This show has a lot of deeper meanings, and hidden clues as to what's actually going on. The show was meant to be an excersize of creativity for people to find their own theories about the show and what is happening.
The first video also was a commentary on the education system, where they say they promote creativity, but then chastise those who show creativity in ways they don't approve of.
@@douknowdaway9218idk could also be a critique on all the snobs, I've seen quite a few people shit on artists that are conventional calling them boring and dismissing their art because they aren't doing wild stuff and pushing limits There are people who only think creativity means something weird and unconventional
I jumped off my chair when I saw this. its me. I guess because I’m already up in the top of the comments I’ll ask if you can do a video on the lore of Gorillaz it’s a cool band with some cool lore
DHMIS is nightmare-fuel, but also weirdly fascinating and incredibly creative. You really are a god-tier reactor tho, you notice all the subtle messaging in the show, while cooking up messed up theories on the side, while also baby-sitting your chat. Nothing escapes the watchful eyes of the Rat Queen.
Fun Fact: the creators of DHMIS had to contact TH-cam to get their videos off TH-cam Kids. The algorithm thought the pupets/animation made it kid friendly.
I WAS LITERALLY IMAGINING IF YOU WOULD WATCH THIS YESTERDAY, WHAT’RE THE CHANCES! Im literally so happy you’re doing this you have no clue this show is so good and especially season 2 it’s *perfect*
This is one of the creepiest, most surreal webshows ever and definitely the one with the most passion put into it. Seriously, the production value is insane. Please watch the TV show next.
Llamas With Hats, Charlie The Unicorn (this one was just trippy), Salad Fingers. Those are some of the creepiest ones, I thought DHMIS was creepy until I watched those...
Don't hug me I'm scared is such a great series The internet show is a critism of how groups, governments and such spread propaganda in kids media to tell them how to think and what to think ect. Its does a great job at doing so especially in the love episode Hope you enjoy the ride cause the TV show of DHMIS is really good its only 6 episodes long but its so well written
Personally, I also love Patricia Taxxon's theory about the story of yellow guy being specifically a metaphor for how autistic children are raised. You can find more in her video The Autistic Horror of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. It's a heavy watch, but an overall interesting one.
Ah, the weird era of seemingly happy but actually creepy shows like this series, Charlie the Unicorn, Happy Tree Friends or Llamas with hats. It takes me back.
ah, an internet classic. I remember when episodes 5 and six dropped. I was too scared to watch the other episodes by myself so, I looked up reactions to them on youtube as a sort of work around. And when episodes five and six dropped, I was unable to find any reactions since they were literally uploaded minutes ago so, I just decided bite the bullet and watch them by myself. Good times, man, good times.
5:20 Funny story about that: when TH-cam rolled out the restrictions on content for kids a couple years back, DHMIS1 briefly got flagged as being “content made for kids”. (It was an automated flagging that quickly got fixed, but still)
It's really interesting how many people saw only the first episode of this and didn't realize there was more to it. I remember a lot of people thinking this was either a weird joke, or the product of a disturbed mind. I did too. Then I learned what ARGs are.
well it turns out there was quite a long time between the first installment and the second one. idk why you'd expect us to think there's something more when we only had one installment for so long
The point of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared is the contradictions. Be creative (The right way.) Same thing with “Everyone has a special one.” Followed by an example of someone who never found love.
I really do suggest watching the rest of the episodes they are really good and it gets real crazy by the end. It's well worth the trauma I mean you've already watched the first 3 might as well finish it.
Yes there are a lot of these like 4/5…oh and really strange fact…there is a cartoon show on Cartoon Network called “The Amazing World of Gumball”. Well, in one of the episodes the main characters experience a nightmare…welp the creators of this series of videos was asked to help make and animate that segment of the episode. It’s not as bad as this, but you can still feel the same essence… I believe it was shortly after this Collab, that their own shown was announced...i could have some of these details wrong, but that's the gist of the situation.
Not something I’d expect from you but I hope we get more spooky content during spoopy month :3 I also love the breakdown on love and religion in episode 3, it’s so poignant. Also Episode 4’s song is the best and no one can convince me otherwise.
As cliche a recommendation this is, check out the film theory episodes for this series once you finish episode 6. It’s is actually a fascinating narrative about dreams being corrupted by capitalistic greed. There is a lot of little details and intentional framing. The Tv series is also excellent, much more of an upfront social commentary with more comedy elements.
Honestly if she has watched all of this, I think it'd be a great idea for him to watch Matpat's Theory video about this. It doesn't have the perfect theories but it still helps you understand or at least get a grasp of wtf did you just watch if you're not good at understanding weird stuff like this.
1. Some people try to control creative minds or restrict them. (Pouring ink on the clown, “green is not a creative color”) 2. Creativity was good and then we used our ingenuity to create WMDs and other weapons, torture, etc. It happens right after the shot where they become adults.
I'm so glad she didn't say anything about the duck being a cannibal for eating chicken lmao most ppl I've seen say that and it doesn't make any sense, it's two different species
Okay so the actual show that came out is fucking hilarious. It’s my humor. The TH-cam show feels more horror focused though they both have horror. Dhmis is one of the classics that kinda made my childhood so it’s nice to see you watch it Or young teen hood (same thing honestly)
5:28 “Yeah hi, we’re from the pet hospital down the street. And I understand you have a dying animal on the premises.” LOL XD Sorry that’s just where my brain turned when I heard that bad clarinet playing. Definitely helps ease the horrors we just experienced. Oh, and fun fact: The creators of this show ended up working on an episode of the Amazing World of Gumball.
This show has a lot of hidden lore and most of it is leading up and building up to a much larger plot so theory crafters and fans of horror went crazy over it. It's very good actually.
Seeing a blind reaction to this series was a treat to see, but also nostalgic in it's own way. Edit: Okay, i didn't expect you to do most of this in one go. I experienced it all over a course of them being released one by one. It can be overwhelming.
Someone in that chat said it so I'll repeat it here: this show is a punishment to all neglectful moms and uncaring dads for just shoving their kids off to an iPad and telling them to fuck off.
The internet series is a dark parody of children's programming and inserts a lot of lore in later episodes (The latter carries over into the TV series, where later episodes get more lore-driven.) The TV series is much more comedic, albeit very dark comedy. Both are fantastic at what they do.
We must keep this train going. It only gets better and more interesting from here. It should be great if we reacted to the show itself. Part of me thinks it would be more Alicia's speed. The youtube series is very condensed and extreme by the standards of what went to TV
I'll be honest, I never at all noticed any implications of grooming on episode 3. Here's what I understand about the meaning (indeed there's meaning there though most is deliberately obscured): This series has a bunch of obscured messages in every episode, however the topic present everywhere is about the nature of education. Not just on children mind you. [Yellow Guy is the one character that is portrayed as infantile in mindset, even though it's been implied he had a "maiden name" for some reason.] It does not tell you _what_ are the issues being criticized, plus the creators' official stance is that they won't elaborate on any message; but when you realize that the criticism is geared towards the nature of education that comes from society, and that it permeates the whole show, you will start drawing parallels to real life and start questioning people's lessons and knowledge quite a bit more than you originally asked for. The first episode is about creativity. The message is a bit more straightforward than the rest of the show, so I can make a guess: Traditionally, lots of us are not guided with regards to letting our creativity bloom. Instead, we're bounded into an arbitrary zone where we're told what is acceptable and desirable. Usually there's no reasonable clarification on where to stop, and yet we're still stopped once we create something undesirable while we're given no explanation. This does not adhere to the real nature of creativity, however. If you take the conscious decision to set our creativity free, you get this series. Or Anime. Something something. Regardless, minds are weird. We can decide ourselves what we want show, but someone else cannot decide that for us. (Take this with a grain of salt. Maybe add more salt, or you can just skip the salt if you like. The whole point is that you can think for yourself.) Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk
So the first episode of the series was a bit of a stand-alone thing. It became a viral sensation with its subversive take on kids' programming and the creepy tonal shift that at the time nobody expected. It circulated like wildfire with people sharing it to friends online just to get their reaction. The creators of the series though were not out simply to make something to serve as shock and awe content. At the core of the project, they wanted to provide a deep meta-commentary on issues.When the second episode in the series dropped as a surprise it sent people off to the races as it were. The original dropped on June 19th 2011, and within the second episode June 19th was also referenced. Within the run of the second episode, you can see several easter eggs from the first short including the notebook, the painting, and a few other gags lurking in the background for keen eyed viewers. These callbacks and hidden gestures immediately set the conspiracy-minded viewers of youtube on a hunt for more answers to work the narrative of the two episodes into a framework that was more comprehensible than the shorts themselves. Something like an ARG. People were farming this stuff for content like crazy with a genuine desire to figure out what was going on with all sorts of wild theories and assumptions they would post within communities to garner approval. Think Five Nights at Freddies type lore. Questions would only deepen when the series creators made a go fund me ad to ask for help raising funds to complete the series as they intended, and made a short that is just as bizarre and enigmatic as the series featuring the three primary characters as hostages in an unknown place resembling something like a bunker or a basement, with another very hairy puppet like man in a jumpsuit seeming to demand money while threatening physical harm to the captives with a series of distorted inaudible words and grunts with the exception of "Money" which is also portrayed on a gas can sitting in the room with the aid of a dollar sign and some other symbols for currency. Episode 3 would be released after the successful fundraising effort and, gave some context to the Missing poster we see at the beginning. The series as a whole is an effort to critique and highlight the commercial and hollow enterprise of children's television. Imagination is replaced with Creativity because imagination for the sake of just imagining is pointless. Creativity implies actually producing something, though anything made is going to be a hollow facsimile without the imagination to inspire it. And even then, you need to be creative in the right way, at the right time within the limitations "We" give you. Similarly with time, an abstract concept at its core, it must be given meaning that is useful, regardless of whether it makes sense or can be comprehended by the child. Throughout the episode, the word "Time" is used repetitively, and even to define itself on several occasions as if to hit home on the point that in order to get a concept across, simply beating it to death will make an impact eventually rather than leaving a subjective notion in the air. For episode 3 many see it as a criticism of cults, but it could just as easily be seen as religion as a whole. After all people in religions often refer to religions outside of their own as cults without any sense of irony. Taking another ambiguous concept such as Love and giving it hard boundaries. If you notice within the song regarding people in love it is explicitly said "He's made for her... and she's made for him... that's the way it's always been." This should be a huge red flag on the subversive tactics of indoctrination when you remember that despite all things, this is being portrayed as something intended for children. Furthermore, the tombstones are garnished with rather obvious crosses at the top in case the point trying to be made wasn't clear enough. Part of what has had so many people enthralled with this series is that for every installment's run time, there are hours upon hours of additional context to gain from re-watching, finding hidden easter eggs, and connecting dots from piece to piece. Furthermore, due to being such highly produced content, the rate at which episodes were released boiled down to once a year or so, usually on June 19th, or sometimes on Father's Day (which is absolutely intentional). This meant that the odd endings of each episode had an automatic draw for those wanting answers as they knew they'd have to wait another year to get any more clues as to the purpose of the show. The grander commentary as a whole serves to chastize society for how it treats the next generation. By selling out to commercialism and corporatism in television, companies are given a free pass to bombard kids with commercials and consumer-minded content just to fund the networks that air programming intended for them. That corporate reach infects and corrupts the very shows themselves with creators having to sacrifice their vision and alter the content of their work in order to appease advertisers in order to keep doing the thing they love. Meanwhile the kids these programs are intended for suffer because when the heart of content is aimed at genuinely teaching kids heartfelt and important lessons about life is gutted and replaced with a machine that only wants to sell them products, you wind up with a monster. A monster parents set their children down in front of with the expectation it will babysit and teach them all the things they are too tired too. And that more or less, is Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. The series that presents itself as a colorful and innocent children's show, but in truth, is hiding monsters in the closet. And that's why it got greenlit as a full-on show.
DHMIS is a really great series. There's a lot of subtle stuff I enjoyed about it when it first came out, and noticing stuff on rewatch (like the Clock avoiding all specific question about what/where is time and shutting them down with the noise). It seems? like you're not into it which is fine, but if you are/this gets enough views would love to see you react to more. Thanks for the video.
Id really recommend watching the Film Theory videos to get the nuances of the lore when you are done with season 1, MattPat does a really good job at explaining things. They are: "Film Theory: Don't Hug Me I'm Scared DECODED!" and "Film Theory: The HIDDEN LORE of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared!"
Episode 3 is in fact a criticism of religion, you can tell by the way it always wants to show "how love should be", and how it should always be protected with a "ring". Besides the part of the king is basically the representation of the indoctrination that usually exists in some religions. In general the series is a satire to all the kids shows and how sometimes they don't have the right teachings.
This show I think it’s extremely interesting from a tv film and video history perspective (in England- British history of film and tv) Also the orange at the beginning I thought was always a reference to the Annoying Orange. - By the time this video originally came out on TH-cam , annoying orange and Fred etc had existed and fallen out of common updates or discussion then this dropped and it asks you what do you think of when you see an orange (on TH-cam I already imagine that orange is going to pop up with some eyes and cause another fruit to die a ridiculous death while being yes annoying. Especially when the entire format is situated with puppets/kid themes annoying orange and early animation on TH-cam was much more well dark and focused a lot on realism/uncanny valley due to tech constraints and budgets.) I really love this dhmis series because it’s very detail oriented and feels very specific - the first episode feels more like pilot of a tv show they put as much of the wildness of the show into the slim 3-5 minutes just to see if the public will react ignore it or hate it - and they liked it so they planned out the next few episodes with more specific intentions
It got a show because as the episodes rolled in, more of the lore started making itself known and present. It ain't just a puppet show gone wrong and if you decide to continue watching the episodes, you'll see what I mean.
Fun fact the creators of this also worked on an episode of the amazing world of gumball that was much more child friendly while being equally as creepy
You asked why it got a show, and it really was because of the web series’ popularity and the creators really pushed for it until it was green lit. However, the show isn’t as disturbing as the web series and has more comedy than horror elements in it which actually helped made the show more watchable and have more replay ability than the videos.
Michael's special one is the tree he lives under. Either cause by livong under it, he's giving exclusive CO2 for it to breath...or he died under it and it's feeding off his corpse.
the end of this has a happy ending that acknowledges that this is all messed up and not good for children but it doesn't need to be that way, but i get not wanting to go through all of that to get to the end.
A fave theory i hearwd is that the series are taking place in one of the charecters heads. The youtube series is in red guys head as he panics over his upcoming birthday amd adulthood or, as i belive, the upcoming birth of his first child. The tv series is in yellow guys head as he retreats into his imaginary world to escaoe some trauma, possibly relating to his conteoling father
The DHMIS series is both horrific and iconic. It entails the devastating corruption of British kids' television, and how something that's intended to be wholesome and innocent can easily be warped into something much, much darker. Salad Fingers is mega-cursed, too. You have no idea.
These have really deep meanings that can be hard to pick up on some stuff because how insane one stuff comes off. I’d really like to see you react to the rest and then a breakdown
Llamas with Hats is another great series to watch from around the same time this came out. Also roughly the same era as Salad Fingers now that I think about it...a very interesting time in youtube's history :)
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This show has a lot of deeper meanings, and hidden clues as to what's actually going on. The show was meant to be an excersize of creativity for people to find their own theories about the show and what is happening.
The first video also was a commentary on the education system, where they say they promote creativity, but then chastise those who show creativity in ways they don't approve of.
I mean at the end of the series it definitely feels like it's a metaphor for producing children's shows, and the difficulties creators face.
@@douknowdaway9218idk could also be a critique on all the snobs, I've seen quite a few people shit on artists that are conventional calling them boring and dismissing their art because they aren't doing wild stuff and pushing limits
There are people who only think creativity means something weird and unconventional
@@mrminecraftcubeable That kind of is what it means though
So long as they think of creative things unlike the colour green
It's great seeing Alicia being all worried and protective during episode 3. Watch her face change when they go "you're confused, but that's ok!"
"It's a cult! It's a cult!"
And she was right.
Lowkey the only one that got me freaked out was episode 3, that one was legit uncomfortable.
Alicia watching one of the first youtube horrors I've ever seen is quite an unexpected birthday present
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday!!
Happy birthday but also Salad Fingers
Happy birthday, also this was far from my first TH-cam horror, it might have been for you but i was on yotube since 2007 or so
Happy birthday. Not even close to be YT first horror
I jumped off my chair when I saw this. its me.
I guess because I’m already up in the top of the comments I’ll ask if you can do a video on the lore of Gorillaz it’s a cool band with some cool lore
It’s him
It's him
He's here
Holy cow it's him!
My God, he is here
And with this, Alicia's future kids were spared nightmares for weeks, cus there's no way she'll let them find this on accident.
Now it’s TIME for peer pressure her to watch the rest of them.
DHMIS is nightmare-fuel, but also weirdly fascinating and incredibly creative. You really are a god-tier reactor tho, you notice all the subtle messaging in the show, while cooking up messed up theories on the side, while also baby-sitting your chat. Nothing escapes the watchful eyes of the Rat Queen.
It's not that bad compared to anything made by Film Cow, or the Salad Fingers series...
Fun Fact: the creators of DHMIS had to contact TH-cam to get their videos off TH-cam Kids. The algorithm thought the pupets/animation made it kid friendly.
I WAS LITERALLY IMAGINING IF YOU WOULD WATCH THIS YESTERDAY, WHAT’RE THE CHANCES! Im literally so happy you’re doing this you have no clue this show is so good and especially season 2 it’s *perfect*
You are the chosen one.
Same thing happened to me, except the Maury reaction.
This is one of the creepiest, most surreal webshows ever and definitely the one with the most passion put into it. Seriously, the production value is insane. Please watch the TV show next.
Agreed
And after that lasagnacat
I agree! Season 2 is one of the best things ive seen in a long time!!!
There’s three of us!!
Llamas With Hats, Charlie The Unicorn (this one was just trippy), Salad Fingers. Those are some of the creepiest ones, I thought DHMIS was creepy until I watched those...
See, this is a good example of why parental supervision for kids on the internet is EXTREMELY important. Sadly its also utterly neglected
Don't hug me I'm scared is such a great series
The internet show is a critism of how groups, governments and such spread propaganda in kids media to tell them how to think and what to think ect. Its does a great job at doing so especially in the love episode
Hope you enjoy the ride cause the TV show of DHMIS is really good its only 6 episodes long but its so well written
Its such a nostalgic show for me.
I used to watch all the theories back then as a kid😂😅
@@orbboom6119 Same I remember being an edgy teen in middleschool showing it to all my friends to see their shocked reactions lol
Personally, I also love Patricia Taxxon's theory about the story of yellow guy being specifically a metaphor for how autistic children are raised. You can find more in her video The Autistic Horror of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. It's a heavy watch, but an overall interesting one.
@@calvinyurko It's certainly my preferred reading of the series: An allegory for what it's like to be neurodivergent in today's school system.
@@ImmaLittlePip used to be salad fingers for me, remember showing it to a girl that was into weird stuff
Ah, the weird era of seemingly happy but actually creepy shows like this series, Charlie the Unicorn, Happy Tree Friends or Llamas with hats. It takes me back.
Llamas with Hats is less creative but better written
ah, an internet classic. I remember when episodes 5 and six dropped.
I was too scared to watch the other episodes by myself so, I looked up reactions to them on youtube as a sort of work around. And when episodes five and six dropped, I was unable to find any reactions since they were literally uploaded minutes ago so, I just decided bite the bullet and watch them by myself. Good times, man, good times.
5:20 Funny story about that: when TH-cam rolled out the restrictions on content for kids a couple years back, DHMIS1 briefly got flagged as being “content made for kids”. (It was an automated flagging that quickly got fixed, but still)
It's really interesting how many people saw only the first episode of this and didn't realize there was more to it. I remember a lot of people thinking this was either a weird joke, or the product of a disturbed mind. I did too. Then I learned what ARGs are.
well it turns out there was quite a long time between the first installment and the second one. idk why you'd expect us to think there's something more when we only had one installment for so long
The point of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared is the contradictions.
Be creative (The right way.)
Same thing with “Everyone has a special one.” Followed by an example of someone who never found love.
There's a whole irl lore behind the creation of that web-series and what it references, you should totally check it out later, it's fascinating
Yooo this series is awesome! Hope you like it and watch the rest of the episodes if you do like it.
I really do suggest watching the rest of the episodes they are really good and it gets real crazy by the end. It's well worth the trauma I mean you've already watched the first 3 might as well finish it.
Please watch the rest of the episodes!! It only gets more horrifying from here :)
Yes there are a lot of these like 4/5…oh and really strange fact…there is a cartoon show on Cartoon Network called “The Amazing World of Gumball”. Well, in one of the episodes the main characters experience a nightmare…welp the creators of this series of videos was asked to help make and animate that segment of the episode. It’s not as bad as this, but you can still feel the same essence…
I believe it was shortly after this Collab, that their own shown was announced...i could have some of these details wrong, but that's the gist of the situation.
The creators of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared and that one Gumball episode also did those insanely weird Trolli candy commercials.
Hell yeah, highly recommend the tv series, its an absolute riot
WOOOOOOO just in time for spooky month. Speaking of which, you need to watch Spooky Month from Sr Pelo
"eventually everyone runs out of time" hits hard
Not something I’d expect from you but I hope we get more spooky content during spoopy month :3
I also love the breakdown on love and religion in episode 3, it’s so poignant. Also Episode 4’s song is the best and no one can convince me otherwise.
As cliche a recommendation this is, check out the film theory episodes for this series once you finish episode 6. It’s is actually a fascinating narrative about dreams being corrupted by capitalistic greed. There is a lot of little details and intentional framing. The Tv series is also excellent, much more of an upfront social commentary with more comedy elements.
Honestly if she has watched all of this, I think it'd be a great idea for him to watch Matpat's Theory video about this.
It doesn't have the perfect theories but it still helps you understand or at least get a grasp of wtf did you just watch if you're not good at understanding weird stuff like this.
I hope you get to see the rest. There is a lot of interesting lore behind all of this that people have been very diligently uncovering
DHMIS is a horror comedy. The original web series focused more on the horror aspects, while the official tv series leaned more into the dark comedy.
I hope that you carry on with the series .
I still cant believe they got a full show in the UK on channel 4.
1. Some people try to control creative minds or restrict them. (Pouring ink on the clown, “green is not a creative color”)
2. Creativity was good and then we used our ingenuity to create WMDs and other weapons, torture, etc. It happens right after the shot where they become adults.
I'm so glad she didn't say anything about the duck being a cannibal for eating chicken lmao most ppl I've seen say that and it doesn't make any sense, it's two different species
The full 30 seconds of stunned silence was perfect during Ep 1
Okay so the actual show that came out is fucking hilarious. It’s my humor. The TH-cam show feels more horror focused though they both have horror. Dhmis is one of the classics that kinda made my childhood so it’s nice to see you watch it
Or young teen hood (same thing honestly)
One of my favourite series of all time, both the original and the new show!!!!
DO THEM ALL! do MORE! It's SOOO good do more! it gets better and better! I love this show! PLS DO MORE!
Oh my god yes this is what iv wanted her to watch for a while!! She should watch saled fingers next!!
Salad fingers is great
I believe a new episode came out recently
5:28 “Yeah hi, we’re from the pet hospital down the street. And I understand you have a dying animal on the premises.”
LOL XD Sorry that’s just where my brain turned when I heard that bad clarinet playing. Definitely helps ease the horrors we just experienced.
Oh, and fun fact: The creators of this show ended up working on an episode of the Amazing World of Gumball.
The guys behind this did a collab on an episode of Gumball
This show has a lot of hidden lore and most of it is leading up and building up to a much larger plot so theory crafters and fans of horror went crazy over it. It's very good actually.
Seeing a blind reaction to this series was a treat to see, but also nostalgic in it's own way.
Edit: Okay, i didn't expect you to do most of this in one go. I experienced it all over a course of them being released one by one. It can be overwhelming.
Every episode you see the same calendar with the same day. I wonder why :->
Someone in that chat said it so I'll repeat it here: this show is a punishment to all neglectful moms and uncaring dads for just shoving their kids off to an iPad and telling them to fuck off.
The internet series is a dark parody of children's programming and inserts a lot of lore in later episodes (The latter carries over into the TV series, where later episodes get more lore-driven.) The TV series is much more comedic, albeit very dark comedy. Both are fantastic at what they do.
I have to recommend Super Eyepatch Wolf, especially "What the Internet did to Garfield" and "The Cruelest Game I've Ever Played" for spooky season
The channel 4 show bangs hard.
Channel 4 still got bangers
We must keep this train going.
It only gets better and more interesting from here.
It should be great if we reacted to the show itself. Part of me thinks it would be more Alicia's speed.
The youtube series is very condensed and extreme by the standards of what went to TV
Did somebody say TRANSPORT?
It has all kinds of hidden meaning and lore but also, don't be a scared bish, more more
I love how she _immediately_ sees through Shrignold’s tricks.
My husband chose this to put on while we folded laundry one day. I believe I said, "Ah, so you've chosen violence."
I'll be honest, I never at all noticed any implications of grooming on episode 3.
Here's what I understand about the meaning (indeed there's meaning there though most is deliberately obscured):
This series has a bunch of obscured messages in every episode, however the topic present everywhere is about the nature of education. Not just on children mind you. [Yellow Guy is the one character that is portrayed as infantile in mindset, even though it's been implied he had a "maiden name" for some reason.]
It does not tell you _what_ are the issues being criticized, plus the creators' official stance is that they won't elaborate on any message; but when you realize that the criticism is geared towards the nature of education that comes from society, and that it permeates the whole show, you will start drawing parallels to real life and start questioning people's lessons and knowledge quite a bit more than you originally asked for.
The first episode is about creativity. The message is a bit more straightforward than the rest of the show, so I can make a guess:
Traditionally, lots of us are not guided with regards to letting our creativity bloom. Instead, we're bounded into an arbitrary zone where we're told what is acceptable and desirable. Usually there's no reasonable clarification on where to stop, and yet we're still stopped once we create something undesirable while we're given no explanation.
This does not adhere to the real nature of creativity, however. If you take the conscious decision to set our creativity free, you get this series. Or Anime. Something something. Regardless, minds are weird. We can decide ourselves what we want show, but someone else cannot decide that for us.
(Take this with a grain of salt. Maybe add more salt, or you can just skip the salt if you like. The whole point is that you can think for yourself.)
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk
OMG ALICIA YOURE GONNA LOVE THIS! Don't hug me im scare is soooo good a masterpiece
Yeah this series always gets you in with the wholesome part and drags you in with the creepy a$$ part
It's honestly hilarious after a lot of rewatching over the years
So the first episode of the series was a bit of a stand-alone thing. It became a viral sensation with its subversive take on kids' programming and the creepy tonal shift that at the time nobody expected. It circulated like wildfire with people sharing it to friends online just to get their reaction. The creators of the series though were not out simply to make something to serve as shock and awe content. At the core of the project, they wanted to provide a deep meta-commentary on issues.When the second episode in the series dropped as a surprise it sent people off to the races as it were. The original dropped on June 19th 2011, and within the second episode June 19th was also referenced. Within the run of the second episode, you can see several easter eggs from the first short including the notebook, the painting, and a few other gags lurking in the background for keen eyed viewers. These callbacks and hidden gestures immediately set the conspiracy-minded viewers of youtube on a hunt for more answers to work the narrative of the two episodes into a framework that was more comprehensible than the shorts themselves. Something like an ARG. People were farming this stuff for content like crazy with a genuine desire to figure out what was going on with all sorts of wild theories and assumptions they would post within communities to garner approval. Think Five Nights at Freddies type lore.
Questions would only deepen when the series creators made a go fund me ad to ask for help raising funds to complete the series as they intended, and made a short that is just as bizarre and enigmatic as the series featuring the three primary characters as hostages in an unknown place resembling something like a bunker or a basement, with another very hairy puppet like man in a jumpsuit seeming to demand money while threatening physical harm to the captives with a series of distorted inaudible words and grunts with the exception of "Money" which is also portrayed on a gas can sitting in the room with the aid of a dollar sign and some other symbols for currency. Episode 3 would be released after the successful fundraising effort and, gave some context to the Missing poster we see at the beginning.
The series as a whole is an effort to critique and highlight the commercial and hollow enterprise of children's television. Imagination is replaced with Creativity because imagination for the sake of just imagining is pointless. Creativity implies actually producing something, though anything made is going to be a hollow facsimile without the imagination to inspire it. And even then, you need to be creative in the right way, at the right time within the limitations "We" give you.
Similarly with time, an abstract concept at its core, it must be given meaning that is useful, regardless of whether it makes sense or can be comprehended by the child. Throughout the episode, the word "Time" is used repetitively, and even to define itself on several occasions as if to hit home on the point that in order to get a concept across, simply beating it to death will make an impact eventually rather than leaving a subjective notion in the air.
For episode 3 many see it as a criticism of cults, but it could just as easily be seen as religion as a whole. After all people in religions often refer to religions outside of their own as cults without any sense of irony. Taking another ambiguous concept such as Love and giving it hard boundaries. If you notice within the song regarding people in love it is explicitly said "He's made for her... and she's made for him... that's the way it's always been." This should be a huge red flag on the subversive tactics of indoctrination when you remember that despite all things, this is being portrayed as something intended for children. Furthermore, the tombstones are garnished with rather obvious crosses at the top in case the point trying to be made wasn't clear enough.
Part of what has had so many people enthralled with this series is that for every installment's run time, there are hours upon hours of additional context to gain from re-watching, finding hidden easter eggs, and connecting dots from piece to piece. Furthermore, due to being such highly produced content, the rate at which episodes were released boiled down to once a year or so, usually on June 19th, or sometimes on Father's Day (which is absolutely intentional). This meant that the odd endings of each episode had an automatic draw for those wanting answers as they knew they'd have to wait another year to get any more clues as to the purpose of the show.
The grander commentary as a whole serves to chastize society for how it treats the next generation. By selling out to commercialism and corporatism in television, companies are given a free pass to bombard kids with commercials and consumer-minded content just to fund the networks that air programming intended for them. That corporate reach infects and corrupts the very shows themselves with creators having to sacrifice their vision and alter the content of their work in order to appease advertisers in order to keep doing the thing they love. Meanwhile the kids these programs are intended for suffer because when the heart of content is aimed at genuinely teaching kids heartfelt and important lessons about life is gutted and replaced with a machine that only wants to sell them products, you wind up with a monster. A monster parents set their children down in front of with the expectation it will babysit and teach them all the things they are too tired too. And that more or less, is Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. The series that presents itself as a colorful and innocent children's show, but in truth, is hiding monsters in the closet.
And that's why it got greenlit as a full-on show.
DHMIS is a really great series. There's a lot of subtle stuff I enjoyed about it when it first came out, and noticing stuff on rewatch (like the Clock avoiding all specific question about what/where is time and shutting them down with the noise). It seems? like you're not into it which is fine, but if you are/this gets enough views would love to see you react to more. Thanks for the video.
Id really recommend watching the Film Theory videos to get the nuances of the lore when you are done with season 1, MattPat does a really good job at explaining things.
They are: "Film Theory: Don't Hug Me I'm Scared DECODED!" and "Film Theory: The HIDDEN LORE of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared!"
Thanks for this reaction.
This series is certainly very distinctive.
I'd love to see you react to the rest of the series of this show, it's so great and the final episode of the TV series is dark
PLEASE ALSO WATCH THE ACTUAL SHOW THEY MADE ITS SO FUNNY
Episode 3 is in fact a criticism of religion, you can tell by the way it always wants to show "how love should be", and how it should always be protected with a "ring". Besides the part of the king is basically the representation of the indoctrination that usually exists in some religions.
In general the series is a satire to all the kids shows and how sometimes they don't have the right teachings.
Alicia definitely has a wild imagination during episode 3
This show I think it’s extremely interesting from a tv film and video history perspective (in England- British history of film and tv)
Also the orange at the beginning I thought was always a reference to the Annoying Orange. - By the time this video originally came out on TH-cam , annoying orange and Fred etc had existed and fallen out of common updates or discussion then this dropped and it asks you what do you think of when you see an orange (on TH-cam I already imagine that orange is going to pop up with some eyes and cause another fruit to die a ridiculous death while being yes annoying. Especially when the entire format is situated with puppets/kid themes annoying orange and early animation on TH-cam was much more well dark and focused a lot on realism/uncanny valley due to tech constraints and budgets.)
I really love this dhmis series because it’s very detail oriented and feels very specific - the first episode feels more like pilot of a tv show they put as much of the wildness of the show into the slim 3-5 minutes just to see if the public will react ignore it or hate it - and they liked it so they planned out the next few episodes with more specific intentions
It got a show because as the episodes rolled in, more of the lore started making itself known and present. It ain't just a puppet show gone wrong and if you decide to continue watching the episodes, you'll see what I mean.
A decent start to the internet horror rabbit hole, perhaps we may see some analogy horror after all
Or a Digital Horror deep dive
Hell yeah
Nothing is worth the risk
If I had a nickel for every time Alicia watched one of my hyper fixations, Elon Musk would bow to me.
The new aired on tv season is pretty great. And often really funny.
I just realised the creative video was a perfect metphor for the eldar empire in 40k
*Slaps monitor*
This bad boy can hold so much trauma.
She should catch up with Salad Fingers next. New episode did just drop after all.
Fun fact the creators of this also worked on an episode of the amazing world of gumball that was much more child friendly while being equally as creepy
You asked why it got a show, and it really was because of the web series’ popularity and the creators really pushed for it until it was green lit. However, the show isn’t as disturbing as the web series and has more comedy than horror elements in it which actually helped made the show more watchable and have more replay ability than the videos.
That one chatter "It's this or subnautica" and I've never seen a worse 50/50
I remember there at least be one or two videos from Matpat (Gametheory) back in the day. He clarifies some stuff.
"Pesky bee" what an iconic line from an iconic show
Keep going it gets better/worse it's great.
OMG the nostalgia in this video is unreal ❤
19:30 I’m a bit surprised. I don’t think a lot of people pick up on that.
Its always a trip seeing people watch this for the first time
A shame you never continued. Episode 4 is when the plot thickens.
Michael's special one is the tree he lives under. Either cause by livong under it, he's giving exclusive CO2 for it to breath...or he died under it and it's feeding off his corpse.
LET'S GOOOOOOOOO, my favourite reaction streamers watching one of my favourite series ever! I hope she watches the television show as well
I was obsessed with these in High School! I still remember it all off by heart :'D
Excited for Alicia watching the other half of the series!!!
Fun fact: The "teachers" all have names. Paige the notebook, Tony the clock and Shrignold the butterfly.
Aw man!! I hope you react to the rest and the episodes too! I was just watching the episodes, when I saw you were reacting to it😂 W reactor!
the end of this has a happy ending that acknowledges that this is all messed up and not good for children but it doesn't need to be that way, but i get not wanting to go through all of that to get to the end.
Don't Thug me I'm Scared is a dope vid. It's the cast of Don't hug me I'm scared hunting down everyone from sesame street with a mfdoom soundtrack.
I like how she said there missing children when there not even children 😂😂
A fave theory i hearwd is that the series are taking place in one of the charecters heads.
The youtube series is in red guys head as he panics over his upcoming birthday amd adulthood or, as i belive, the upcoming birth of his first child.
The tv series is in yellow guys head as he retreats into his imaginary world to escaoe some trauma, possibly relating to his conteoling father
The DHMIS series is both horrific and iconic. It entails the devastating corruption of British kids' television, and how something that's intended to be wholesome and innocent can easily be warped into something much, much darker.
Salad Fingers is mega-cursed, too. You have no idea.
Ah remnant of my childhood, a disturbed horrifying, and frankly unhinged remnant, but a remnant nonetheless~ nostalgic.
Me casually scrolling through feed and then i see this and i just think:
dam . . .
Cant wait for trama to occur to this poor innocent vtuber
Man, if she's going through the older insane stuff, she should watch Llamas with Hats. Made by the Charlie the Unicorn guy.
The TV show is a lot more comedic than horrific
These have really deep meanings that can be hard to pick up on some stuff because how insane one stuff comes off. I’d really like to see you react to the rest and then a breakdown
What other stuff you want Aliciaxdeath react to next or soon?
I am high as BALLS. I am so ready for this.
Thank you so much
Llamas with Hats is another great series to watch from around the same time this came out. Also roughly the same era as Salad Fingers now that I think about it...a very interesting time in youtube's history :)
This is kinda nostalgic, I watch the first video when it came out~
Ps: The creators of DHMIS help with one episode of The Amazing World of Gumball.