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Salad Fingers

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Salad Fingers
Created byDavid Firth
Written byDavid Firth
Directed byDavid Firth
Voices ofDavid Firth
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
AnimatorDavid Firth
Original release
Release1 July 2004 (2004-07-01) –
present

Salad Fingers is a British adult animated web series created by David Firth in 2004. It revolves around the eponymous Salad Fingers; a thin, green, mentally troubled man who inhabits a desolate world. As of September 2023, thirteen episodes have been published on YouTube and Newgrounds. Since its debut, Salad Fingers has amassed a cult following and has been described as a viral phenomenon.

Background

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Salad Fingers was conceived as an in-joke[1] when one day, while Firth was playing the guitar, his friend and frequent collaborator Christian Webb commented that he had "salad fingers", referring to the way Firth played the C-chord.[2] In 2004, Firth posted the first episode via Flash to entertainment website Newgrounds, where it was initially unpopular. However, the video quickly gained traction once it was featured on the website's front page.[3][4] Later, once the series transitioned to video-sharing platform YouTube, Firth turned to crowdfunding because he was unable to monetize videos due to the platform's content policy.[1][5]

In addition to writing and animating the series, Firth voices the titular character himself.[6] Firth says the character's voice was inspired by that of his grandmother's and Michael Jackson's speaking voice. The softness of Salad Fingers's voice is due to the circumstance that Firth did not want to wake up his parents while recording.[7] While the first episode took Firth "one day and one night" to produce, others took him six months and up to one year.[4][8] He has cited the works of David Lynch, Tim Burton, and Chris Morris, as well as The League of Gentlemen and South Park as sources of inspiration. Music featured in Salad Fingers episodes includes work credited to Sigur Rós, Aphex Twin, and Boards of Canada.[9]

In 2007, the series, then spanning seven episodes, had its theatrical debut at Sydney Underground Film Festival, where all episodes were shown back to back.[10] In 2009, episodes were screened at Glimmer, Hull Daily Mail's international short film festival.[11] In 2020, a Salad Fingers tour throughout the United Kingdom was announced.[12] The tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was ultimately held in 2021 and 2022.[13] Events featured back-to-back screenings of all episodes released thus far, followed by an in-person interview with Firth.[12]

Episodes

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Reception

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Salad Fingers has become the subject of a cult following[11] and has generated a number of memes, having "captured the comically demented and strange underbelly of the internet" according to Elijah Watson of The Daily Dot.[14] The series's characters, themes, and setting have inspired extensive discussions and theories online.[15][14] In 2005, the San Francisco Chronicle ranked it among its "Top 10" pop culture phenomena.[10][16] Wired considers Salad Fingers to be one of the most memorable Flash animations,[17] and The Guardian describes it as one of the first to go "fully viral".[18] Writing for the academic journal Convergence, Jessica Balanzategui and César Albarrán-Torres describe Salad Fingers as "a significant stylistic and generic contribution to the early period of participatory digital cultures"[19][20] and the character as a "patron saint of the digital uncanny".[21] In 2020, the series had been viewed 110 million times in total on YouTube, with the first episode alone receiving 36 million video views.[22]

Jon Mendelsohn of Comic Book Resources observes that the series has "terrified audiences" by means of its "post-apocalyptic setting and crypticness" and compares it to the television series Twin Peaks.[23] Tanner Fox of Screen Rant describes it as "nothing short of haunting" due to its "weird premises, nails-on-chalkboard background music, and shocking moments of gore and depravity".[24] Devon Maloney of The Verge remarks its emphasis on gore and bodily fluids, calling it "basically ASMR for psychopaths".[15] Will Ramsey of Hull Daily Mail calls it "comic, horrifying and strangely endearing".[11] Emma Garland of Vice notes that the series has caused both fascination and dread in its viewers, and deems it "one of the bleakest comedies to ever come out of the UK".[4] The series's landscapes, figures, dream sequences, and open-ended nature of episodes have drawn comparisons to the works of David Lynch.[21]

In 2019, a Canadian high school teacher was temporarily suspended after showing his class a range of videos that students described as "weird, creepy and inappropriate" including Salad Fingers. The teacher ultimately resigned from his job at the school and attended a disciplinary program.[25][26] In response, Firth commented on Twitter that viewings of Salad Fingers should be "mandatory" for children.[27]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Grealish, Rachael (25 January 2019). "Salad Fingers Is Back With New Episode Dropping Soon". LADbible. Archived from the original on 3 February 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  2. ^ Bingham, Christopher (28 July 2013). David Firth – Heroes of Animation with Bing. HuHa 2! (video). Event occurs at 18:52. Archived from the original on 4 April 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2016 – via YouTube.
  3. ^ Gaudino, Elena (8 December 2005). "Salad Fingers Stream of Consciousness Entertains Viewers". The Daily Campus. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  4. ^ a b c Garland, Emma (16 July 2018). "Happy Birthday, Salad Fingers". Vice. Archived from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  5. ^ Sydell, Laura (14 April 2017). "Online Video Producers Caught In Struggle Between Advertisers And YouTube". NPR. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  6. ^ Featherstone, Gabriel (6 March 2022). "Salad Fingers Creator Teases First New Episode in 3 Years". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  7. ^ Percival, Tom (4 December 2018). "Salad Fingers Is Coming Back With Longest Episode Ever". UNILAD. Archived from the original on 19 April 2022. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  8. ^ Chambers, Paul (2 December 2018). Insight: Salad Fingers – UNILAD Original Documentary. UNILAD. Event occurs at 3:23. Archived from the original on 17 April 2022. Retrieved 23 April 2022 – via YouTube.
  9. ^ "Interview with Salad Fingers Creator David Firth". Semantikon. August 2004. Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  10. ^ a b Bright, Vic (19 December 2013). "Bubble UK: A Birthday Look at Internet Wonder, Salad Fingers". Bubbleblabber. Archived from the original on 31 January 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  11. ^ a b c Ramsey, Will (13 April 2009). "The little green man". Hull Daily Mail. p. 18. ProQuest 333617394.
  12. ^ a b Phillipson, Daisy (26 February 2020). "David Firth Is Taking Salad Fingers On A Tour Across The UK". LADbible. Archived from the original on 16 March 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  13. ^ Hardiman, Jess (3 October 2021). "People Are Feeling Nostalgic With Release Of Creepy New Salad Fingers Episode". LADbible. Archived from the original on 15 April 2022. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  14. ^ a b Watson, Elijah (30 November 2018). "'Salad Fingers' was viral before viral was a thing—and it's returning". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  15. ^ a b Maloney, Devon (30 November 2018). "Salad Fingers is coming back, and I already want to barf". The Verge. Archived from the original on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 26 April 2022.
  16. ^ Chonin, Neva (25 December 2005). "2005 In Review: Pop Culture". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  17. ^ Bedingfield, Will (31 December 2020). "Flash is finally dead. This is why we should all mourn its passing". Wired. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2022. The most memorable of these creations came from David Firth.
  18. ^ Hern, Alex (30 January 2015). "Flash is dead, and YouTube dealt the killing blow". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 March 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  19. ^ Albarrán-Torres, César; Balanzategui, Jessica (19 November 2023). "Salad Fingers wasn't just strange, it was art. Here's how it's still influencing the 'weird part of YouTube' 2 decades on". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 2 December 2023. Retrieved 3 December 2023.
  20. ^ Balanzategui, Jessica; Albarrán-Torres, César (15 November 2023). "Salad Fingers: Pre-YouTube digital uncanny and the 'weird' future of animation". Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. doi:10.1177/13548565231208569. ISSN 1354-8565. Archived from the original on 1 December 2023.
  21. ^ a b Waite, Tom (1 April 2024). "Salad Fingers: how the patron saint of Weird YouTube came to life". Dazed. Archived from the original on 28 June 2024. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
  22. ^ Rogan, Laura (25 February 2020). "David Firth's Salad Fingers Is Coming To Manchester For A Live Show". Secret Manchester. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  23. ^ Mendelsohn, Jon (2 May 2020). "Don't Hug Me I'm Scared Endures Because of Its Brilliant Execution". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  24. ^ Fox, Tanner (16 April 2022). "10 Scariest Videos That Went Viral On The Internet". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  25. ^ Carey, Alexis (2 August 2019). "High school teacher disciplined after showing kids 'weird' video". news.com.au. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 22 April 2022.
  26. ^ Moore, Paul (1 August 2019). "Teacher suspended after showing his class videos of Salad Fingers". Joe. Archived from the original on 18 March 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  27. ^ Donato, Al (2 August 2019). "B.C. Teacher Suspended For Showing 'Salad Fingers' To Class". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 15 April 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
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