Into The Rabbit Hole:

Adult Swim's Hidden Gems

You may already know about these short films because at some point in time have gone viral. If you aren't familiar, these are some gems among the sea of crazy crap that Adults Swims usually offers. They all share the similar themes, and they get progressively weirder and creepier.   

The 1st is "Too Many Cooks". This short film aired on Adult Swim in 2014. It relies on dark comedy, absurdism, and surrealism. Casper Kelly directed it, he also wrote and produced for a couple of different shows on Adult Swim. The video starts off as a parody of your typical 80s sitcom. It has the cheesy theme song and the characters are mainly a nuclear American family, the nosy neighbor, a pet. As it progresses, you notice something is not right.

It continually subverts audience expectations, starting out as a familiar sitcom before gradually descending into absurdity. It mainly relies on repetition and subversion. For example the theme song repeats over and over, creating a sense of disorientation and unease. Characters start to die, and the whole plot turns out to be a like a freaky, elaborate joke that jabs at the state of modern media and our own expectations. It's stupid but its also clever in the way that it plays around with tv tropes. And it's very much the Adult Swims brand of dark comedy.

"Unedited Footage of a Bear" also aired in 2014, after the previous video. The film was directed by Alan Resnick, who wrote and co-produced it with Ben O'Brien. There is a lot in common with the first. It plays with your expectations in the very same way. The film starts out as some seemingly innocuous allergy medication commercial only to spiral into something deranged, delirious, and drug induced. These were a part of a project called "Adult Swim Infomercials," a series of experimental and usually surreal shorts that blur the line between advertising and entertainment. 

The allergy med is called Claridryl. It promises to relieve symptoms and help people "get back to their lives." But there's also a segment of just raw, unedited footage of a bear wandering through the woods. You quickly realize that something isn't right. The bear seems off, maybe it's injured or sick... then the video takes a turn into the strange and bizarre. It mixes a commercial trope with some found footage, making it unique. You could say it makes a comment on the power of advertising and how it can manipulate and lie to consumers. It relies on themes of addiction and abuse to tell it's story (reminds me of big pharma). Its marketing techniques also gained it a lot of attention. Adult Swim decided to release more related interactive content, including a fake Claridryl website. I tried accessing it and it lead me to a 404 page, so I don't know much about it. 

In 2016 Alan Resnick also made "This House Has People In It", along with the help of Dina Kelberman. It originally aired at 4AM, (spooky huh) This one is my favorite, it's just creepy. It's shot as security camera footage from inside a suburban American home with a family experiencing a series of unsettling events. I'm a sucker for found footage.  It's apparent immediately that something sinister is happening (in contrast to the other 2 videos where it starts off normal-ish), and then the tension builds onto itself.

It's another ARG, so you can find extra content online, and it has a ton of easter eggs, like references back to "Unedited Footage of a Bear". Unlike the other shorts I've shared, right off the bat, something is wrong, because the daughter of the family is lying face down on the floor being ignored, it sets the mood for the rest of the film. The plot and events are intentionally fragmented and disjointed. It evokes confusion and disorientation. Still many of the story's details remain open to interpretation, and it seems like it may be on purpose.

The website has a tour of the house, with pages that reveal more footage and info about the character's prior to the events of the story; related videos and fake public access show. It provides a lot more additional context for what is on screen. Everything is connected but in a nonsensical way, it's incredibly immersive and it reinforces the themes of surveillance, voyeurism, and media manipulation that permeate the film. 

I love the interactive storytelling, but i'm not the best investigator, just an ok researcher. So here is another video where NightMind can explain it better.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/kbny5m/this-house-has-people-in-it-interview-adult-swim

There is so much to cover and I just wanted to introduce these to people that might like them. There lot of people who have really detailed full analysis on the subject of these films. They break it all down and dig deeper into the puzzles. 

Have fun.
ʕ￫ᴥ￩　ʔ

Usually I like to leave links 
after lynks after lynks after lynks after lynks
But i believe in you  

Careful not to get lynks disease.

Also if you like Alan Resnicks work, he also made a miniseries that is similar in 2017 called "The Cry of Man: A Troll Day Holiday Spectacular". I believe it's also an absurd ARG. I don't know much about it because I just found it, but I can look into if y'all want.

Sweet Dreams,
Kari

ʕ – ᴥ – ʔ