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February 6, 2019 5:38 AM Subscribe
Looking into Glass Brother. David Firth returns to his unsettling Salad Fingers animated series (Wikipedia, IMDB, Know Your Meme) (previously). (likely NSFW)
That's the 11th episode in the series. You can watch all ten in a row, possibly at some cost to your sanity, here or here.
More background. Some theories. Fan creations on Deviant. The Film Theorists dive in (1, 2), as does ReignBot.
Previously and previously.
That's the 11th episode in the series. You can watch all ten in a row, possibly at some cost to your sanity, here or here.
More background. Some theories. Fan creations on Deviant. The Film Theorists dive in (1, 2), as does ReignBot.
Previously and previously.
Sock Five: Three Skins Without Men is still my favorite Firth piece, for those who are into his rather unique style.
posted by delfin at 6:48 AM on February 6, 2019
posted by delfin at 6:48 AM on February 6, 2019
All those people desperate to force Salad Fingers to fit into our consensus reality in some fashion other than exactly as Firth presents him are just adorable.
I wonder where they keep their spoons.
posted by flabdablet at 6:53 AM on February 6, 2019 [5 favorites]
I wonder where they keep their spoons.
posted by flabdablet at 6:53 AM on February 6, 2019 [5 favorites]
So it's a bit jarring, even disturbing, to see a slightly slicker, more narrative Salad Fingers episode. But I can't say it isn't good. He'd pushed the Lynchian non-linear thing about as far as it was going, so this is an all right new direction. Still working on the dream logic he's so good at capturing.
posted by es_de_bah at 7:56 AM on February 6, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by es_de_bah at 7:56 AM on February 6, 2019 [3 favorites]
I was really excited to see this when it popped into my youtube subscriptions feed. I'm afraid I did not enjoy it as much as I expected, like, the animation and art quality has definitely shot up and that gives more opportunity to be gross and disturbing. It just didn't click for me though, felt so much like someone going back to an old artwork and deciding to draw it again with their decade of improved skills and then it's technically better drawing but doesn't have the same magic and edge of the original. Maybe it's just me or the material has become too familiar/expected/comforting.
The fleshy thing was really well done and really benefited most from the improved animation techniques, I thought the mother was well done as well.
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:19 AM on February 6, 2019
The fleshy thing was really well done and really benefited most from the improved animation techniques, I thought the mother was well done as well.
posted by GoblinHoney at 8:19 AM on February 6, 2019
All those people desperate to force Salad Fingers to fit into our consensus reality in some fashion other than exactly as Firth presents him are just adorable.
People seem to like this kind of problem-solving with experimental works. A lot of people went overtime explaining Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared to each other on Youtube, and I think that the elements of mystery in that series (e.g. the date on the calendar, the MISSING poster), were specifically created to give the appearance of an overarching explanation that does not, in fact, exist. But that, too, is just a theory.
I actually liked this episode quite as well as I liked some of the classics. It lacks the early rawness, to be sure, but it expands and tells a full story that makes some kind of internal sense, although Salad Fingers' actions never make total sense. I think of it as like a sitcom -- characters might come or go, but nothing can truly change.
posted by Countess Elena at 2:00 PM on February 6, 2019 [3 favorites]
People seem to like this kind of problem-solving with experimental works. A lot of people went overtime explaining Don't Hug Me, I'm Scared to each other on Youtube, and I think that the elements of mystery in that series (e.g. the date on the calendar, the MISSING poster), were specifically created to give the appearance of an overarching explanation that does not, in fact, exist. But that, too, is just a theory.
I actually liked this episode quite as well as I liked some of the classics. It lacks the early rawness, to be sure, but it expands and tells a full story that makes some kind of internal sense, although Salad Fingers' actions never make total sense. I think of it as like a sitcom -- characters might come or go, but nothing can truly change.
posted by Countess Elena at 2:00 PM on February 6, 2019 [3 favorites]
creepy mysteries that bedevil armies of message-board sleuths has become a cottage industry, even as it's clear that a lot of the progenitors of the genre stumbled into it more or less by accident. DHMIS, Salad Fingers, and Five Nights at Freddy's certainly started out with no grand plan in mind, but seemed to have come around to playing off of their audience as they went. Actually a pretty brilliant way for solo artists to keep people interested in their work while they labor over months or years from installation to installation.
This is of course now being aped intentionally to various degrees of success by people like Petscop, Poppy, Bendy and the Ink Machine, and Undertale.
I'm kinda fascinated by it as a new form of post-net media, the message board mystery, fueled by a mixture of disturbing, subversive imagery and enticingly broken logic. Kinda what was promised by works like House of Leaves.
posted by es_de_bah at 2:32 PM on February 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
This is of course now being aped intentionally to various degrees of success by people like Petscop, Poppy, Bendy and the Ink Machine, and Undertale.
I'm kinda fascinated by it as a new form of post-net media, the message board mystery, fueled by a mixture of disturbing, subversive imagery and enticingly broken logic. Kinda what was promised by works like House of Leaves.
posted by es_de_bah at 2:32 PM on February 6, 2019 [1 favorite]
Since we're pattern-seeking creatures, it's a natural evolution of media. Fan theories certainly existed before the internet, but there were far fewer ways to connect with other fans. Sherlock Holmes fans were first on the scene with this kind of thing. One hundred years ago, they were just as theory-driven and obsessed by minutiae as Sherlock fans are today, although there is a certain ... area of interest that they did not share. (Not openly, at least.)
Incidentally, I just realized that I do have a fan theory about Salad Fingers, and it cannot be disproven: he absolutely ate that one kid. You know the one.
posted by Countess Elena at 2:43 PM on February 6, 2019
Incidentally, I just realized that I do have a fan theory about Salad Fingers, and it cannot be disproven: he absolutely ate that one kid. You know the one.
posted by Countess Elena at 2:43 PM on February 6, 2019
When facing your enemy you have to aim for his weakest point. Use the Salad Finger accurately and you'll find you will win whatever he should try to do!
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 5:30 PM on February 6, 2019
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 5:30 PM on February 6, 2019
he absolutely ate that one kid. You know the one.
Milford Cubicle's son?
Absolutely.
posted by flabdablet at 7:12 PM on February 6, 2019
Milford Cubicle's son?
Absolutely.
posted by flabdablet at 7:12 PM on February 6, 2019
Salad Fingers' actions never make total sense.
I find it disturbingly easy to drop into a mindset where they totally do.
posted by flabdablet at 7:17 PM on February 6, 2019 [2 favorites]
I find it disturbingly easy to drop into a mindset where they totally do.
posted by flabdablet at 7:17 PM on February 6, 2019 [2 favorites]
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posted by Space Coyote at 5:47 AM on February 6, 2019 [2 favorites]