DHMIS needs to be talked about more! I watched it as it was airing on YouTube and also the relatively new 2022 TV series. I love the creativity and themes behind it all. There is an amazing analysis of the series done by the YouTube channel GameTheory that I believe comments on the series in an enlightening way.
This is disturbing. It reminds me of a lot of the 70s kid shows which didn't really seem right for children. So many bad puppets and creepy-voiced adults.
I don't know these short films at all, they must have fallen 'between generations' for me - I'll have to check them out. When my boy was small (early 2000s) we used to watch In The Night Garden, which I found simultaneously very strange (why were the Wottingers hardly ever around?) but wierdly comforting. How it looked to a tiny child I'm not sure, and he couldn't really tell me!
In the Night Garden was just arriving on tv when my youngest sister was aging out of children’s telly so I’m not as familiar with it but oh my god the clips I’ve seen are so creepy! Definitely a successor to the Teletubbies.
I’d never seen this before (although I was familiar with the “Green is not a creative colour” quote from my children). It’s very clever and extremely unsettling. There is a real horror in things designed for children that are just a little bit off kilter. It’s why dolls and music boxes can be terrifying in the right context. Intrigued now to see what else you include in this mini series - there should definitely be a place for In The Night Garden imo!
EXACTLY this, Lou. It’s one of my favourite genres of horror, there’s something so threatening about a thing for children being…wrong. I’ll be using scenes from DHMIS as a starting point throughout the rest of the season, but we’ll definitely be exploring some real creepy kids tv.
The wait between vidie releases for DHMIS was so deliciously long and torturous. Then the TV series was made and it broke the spell. Even though it was great, the longer episodes were too much for me and the mystique was lost.
I know what you mean, I think the last episode in particular plays a bit too heavily into the fan-service metanarrative stuff and is much less compelling. The pacing of the show really reminds me of The Young Ones where even the passing of time felt off and unpredictable and you felt like they were making a joke of something being tangential or painfully long. I wouldn’t want to change anything about them but they are certainly imperfect beasts!
I think about DHMIS at least once a week. It's so creepy and unsettling in an uncanny way. I always took it as a commentary on how what we say we're teaching children and what we're actually teaching them are really different things - like everyone thinks school is to give children the skills they need to succeed in life, but really it's teaching them how to be good followers and cogs in the machine.
Like how the notebook says they're teaching creativity, but criticizes yellow kid whenever he actually tries something creative.
The true beauty of this tale is the cosmic struggle of Red Guy and Duck Guy for the eternal soul of Yellow Guy and his innocent heart. It's a Manichean conflict not without its world-embracing apocalyptic overtones, a metaphysical epic of our times.
If we were to go full Manichean we would say that Duck Guy is an evil god and Red Guy is a good god. Yellow Guy is humanity and Leslie is the Demiurge, indifferent to the creation of her flawed universe, which was thrown together in a fit of distraction.
On the other hand, it could be a Nietzschean allegory of being Beyond Good and Evil. Red Guy the Overman, the next stage in human evolution?
The point about Lewis Carroll reminds me of a story Peter Ustinov used to tell about when he was asked at school to name a famous composer. "Beethoven," the infant Ustinov ventured. The teacher's reply: "No, the answer is Mozart."
I remember so vividly the first time I ever watched DHMIS when I was a kid. I'm in my twenties now, and I love showing it to my friends that have never seen it before. It's one of those rare internet gems with so much lore surrounding it, you pretty much had to be there in the moment!
DHMIS needs to be talked about more! I watched it as it was airing on YouTube and also the relatively new 2022 TV series. I love the creativity and themes behind it all. There is an amazing analysis of the series done by the YouTube channel GameTheory that I believe comments on the series in an enlightening way.
There is so much lore...
I've never heard of this!
I'll never be the same.
Horroré
I maintain that DHMIS is some of the most inventive horror ever. One episode in particular really got under my skin.
Oooh I wonder which one…was it a TV episode or a YouTube short?
YouTube short. If you're horror shorting them all I'm sure you'll get to it.
This is disturbing. It reminds me of a lot of the 70s kid shows which didn't really seem right for children. So many bad puppets and creepy-voiced adults.
Absolutely! Have you ever encountered ‘Scarred for Life?’ I think it began as a podcast but is now a book, the first one is all about the 70s https://www.lulu.com/shop/stephen-brotherstone-dave-lawrence/scarred-for-life-volume-one/paperback/product-12qmgr65.html?page=1&pageSize=4
I don't know these short films at all, they must have fallen 'between generations' for me - I'll have to check them out. When my boy was small (early 2000s) we used to watch In The Night Garden, which I found simultaneously very strange (why were the Wottingers hardly ever around?) but wierdly comforting. How it looked to a tiny child I'm not sure, and he couldn't really tell me!
In the Night Garden was just arriving on tv when my youngest sister was aging out of children’s telly so I’m not as familiar with it but oh my god the clips I’ve seen are so creepy! Definitely a successor to the Teletubbies.
Haha! I regularly pack delicious chicken picnics because of this show. I do not however, enjoy digital dancing.
My digital style!
I’d never seen this before (although I was familiar with the “Green is not a creative colour” quote from my children). It’s very clever and extremely unsettling. There is a real horror in things designed for children that are just a little bit off kilter. It’s why dolls and music boxes can be terrifying in the right context. Intrigued now to see what else you include in this mini series - there should definitely be a place for In The Night Garden imo!
EXACTLY this, Lou. It’s one of my favourite genres of horror, there’s something so threatening about a thing for children being…wrong. I’ll be using scenes from DHMIS as a starting point throughout the rest of the season, but we’ll definitely be exploring some real creepy kids tv.
The wait between vidie releases for DHMIS was so deliciously long and torturous. Then the TV series was made and it broke the spell. Even though it was great, the longer episodes were too much for me and the mystique was lost.
I know what you mean, I think the last episode in particular plays a bit too heavily into the fan-service metanarrative stuff and is much less compelling. The pacing of the show really reminds me of The Young Ones where even the passing of time felt off and unpredictable and you felt like they were making a joke of something being tangential or painfully long. I wouldn’t want to change anything about them but they are certainly imperfect beasts!
I think about DHMIS at least once a week. It's so creepy and unsettling in an uncanny way. I always took it as a commentary on how what we say we're teaching children and what we're actually teaching them are really different things - like everyone thinks school is to give children the skills they need to succeed in life, but really it's teaching them how to be good followers and cogs in the machine.
Like how the notebook says they're teaching creativity, but criticizes yellow kid whenever he actually tries something creative.
It's like a cuddlier, more colourful The Wall by Pink Floyd...
I too think about it a lot. The phrase Mmm Delicious Chicken Picnic in particular.
I say ‘pesky bee!’ whenever there’s any kind of insect in the house.
The true beauty of this tale is the cosmic struggle of Red Guy and Duck Guy for the eternal soul of Yellow Guy and his innocent heart. It's a Manichean conflict not without its world-embracing apocalyptic overtones, a metaphysical epic of our times.
Indeed, but which is good and which is evil? Which is material and which is spiritual? And what role does Leslie play in all of this...?
If we were to go full Manichean we would say that Duck Guy is an evil god and Red Guy is a good god. Yellow Guy is humanity and Leslie is the Demiurge, indifferent to the creation of her flawed universe, which was thrown together in a fit of distraction.
On the other hand, it could be a Nietzschean allegory of being Beyond Good and Evil. Red Guy the Overman, the next stage in human evolution?
I looked up this video and watched it. I couldn't decide whether to be relieved I wasn't high or wish that I was!
Oh God, that would be quite the experience!
The point about Lewis Carroll reminds me of a story Peter Ustinov used to tell about when he was asked at school to name a famous composer. "Beethoven," the infant Ustinov ventured. The teacher's reply: "No, the answer is Mozart."
I remember so vividly the first time I ever watched DHMIS when I was a kid. I'm in my twenties now, and I love showing it to my friends that have never seen it before. It's one of those rare internet gems with so much lore surrounding it, you pretty much had to be there in the moment!
Typos. Don't HUGE me.
Thank Linda, I fixed it a while ago but it will still show up wrong in the email. Whoops!