Welp, here we are. Left in a state of mass confusion, as usual. The entire series is obviously interpretational, and purposely so, but I’ll give you my take on it. Any take is essentially right, as it is all just us expressing creativity. That’s the whole idea anyway, having fun with life realizing that what may seem bad may not have been intended to be and just later became so. I’ll try to put all the ideas into one place later, but just to put out there a general idea, here’s this:
Yellow Guy has aged and finally realized what the media is doing to him and his friends. He openly (and most boldly) rejects the lamp trying to be the new “teacher,” but of course later on this is stopped. We break into a very well filmed experience of Red Guy. It becomes widescreen and beautifully come,stick with angles and quality.
After escaping the fake reality the media out him in, he goes out into the real world, where everyone is just as him. They all came from a similar place and grew out of it, trying to conform to a society. But our Red Guy in particular was more attached to his friends and past. I believe that the other Red Guys are just his view of a regular society, that everyone is the same, boring and bland (as Red a Guy used to be) without creativity. Throughout, Red Guy has learned from the media and gained a creative mind.
He realizes that the media may not have been so bad after all, and he really liked his old friends (notice how happy they are in the album). He tries to get the others around him to be creative with him and make things go back to the way they were, but they aren’t having it. They never experienced the creativity and are just like original Red Guy up in the beginning before it. One last sad attempt to do this is with the song, specifically about creativity, but he realizes there is no hope. This is when Roy steps in. He noticed that Red Guy was trying to go back and that Res Guy may have realized the media was just trying to help. This is where I feel Roy may be just as much a victim as a controller.
He uses the control center to get Red Guy back and see it, allowing Red Guy to discover that the media was truly controlling them and their thoughts all along. Though true, the intentions may have actually been good and just been corrupted through certain “teachers.” Roy allows Red Guy to see the cord to end it all, as he sees Yellow Guy (who we can call his son) in suffering, and Roy realizes it must end, and Red Guy has to know this. Red Guy pulls the plug (symbolizing death- of media) and we are back in a somewhat familiar scene.
The kitchen is very bland and missing symbols, all of which possess negative energy. Now, it is simple and uplifting. All characters are the color of their favorite colors. The date changes. Time can finally move on. The characters are no longer stuck or missing, as they have gained thought back. They are ready to enjoy their lives together as they want, as the plug reset all the bad that has been done.
The Notebook may have never been an “evil teacher” after all. The episode came before the idea was added, and I believe they followed through with this. It was truly about creativity and teaching, but Roy made it get dark, possibly to teach a lesson, but failing in doing so. Being frightened, Notebook didn’t want anything to do with the characters again. Notebook is also seen multiple more times, watching closely. You'll also notice Notebook never came up during the viewing of the other "teachers," only at the end looking crosseyed. This may represent how Notebook is free, just like the others, and expressing creativity in a fun way.
Maybe not everything was bad, after all. I believe the characters all were left at peace at the end, however metaphorically you want to take it. There is a door in the room now, allowing escape if anyone feels the need to. But that won’t be necessary, as the better life has just begun.
Rosie Tonkin has shared a couple of behind the scenes photos of the cast and crew of the dhmis tv series on her Instagram the past few days
Part 1, Part 2, Part, 3
rosie tonkin: A little #bts from episode 6 of Don't Hug Me I'm Scared. @clubiim did a lot of work on this room, painting the walls & making the piano(🤯) and I made this cute stained glass window to finish it off. It's hard to imagine the scale of the build on a job like this, and some of the smaller elements like this window can be easy to dismiss as "too difficult in the time" or "not worth the effort" but that, my friends, is not the #dhmis way.
@/becky.sloan knocked out the design at high speed, and I was determined I could make it work, mostly with materials already in the studio. This. was a really fun thing to build and the colours it cast on the floor were 😍
Guy Field, an illustrator in London has shared some photos of his work on the dhmis tv series, this includes early concepts for characters, logos, and sets