Don't hug me I'm scared.
and other grotesque films
grotesque is a literary trope that is used often in conjunction to the carnivalesque to challenge the
status quo
"A grotesque body that is incomplete or deformed forces us to question what it means to be human: these queries sometimes arise out of the literal combination of human and animal traits or, at other times, through the conceptual questions about what it means to deviate from the norm. The questions prompted by these ambiguities lead to a sense of instability and uncertainty" - Edwards and Grauland
I wasn't originally directly inspired by DHMIS (becky and joe), but had seen it years before. What I found interesting is that the themes, materials and way that I am trying to challenge the status quo by using beautiful and every day items to be grotesque is very similar to that of these youtube videos.
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This series of youtube videos juxtaposes adult and disturbing themes, with muppets and cartoons, with the layout of an educational children's show. Each video tackles a different theme, and can be either taken at just the shock value, or can be read into. Although there has been much debate over what the themes of the videos are, what I chose to take away from each one, is that there are aspects of society, such as time and love and getting a job that fits into society's mould, that are only constructs of the world that we force on ourselves and each other.
raw
this swatch was inspired by "dont hug me i'm scared" by its use of puppets and costumes, which gave me an idea to make a mask for my body out of masks of my face. it was also inspired by the mixture of colour and child-like aesthetics with the grotesque theme. I wanted to transfer this into my swatch, which is where the bright make up, bright fur and bright coloured "gelatine" derives from.
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raw follows a veterinarian student and her sister who have been vegetarians their whole lives. On the first bite of meat, their bodies start to break down. They develop rashes, open wounds, feel the need to consistently chew their hair and then eventually reveal that they are cannibals. cannibalism is often associated with the grotesque because it directly mixes the idea of food, and the impure world with the pure body. It also shows us animalistic traits which is so prevalent in the grotesque concept.
"Refuse and corpses show me what i permanently thrust aside in order to live. these body fluids, this defilement, this shit are what life withstands hardly, and with difficulty on the part of death. there i am at the border of my condition of a human being... such wastes drop so that i might live until, from loss to loss, nothing remains in me and my entire body falls beyond the limit." kristeva, 3.
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THIs swatch is inspired by raw with its blending of the human and animal traits. i wanted my swatch to show a monstrous side of humanity, in a similar fashion to raw, by having the swatch riddled with pieces of the body that have detached themselves (face wipes), and by finding ways to incorporate the open wound idea. There is a particular scene involving a string of hair coming from the main character's mouth which inspired the blood mixed with the fur. I was inspired by the idea of a dying and decaying uncanny version of myself.