It’s Good to be Scared
Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared is an online web series made by Joseph Pelling and Becky Sloan. The first episode was published on YouTube on June 29, 2011. There are six episodes out with the latest one being published June 19, 2016. The show uses a mixture of live-action and animation to produce a childlike feeling to it. This Sesame Street feeling goes away as the show’s mature content begins to creep out of the dark. The three puppet characters, a human, a bird, and a character that can only be described as Red, find themselves in horrifying and chaotic situations. Each episode has a theme like a children’s show, but as far as what the episode means in relation to that theme can only be loosely interpreted. The narrative often starts out with the feeling of a children’s show as it descends into psychological chaos, while keeping the pace of a children’s show.
The show’s creators used Kickstarter to fund it after the first episode gained appeal. To advertise their Kickstarter they posted pictures of the puppet characters tied up like they were a hostage waiting to be released when the payment is made. The creators of the show used their narrative as a way of interacting with and pulling in the audience through a third party site. Now with over 180 million views on the six videos, the show is being developed into a television show. Viewers tend to either love the show and are freaked out by it or they are just freaked out by it. These reactions tend to be typical for this genre of independent avant-garde narrative. As far as what the show is precisely about is unknown. There are a large amount of theory and explanation videos of people trying to unravel the meaning of the show. The comments are people’s reactions to the bizarre nature of the show and people returning to watch again, one that helps explain the feeling of the show over time, “just as disturbing as the first time I watched it.” The creators have not come out to say any of the theories or explanations are correct or what they imagined when creating the show.
The crazy esoteric narrative is commonplace on the internet, which is the only possible birthplace of a show like this. Other internet birthed videos like “The Ultimate Showdown,” which features a long list of famous characters in a fight to the death, is another example of content that could only be made on the internet. When there is no one in charge of creative control besides the creator, there are no barriers on what can and cannot be done. Independently made content also has the liberty to challenge popular ideologies and the status quo. A large company would not want to take the risk of producing content like this (at the time) causing artists to create content through filter-less passion. The people who utilized their digital skills and expressed themselves, even though they may not know exactly how they feel, are the parents of early avant-garde content like this. When the narrative is not designed to make the audience feel a specific way, the audience’s feelings come from their own personal ideologies and world-views. This feeling of uncertainty in life is incredibly relatable and now made available for people to express and share these feelings online.
It begins in a puppet kitchen showing tiny household items made from cloth. These items include a newspaper called the right wing, a set of knives, and a calendar that reads June 19. A notebook opens and begins to sing a song about how being creative is his favorite idea. The notebook has to explain what it means to be creative and how to be creative in the beginning. The three main characters start to get the hang of what creativity is by looking at a cloud and seeing different things. The song has a basic rhyme scheme reminiscent of the children’s shows it parodies. The human character continues the song saying, “I might paint a picture of a clown,” The notebook continues with, “Whoa there, friend you might need to slow down.” As black goo begins to fall from out of frame onto the human character’s painting. This marks the decent into chaos. The song continues and the notebook tells the human character that green is not a creative color. The notebook musically explains how you need to listen to your heart, rain, and the voices in your brain to get your creativity flowing. There is a breakdown in the song as it shows each of the characters in a montage starting to create crafts made of crafting supplies thrown together with glue. Then there is a shot of the characters at the table and the song has another breakdown while the live-action turns to animation. While in animation the camera swings around the room showing the set break apart and be put back together and camera equipment manned by giant eyes with duck feet sticking out the bottom. The music has some electronic distortion as they are returned to live-action. This moment is a interesting style of hypermediacy and is the point of no return. The crafting montage returns but this time there is a real human heart on the table, which is then covered in glitter and played around with like a child would play with a craft. The music quickly turns from children’s tune to horror soundtrack as it begins to rain. The characters start to dance in the kitchen as the montage continues. The bird character cuts a slice of pie made of cloth on the outside and bloody red meat on the inside. One of the characters craft turns out to read, “Death” while the montage of madness continues with close up shots of the characters violently shaking. A piece of raw meat escapes into a mouse hole in the wall and the Death craft is shown again with skull and cross bones on it. The music cuts back to the children’s song from the beginning and the notebook says, “Now lets all agree to never be creative again.” The video abruptly ends after that.
Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared is odd. It’s a mature show in a childlike format that pushes the limit of meaning and chaos. It takes advantage of the innocence associated with the childlike format of the show. I believe the show is about nothing, but our brains crave these missing narrative details or explanations that I think are intentionally missing so that the viewer derives their own personal meaning out of the chaos that is Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared. Through being about nothing the meaning becomes much more personal as each individual has their own idea of what it means. Episode one, originally the only episode to be made, is the best example of this with its theme being creativity.
Just because Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared is essentially about nothing does not mean that it is meaningless. Through being about nothing each viewer has their own thoughts and feelings about the video. This episode highlights creativity and because there is no meaning each viewer creates his or her own meaning through being unconsciously creative. They are given recognizable information that slowly descends into a dissociative state. The creators’ independent creative freedom allowed them to challenge not only the way society thinks about creativity but change the status quo of what it means to be creative. This goes to the point that there is no wrong way to be creative, despite the notebook’s, big production company’s, or adult’s actions and words. Content like this is not going to be given a budget, but could only be created through passion. The narrative becomes interactive in this weird way that every audience member has his or her own personal interaction with the show. As children we learn how to be creative by our parents, our teachers, and our peers. The idea of being creative becomes socially constructed and as people grow older that idea becomes more of a façade for most. The show encourages coloring outside the lines and using whatever colors you think fits. Through Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared’s chaotic narrative it shows how to be creative outside the programmed options. The show combines a children’s show backdrop with adult themes, creating a show like never before. The meaninglessness of the show breaks the status quo and inspires creative freedom.
