[@jamieadams966]

Agreed. I lost my mother on the 3rd of October 2021. I miss her deeply as I'm sure you do as well. They love us. Remember that.

[@Gicrus]

@@jamieadams966 I'm sorry for your loss, yes we were blessed to have mothers who loved us

[@QuikVidGuy]

The whole film's about the breakdown of the performer/audience divide. It's why the political posts are so vague and self-congratulatory (Like just duct tape that says "HATE"). She's also deriving street art from people with firsthand exposure to poverty and dreamcatchers from Chippewa people without really thinking about how much that personal connection matters to giving the art any depth. She cares about the issues, but her activism is performative and detached. So even when she's "opening up" and being vulnerable, she's still formatting her self-expression to the performance Instagram expects of her. It's also why the aspect ratio never settles on the 16:9, the ratio we expect to represent "real." It just bounces off the instant it reaches the edge of the screen, because 16:9 isn't any closer to reality than 1:1. We're still watching the performance, and it can't go beyond the edge of the screen. It honestly feels kind of lonely. Like, she could have any number of problems that she just can't be entirely honest about because it can't be expressed in a way that people will LIKE. Because the platform incentivizes us to treat her like every post has to be consumable.

[@Femtastico]

Loved this reaction ^_^ have you ever considered playing a game for a video? You dont have to be a gamer to enjoy some of the most wonderful games out there

[@TherapeuticReactions]

Actually I have! I'm a gamer as well, at the moment playing New World and recording as well, I'll give my thoughts further on and will do let's play as well on a different channel, thank you for your comment! 🤗

[@Femtastico]

@@TherapeuticReactions ooh sweet, looks like a nice game! I look forward to hear your thoughts on it :D have you ever played Life is Strange?

[@TherapeuticReactions]

@@Femtastico Don't know that one, what's it about? :) I wonder if people would like me to upload videos about games here as well, that's a good idea!

[@Femtastico]

@@TherapeuticReactions i would at least :D id say just try it, if youre having fun yourself then it will be fun to watch imo! Life is Strange is a choice based game about a high school girl with a certain power. It gets quite dark but overall i loved it and its very atmospheric.

[@TherapeuticReactions]

@@Femtastico Sounds interesting and I'm gonna check it out, thank you 😄

[@ImNoclue]

It took me a while to see the irony in this bit. It's not his deepest work and yeah, it's aimed at a certain type of instagram influencer that turns a camera on themself and packages both the most vapid and most authentic pieces of their life as content for attention. But, who else does that sound like? I know, maybe that guy in picture displaying his most personal thoughts in song and lights. The thing about Bo is, for better or worse, he's always talking about himself.

[@tnc7399]

So has everyone made the white woman's Instagram its own character. Also, this is irl gender bent version of something.

[@lifeiswhatever7792]

Cool haircut actually you have there

[@vh8542]

If it wasn't for white womans instagram then Turning 30 would have only been Turning 29 1/2 😂 I'd love to know how long this one took him.

[@TheDaringPastry1313]

It's said because she is talking to her dead mom and technically dad as well since she tells her mom to say hi to dad. You know, since they're both in heaven.

[@kennethmclaughlin7574]

#1 :D

[@TherapeuticReactions]

You beat me! Haha 🎉🎉🤗