"At the beginning of the series, we learn of his dream to be the next Fred Astaire. With all of Fred's talent, Bob appears bereft of a quality repeatedly noted but never fleshed out, that thing that makes someone a star. Whether it's agreeableness, charisma, some combination, or something else altogether, Bob can't grab hold of what lies beyond himself. So, he's forever left settling-for Oscars, Tonys, and Golden Globes. In conjunction, they reflect back to him the person he'll never be."
"Bob is revealed to suffer from bipolar disorder, which chronically leaves him feeling suicidal. We learn about his addictions and constant need for validation and worship. And we learn about his mindset, his insistence on fixating on the negative aspects of anything good. It's as though Bob spends his life searching for an achievement he can't easily kill, one worthy of defeating his intellectually superior inner devil. Yet, like the devil, Bob's mind is littered with tricks, which render impossible a fair assessment of his success."
"The 2019 miniseries on FX, Fosse/Verdon, about the eternally linked lives of director Bob Fosse and actress Gwen Verdon, highlights the pursuit and acquisition of perfection. Engulfed by success, Bob continues to struggle to extract any meaning or joy from it. There's aways a place that he can't seem to get to, thus he's always left reaching."
Bob Fosse relentlessly pursues perfection and stardom while remaining unable to find lasting meaning in success. He aspires to be like Fred Astaire but lacks an elusive star quality such as charisma or agreeableness. Awards like Oscars and Tonys provide external recognition yet mirror an ideal he believes he cannot become. Bipolar disorder, suicidal feelings, addictions, and a constant need for validation intensify his dissatisfaction. He habitually fixates on negatives and pits achievements against an intellectually superior inner critic that undermines fair appraisal. A psychiatric hospitalization precedes a period of professional wins and critical confrontation.
Read at Psychology Today
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