BoJack Horseman, a Netflix Original Series that depicts a world were anthropomorphic animals live in the same society as humans, is an edgy adult cartoon that deals with heavy yet prevalent topics like divorce, sexuality, death, addiction, miscarriage, and feminism.
Each character has their own struggles throughout the series, but the character that resonates the most with me is Princess Carolyn.
Voiced by Amy Sedaris, Princess Carolyn is a strong, independent cat/woman who moved from a small town in North Carolina to noisy Los Angeles where she made a new life for herself. She often fades into the shadow of resident feminist, Diane Nguyen, who is opinionated and strong, but lacks the emotional depth of her feline friend.
Princess Carolyn’s story is one of the saddest in the show — she grew up in a small town on the east coast, one of twelve children, the last to leave her mother’s home. Her mother, Cutie Cutie Cupcake, was a degenerate alcoholic who worked as a housekeeper for the wealthy family next door.
Long story short, Princess Carolyn ended up getting pregnant, courtesy of Cooper, the wealthy family’s son. Cutie Cutie Cupcake thought that this was the start of something new for their family: fresh opportunities, money, and lifestyle.
But Princess Carolyn had a miscarriage, and her plans were soiled.
So, she moved to California to start a new life of her own.
There, she worked her way up the ladder from intern to talent agent, and later started her own agency. She even became a producer for a show starring her friend, BoJack.
But it’s years after the incident with Cooper, and Princess Carolyn wants a baby, but after five miscarriages she realizes that it won’t ever happen for her. She broke up with her boyfriend because of differing opinions on the subject. So, she decides to adopt.
After multiple battles with the adoption process (including getting turned down for being a workaholic), Princess Carolyn receives a call that there’s a baby being born for her — like, right now. So she goes to the hospital, only to give an empowering speech about how capable she is of being a single mother and raising that baby on her own.
In fact, her speech is so empowering that the single birth mother decides to keep the child. Basically, Princess Carolyn lost … again.
But the thing about everyone’s favorite pink cat is that after all of this, she’s still confident. She’s still sure of herself and hasn’t let anything stand in her way. She’s on the road to motherhood, and literally refuses help from her ex-boyfriend because she knows that she can do it herself. She’s battled a battle that seems so incredibly difficult to deal with, and she still keeps landing with her feet on the ground.
Princess Carolyn is a feminist icon who lets no man stand in her way. She made her own career and continues to live a happy(ish) life as a single woman. She knows her worth, and she’s never going to let it go.
