Don´t Hug me I´m Scared
"Don't Hug Me I'm Scared (DHMIS) is a British adult puppet musical horror comedy web series created by Becky Sloan and Joe Pelling. The series is notable for its blending of surrealism and morbid humour with horror and musical elements. Its production is diverse, combining puppetry, live action, and styles of animation including stop motion, traditional animation, flash animation, clay animation, and computer animation. The original series consisted of 6 short episodes released from 29 July 2011 to 19 June 2016 on YouTube. A follow-up television series was released in 2022" (source wikipedia)
Main Characters
Why I love it
This show means a whole lot to me. When I first found it on youtube, it was with the "Let's get creative" episode that every youtuber reacted to with a disgusted face but agreeing that it was fun and well made to never touch it again. However, a couple of them decided to continue watching the rest of the episodes, just like I did. Under all the colorful blood stained confetti and mangled organs I found a profound understanding of life, death, the control tv has over children (and adults) and a incredible display of the found family troupe.
Now, are these guys really a family? They seemingly hate each others guts, they fight over nothing, have completely different interests and won't hesitate to bash the other to death if necessary. So, under my undestanding of what a family is, yes, they are one, a very lovely one.
Why I see myself in this show
The three main characters represent a different side of humanity and non-humanity, they are not humans after all but they deal with human emotions in their gory felt bodies. I relate to the disconection they have with their bodies, cutting and slashing away, describing themselves incorrectly ("I am a yellow pig", don't you know what a pig is? do you see yourself as a pig? do you wish you were a pig?) They are bags of flesh, and I relate to that feeling.
I also relate to their constant fear of the unknown, wanting to have a routine, desiring normalcy, but knowing it is impossible to achieve.