Alright, since it’s June 19th, I guess I should acknowledge this video.
“Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” has gotten a lot of attention on this website for simply being fucking terrifying, but most people don’t seem to realize that it has far deeper implications.
The entire video is based around the idea that the education system is set up to tell children to be creative, as long as they are creative in the right way. The notebook is the teacher to the puppets, the children.
The notebook tells the children to look at the clouds, but they don’t see anything until he raises a monocle; I.E., they can only see new concepts through the teacher’s eyes. As soon as one of the children gains enough initiative to act on their own by painting a clown, the teacher immediately stops everything to shut him down. The teacher tells them to write out a “creative color,” but the color green wasn’t on the color wheel he showed them. When one of the children came up with the idea for green, he got angry at him. Finally, things start falling apart, and we see the Hollywood production in the background, representing the idea that, beyond the pleasant facade, there is something far more sinister happening in the shadows.
The notebook ends by saying “Now let’s all agree to never be creative again.” He is blaming the children’s acceptance of creativity for the chaos that just happened. The notebook installs the idea in the children’s heads that creativity is good, but only when it’s certain kinds of approved creativity. We tell our children, who are so eager to learn, that they can be who they want to be and do what they want to do- but only so long as they don’t think outside the box.
The video, surreal as it may seem, is an observation of a double-standard that ruins children’s intellectual and creative growth.
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)