‘Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared’ and you

If you’re anything like our typical reader (bored) there’s a pretty decent chance that you’ve seen the viral YouTube video, “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared.” If you haven’t, I recommend watching it. Now that the obligatory spoiler alert is out of the way, let’s kill even more time by browsing YouTube.

The video, which might seem just for laughs (or nightmares) at face value, is actually a commentary on children’s programing. You might have heard this theory before – the video is four years old – but I haven’t seen a comprehensive explanation yet, so I’ll give it a shot.

In short, it’s about how children’s shows create empty symbols for our children and eventually lead to disappointment.

In the first scene, we open to a shot of a personified notebook who asks us, “What’s your favorite idea?” A few things are happening here: First, it’s a notebook talking, which is basically a symbol for all other symbols and creative outlets. Or, at least what our children should be led to perceive them as, since the notebook functions as a narrator/dictator for the rest of the video. Secondly, it’s a question: Why should any idea be your favorite? Doesn’t that discourage other, “lesser” ideas?

The notebook then answers by saying, “Mine is being creative.” A rather straightforward answer for a self proclaimed free-thinker, huh? And to his own question, no less.

From there, we’re introduced to our cast of unlucky participants, who are fashioned in the style of most of our beloved children’s puppet shows and who function much like children who would be watching the show. This lends to the implication that our children are being controlled, since they’re puppets.

Then the cast breaks into a musical question-and-answer session, shepherded by the notebook. Most notable is when the notebook flips one of its pages and points to its hair (which is yarn): “I use my hair to express myself.”

The yellow puppet with blue hair stages a brief rebellion – “That sounds really boring.” The notebook shuts down the puppet’s idea (which was, for a puppet, relatively creative) by saying in a dry, factual voice again, “I use my hair to express myself.” Remember that tidbit.

The notebook rambles on, in a similar fashion. The scenes where the bird paints a picture of a clown, and the line about green not being a “creative” color, function similarly to the example of the notebook’s hair.

Then the notebook directs his flock towards a window and points to the clouds outside, instructing the others to use their imagination. At first, the puppets don’t get it, but once the notebook provides imagery for them, the rest of them jump in and spout off a series of unconnected, meaningless objects that the clouds might symbolize.

If you’ve seen the video, this is the moment you’ve been waiting for. If not, this is your last chance.

The notebook finishes his how-to on clouds and says, “Listen to your heart, listen to the rain, listen to the voices in your brain.” And then all hell breaks loose.

The puppets become animated briefly and

the camera pans out to show a production…

team behind the set, just to remind us again that someone is influencing our children, and they’re mainly doing it for money.

The imagery gets progressively darker, some of which could be to add to the effect. The raw meat sliding into the mousehole is especially perplexing. We see a character sprinkle glitter onto a disembodied heart because the puppets are all supposed to “listen to their heart” and be “creative,” but what they’ve been told is, creativity amounts to mashing Popsicle sticks and glitter together, and spouting off random nonsense at the TV. When they do listen to their heart, they’re left feeling empty by all these bogus symbols they’re having poured down their naive throats.

The same goes for the cake with the brain in it.

Did you notice how the yellow character grew his hair out?

There is another shot, of the word “death” spelled out in arts-and-crafts style letters, then things mellow out again. There is a pause, and the notebook says, “Let’s all agree to never be creative again.”

In the meantime, I guess the notebook would just have its puppets watch TV.