Don't Hug Me I'm Scared

The characters are learning something but there is always something that goes wrong. It is very interesting and will give you chills. It is violent and disgusting.

Three non-threatening puppets sit around a table while a singing notebook encourages them to be creative. This is the simple idea here and it is laid out to be a very convincing children's television show as the notebook sings about imagination and creativity in a very generic way. This song is catchy but also has some really great lines and moments – "green is not a creative color" being my favorite because it made me laugh and also reminds us that generally trying to "teach" creativity will just need to reinforce bounds rather than encourage freedom.

The notebook gets what it wants as the three characters start to explore whatever comes to their imaginations, leading to some disturbing images and situations which very quickly take the cheerful little short out of the world of kids TV and into the dark world that lies inside. It is very cleverly done because it is funny, spot on as a satire and really well made. I see that the film has 12 million views on YouTube and, although I had never heard of it, I am not surprised that it struck a chord.

This traumatized me as a kid. In my eyes it's about the blissful innocence of youth and how that changes when you get older. Here it's expressed through blood and gore and creepy dancing, when the real life parallel would be being exposed and jaded to the horrid reality of life as you get older. War, sexual abuse, pornography, crime, all that stuff. To me it's about how sudden and crazy growing up really is and how you brain becomes screwed up as you age. When you're a kid being creative sounds wonderful, and it's mostly portrayed here as a wonderful thing until the end. They reveal the dark side that Sesame Street would never show you and that's continued throughout all 6 episodes. Creativity is usually great, but people like Osama Bin Laden or Ted Bundy had to be creative to pull off what they did. You can get creative with a gun and a bunch of weapons. It's incredibly well done in every respect.

First episode from a provocative serie, it is far to be a comfortable animation. It reminds "Sesame Street" and this is the first piece of its eccentricity. It is an eulogy of creativity but its tools are far for children. It propose the happiness as rule but, in same measure, a bizarre cake. Sure, it is an Youtube experiment. Nice. And bizarre.

Honestly this is less of a review and more of a head's up. There is a dont hug me I'm scared tv show coming out on channel 4, a British channel. I love the series and I am very excited for the show so that's your warning.