Charlie the Unicorn: Capitalism As Apocalypse

Is this blood really ours? //
Patreon, content warnings and spoiler warnings below
PATREON: / cushfuddledvideos
CONTENT WARNINGS: Cartoon bl00d and g0re, explosions, gunfir3, fire and d3ath
SPOILER WARNINGS:
-The whole Charlie series
-The ending of Sorry To Bother You (2018)
MUSIC
Cinematic risers: • RISERS - FREE Cinemati...
"Underwater Exploration" - Godmode
"Something is Going On" - Godmode
Meditation Music: • 5 minute meditation mu...
"The Gentleman" - Divkid
"Homer Said" - Dyalla
"Randy Butternubs" - Dyalla
"Treat Yourself" - Dyalla
"Sonatina No 2 in F Major Rondo" - Joel Cummins
"Russian Dance" - Joey Pecoraro
"Airport Lounge" - Kevin MacLeod
"Everyone Is Smiling Instrumental": • Now That's What I Call...
"Put A Banana In Your Ear Instrumental": • Put A Banana In Your E...
"Cool Cats" - Smith The Mister
"Tubby" - Steve Adams
"Fear Creepy Build Up Horror Orchestra" - Tom Ratesic
"Underbelly" - Lulu
FOOTAGE
Charlie the Unicorn
Rain footage: • RAIN CINEMATIC FREE ST...
Sorry to Bother You
Spongebob (time card)

[@rabnerd28]

"They aren't unicorns. They're corpses puppeted by demons." And suddenly Blue and Pink make sense.

[@DarkLordGanondorf190]

Back then (more than ten years ago, oh my God!), I thought Charlie may be dead and Blue and Pink are his personal demons in limbo or something. Yes, but also no XD

[@ms.bunniesarecute2287]

@@DarkLordGanondorf190 same lol. It's good to know my life isn't a lie, I love you starfish

[@japoonboals718]

Truuuuuuuu Also, how they reinforce gender ideas in the finale, like telilng him he has to get married. They are a bit of a boy girl thing going on but our friend Charlie still referred to the pink one as "they" - I was fooking shook

[@venum17]

Yea before having any other lens to view this from when i was younger and religious i thought this was some kind of hell or purgatory.

[@staticlake3383]

@@japoonboals718 The weasel fights this by marrying a coat after dying and being able to now do what the weasel wants.

[@BasketOfPuppies642]

"Charlie the Unicorn made me quote Marx" is the best energy to leave 2021 with.

[@guy-sl3kr]

She says that like it's a bad thing. Weird for a socialist

[@ODXT]

"Charlie the Unicorn made me quote Marx" Class consciousness intensifies*

[@thelandlockedkaiju4820]

@@guy-sl3kr Yeah that was a weird sticking point. Like, do socialists resent Marx? That would be news to me.

[@Sykoze]

@@thelandlockedkaiju4820 I’ve never met a socialist that resents Marx, but some socialists prefer to cite other writers whenever possible because, thanks to decades of heavy red scare propaganda, quoting Marx directly will cause a lot of people to immediately distrust or outright dismiss anything we have to say.

[@MiotaLee]

If there is anything, at least there is that.

[@thenewguyinred]

So in the end, Charlie didn’t win by changing his ways, putting on a smile, or becoming the hero he was told to be, Charlie saved the world (or at least what’s left of it) by simply being himself.

[@JamesDecker7]

I would addenda that he ACTED on the righteous anger inside of himself, not with the goal of being a hero but because being true to himself required acting congruently to his beliefs in his every day life. “We may be puppets but we don’t have to be shells” as the video says.

[@choosecarefully408]

_BOOM!_ Charlie's _only _*_AGENCY_* is to have negative feelings. But in identifying *himself with* them, they become him & Charlie can't imagine himself without them. This is how society makes many people feel. & they get lost in that. The examples are everywhere. There Are Laws that allow We The People to have _real_ agency. Those don't correspond to people's Negative Feelings enough. So instead we choose paths guaranteed to feed the feelings we identify ourselves as. We adopt strategies Guaranteed To Gail just as every abused child harms themselves rather than contemplate reality. Thus we have people accepting both that industrial polluting Will Cause our planet's destruction & the notion that we can't hold them accountable from the Same Source. "Because Daddy can't Be Wrong: so everything politicians say are correct. You can take the drooling idiot out of the church, but...

[@ChiWillett]

honestly praxis af

[@BasicallyBaconSandvichIV]

Every time Charlie goes along with it, or starts believing in the things they say, changes, etc. etc. he loses. He wins by not doing that.

[@hamishstewart5324]

The reprise of the dolphin’s song by Charlie was honestly the most satisfying moment of the entire series.

[@Reapermaskhybrid]

An ironic reprisal of the song that was trying to get Charlie to be a mindlessly happy puppet, neat.

[@marink7332]

when he started singing, I fucking lost it bro -- you have no idea. definitely the most satisfying moment

[@loorthedarkelf8353]

YAAAAAAAAS as someone who has been told down and stop being angry MY WHOLE GODDAMN LIFE??? god it gave me the resolve I needed to confront those demands and tell the people who were making them YOU ARE HURTING ME, STOP IT. So glad this exists.

[@mattinscratch]

I need an instrumental on Apple Music

[@hannahyamauchi839]

Being told you're "being too serious" for taking issue with capitalism is exhausting. Maybe the Cubes are working class people who have learnt to not question the mechanism of capital and push back against all criticisms against it. Great essay!

[@TicTacPilgrim]

Oh myGod! They don't think outside the box!

[@hannahyamauchi839]

@@TicTacPilgrim Oh that's good

[@adamsuniverse]

Worth mentioning, the literal communism symbols used in the series were added because there was a big essay written about someone that interpreted Charlie 1 as a work of communism. Jason added symbols to future installments (see duck graffiti) to further fuel communist conspiracies.

[@The_Sin_Squad]

No way, that's hilarious and awesome!

[@pikachuneoncat6480]

Love how Jason saw that and was like, "Oh, I don't think so."

[@guy-sl3kr]

@@pikachuneoncat6480 The series is less coherent because of it though. If the big bad is capitalism, then why isn't the solution organizing workers to abolish the capitalist class? Though I suppose an ending where an economic system is defeated through 1 individual's feelings fits the show. Because there is nothing more absurdist than that.

[@riondoesthings9049]

@@guy-sl3kr its because marx and his communism are no longer the forefront of socialist thought, marx proposed and articulated a correct and scathing critique of capitalism and also correctly proposed that the organization of the workers against the capitalist class was a step against it but from there he stumbles from his adherence to the idea that history plays out like a sensible dialectical story where each economic system that comes to replace the previous is necessarily a superior system by its negation and synthesis with the old. marx believed that when the workers overturned and seized the powers of the capitalist class that they would then abolish their own powers over time and dissolve the governing body to form a communitarian society, which has failed to materialize. This optimism was born from the idea that when a new system comes it will be superior and it will necessarily negate the old without resistance. History, has shown that this is not the case, from the soviet oppressions born from the paranoia of capitalist intervention, the real capitalist interventions of the cold war spreading that fear and oppression, and the birth of red capitalism in china we can see that moving from a successful organization of the labor class to a communitarian society is not so simple in a society where capitalism is a worldwide phenomenon and modern socialism must build on, and move past, marx to formulate a solution.

[@guy-sl3kr]

@@riondoesthings9049 I want you to know that I read your whole comment and all I can say is that you should read Marx and Engels. Actually read their writings yourself with your own two eyes. What you said is basically a distortion of what was written in _Socialism: Utopian and Scientific._

[@everyonegetselfears1444]

The line in the Dolphin Song reprise "I'm told the issue is inside my head, as they make a world that is withered and dead" is my favorite line in the series. It so wonderfully encapsulates the themes of Charlie the Unicorn.

[@edwardreed67]

Moral of the story: Never feel bad for feeling bad. Because things are bad. We're told to be "happy", but we never actually want to find it for ourselves. And there is happiness in being cynical and negative.

[@justinwatson1510]

I just had a conversation with my partner where I told him he need to stop telling me to not think about all the people who are suffering needlessly so rich people can maintain their evil lifestyles. I might not live to see the fall of capitalism, but I want to do everything I can to make it call sooner.

[@AxiomofDiscord]

Thank you for this it has me thinking and smiling at least a little bit.

[@mirmalchik]

"I believe, that the truth shall set you free. Or at least erect an enormous stone bust in your likeness to vanquish the chaos demons that have plagued you in particular since they eradicated the rest of the conscious life on the planet." - Charlie the Unicorn, 2022

[@phastinemoon]

Provided you’re actually just feeling your feelings - I’m also very tired of performative cynicism and negativity, where someone ACTS like it, basically just nodding along with something they heard and want to make everyone around them miserable, too. Capitalism wants us to wear a very specific kind of performative happiness, but also doesn’t want us to be TRULY happy - because they can’t profit off of us if we don’t WANT something, that can be packaged into a commodity to sell and exploit. As long as we still keep feeling like we NEED something to alleviate our misery, we can still be told “here’s a solution” which we can be very conveniently sold and then told that we need to sell our labor and time in order to afford it. But if you’re really happy with yourself, they have nothing to hold over you, nor can they compel you into fitting their standard. That’s not to say you shouldn’t allow yourself to be unhappy or angry or scared or anything when it IS bad - but also don’t insist that everyone around you needs to feel the same way, because it’s how YOU think they should feel.

[@r.j.penfold]

Fucking thank you. I constantly am undermining my own trauma because "I know I'm privelaged" or "It could be worse" but no, just cuz I'm in a less shitty position than someone else doesn't mean that I'm not in a shitty position

[@fatcat1414]

The Sea City scene was what stuck with me the most as an enviromentalist. The most frustrating part of my activism is dealing with people who blatantly disregard long-term damage for short-term profits. They just obscure their true aims with phrases like "I don't *want* to hurt the environment, but think of the economy!" Then when I ask why we should stick with an economic system that's depleting the very resources it needs to survive, they shut down the question by calling me a communist and refusing to give an actual answer. That's proof enough to me of their actual motives.

[@guy-sl3kr]

Well if you're getting called a communist then you're definitely doing something right so there's that at least

[@fatcat1414]

@EducatedNation Yeah, and that's why I think environmentalism is intrinsically tied to radical ideas about economic policy. It will be easier to move forward if we take measures to ensure a person's survival is not dependent on their employment status.

[@crissyhutto8409]

you mean thanksgiving dinner right?

[@mirmalchik]

@@guy-sl3kr necessary condition, but not sufficient they called obama a communist, but gitmo is still open and the US healthcare system remains immensely profitable and inequitable

[@sebastienholmes548]

then what economic system should we have?

[@krowkat5491]

I think the banana on top of the letter is an intentional reference to the banana song. Sluv instead of listening to Nyx plugged his ears and ignored the issue.

[@CrabKFP]

It is.The demons are just retelling their story to Charlie in song form just to fuck with him. Candy montain, The millipide and In the ocean blue are well tied with the finally

[@bc2art600]

Fantastic video!! Seriously puts the catchphrase “shun the non-believer” into an whole new light 😂

[@loorthedarkelf8353]

True facts, the only Charlie the unicorn I am aware of is Candy Mountain. Some dumbass friends showed it to me while I was in Middle school, I found it quite hilarious, but I did not know there was a larger series around it. As far as I knew Charlie the unicorn was just the Candy Mountain joke Bitch we going to learn some things today

[@L0rdOfThePies]

My brother showed me the banana thing as a kid, that's all i knew

[@silentshadow3894]

My brother showed me a couple of them when we were kids but I was the one that actually cared enough to keep watching as they came out. I ended up showing him one later on and he didn’t even watch the finale.

[@solsystem1342]

I check in every few years to half a decade and there's usually a new one. Weird to think it's all finally over now. Even more weird to think I stopped watching the finale last time because I hadn't dealt with my own internalized queerphobia...

[@PanAndScanBuddy]

@@solsystem1342 find the coat/startaur who loves you unconditionally, Sol!

[@PanAndScanBuddy]

FilmCow put them all together, so you can watch the entire hour (yes seriously) of Charlie from fuzzy trees to dimensional cube demon, everything getting better every time.

[@friendoftheoyster3906]

From the begining I expected the ending to stereotypical be about how charlie needed to accept happiness and its so cool to me that really, his negativity was the key to saving himself. Also I would love that rant about what the coat represents

[@adamrak7560]

His "negativity" was the healthy response to the utter nightmare he had to endure. This was a very satisfying ending.

[@mccormack570]

I'm not sure if this is discussed later in the video, but how the sea city deals with land people, is highly reminiscent of how capitalism deals with minorities, particularly pink capitalism. They pride themselves on "inclusivity" but only feign not excluding land people from the conversation. Also when they get a vital part of a minority's identity wrong (either out of malice or ignorance) they pretend to be apologetic when corrected, and then either ignore the correction or misinterpret the correction, which draws parallels on how a cis corporate executive would misgender a trans employee, and feign an apology out of fear of losing customers due to the hostility of their transphobia. It's a very short scene but excellently displays pink capitalism and the commodification of minorities.

[@paranormeow]

ACTUALLY THIS

[@rogeliozunigachavez161]

I also think sea city is the representation of climate crisis, as we know the oceans are very polluted and capitalism drives people to exploit the environment, this also makes sense with the “ I have money now who cares about the environment tomorrow?” The fact the visitors center is filled with trash makes me think sea creatures would think we love trash since it ends up all in the ocean and that’s what they know about us, also of course the e fact they don’t care to investigate more if paper fires and trash makes land creatures feel better

[@FreeFromAllThings]

Yeah, but it also seems that landwalkers mostly enjoy pollution.

[@choosecarefully408]

Wtf are you *talking* about? Who or _what_ is 'capitalism?' Is it that cloaked figure with the scythe who leaps out in ambush forcing someone to pay me when I volunteer my time & effort, or is it the Living Embodiment of Morality & Justice that makes bills & coins form & bud off of stacks of banknotes in dark vaults or electronic digits to increase in ledgers? How can any rational being refer to 'capitalism' as if it were A Force? Would $ flow to Bezos instead of the hungry _on its own_ without humans assigning interest? Why is *his paycheck* the end result of a % of the profits others work to earn & not those of the workers? Do you think some Living Force _causes_ that? Or that capitalism has wheels, pulleys, cogs & levers carrying out the functions of laws of physics or nature? 'Capitalism' does exactly *nothing.* It *doesn't exist.*

[@jodgee2374]

I mean, what should you do when you misgender someone, if not apologize and move on?

[@millierose15]

5:37 "Free market economy, man! Y'all need to learn some economics!" "Well YOU need to learn some DIE!"

[@BritishMoron]

"OW! I am bleeding banana blood!"

[@eyreyereye]

wild that charlie the unicorn had a finale in the year of our lord 2021 i remember fucking reciting the first episode to the campers i was councilor for back in 2008 because they just had to test that i knew it by heart anyway stan charlie forever complain about the system it's always the valid choice

[@ms.bunniesarecute2287]

Blulalalalala

[@JamesDecker7]

“Because I love existence I reserve the right to perpetually critique the systems created within it.” -I don’t remember who

[@thomasrose2149]

Unless it ends up being as irrational as anti-communists, then it’s not valid

[@monarch3495]

Finding something I watched in middle school just had a finale and it was a message about anti capitalism is super surreal

[@notsoninjaninja1819]

Ya know, I watched the first 30 seconds of this, found out there was an episode 5, went watched the whole series back to back, and thinking about it, the whole council of Tutelary Weasels is a bit suspicious. In the sense that Tutelary Weasels is a total oxymoron. Tutelary means to protect, but weasels aren’t protectors, ppl who are weasels tend to point the finger and assign blame. Sounds an awful lot like a board of directors.

[@lostmemory1142]

So it’s not two to Larry weasel.

[@4dultw1thj0b]

Even the Banana King pyramid thing was over a decade ago, so idk if it really reflects the creator's views at this point

[@outlawruby]

I imagine it as a critique of how many left wing movements ended up regressing when leaders used their authority to secure their own power rather than using it to change the world for the better. Like with the USSR and China, they merely have the facade of leftism without most of the policies. Could also be a representation of people who set up communes to steal the belongings of people who wanted a reprise from capitalism. Although I guess those are about the same thing just different scales.

[@guy-sl3kr]

@@outlawruby If those countries merely had the facade of leftism, the west wouldn't've spent the past several decades doing everything in its power to tear them down lol. It goes without saying, but I think it's worth being explicit: capitalist media will _never_ tell you the truth about socialism (and by extension, socialist states).

[@user-zz3sn8ky7z]

@@guy-sl3kr "the west wouldn't've spent the past several decades doing everything in its power to tear them down" Why do you think that? Leftist or not, those countries had political goals that directly clashed with those of the west. The west had very good motive to tear them down regardless of their economic policies

[@guy-sl3kr]

@@user-zz3sn8ky7z Very good motive = wanting to exploit labor and steal resources. I'm sure the people of the countries that have been "liberated" by the west are grateful for all the poverty and destruction they've brought.

[@user-zz3sn8ky7z]

@@guy-sl3kr good motive as in strategically good, not morally good. I'm not getting into the capitalism X socialism debate, I'm just saying that the west had a reason to go after east regardless of if it was leftist or not (and vice versa)

[@jfarrar19]

So, I feel like this line is applicable "and the smoke on the horizon is the burning promise land"

[@benzur3503]

25:05 if you won’t I will. Commodity fetishization is the name of how Marx identified perceiving of the value in a product/service coming from the product/service itself alone and not from the social relations required to enable its existence. In his first song, the Weasel ghost claims to develop a romantic relationship with a coat that makes him unable to wear it due to a witches curse that is mentioned once without any detail on what is the curse or why is the curse. In their second song, while the weasel sings of regret and failure, the Coat raps excitedly about the weasels ass, creating a funny dissonance between such sentiments that are entirely separate and ignoring of each other. The weasel doomed the world before becoming a ghost and starting the relationship with the coat, and the coat ignores that context of events to just focus on his particular personal will to make love to the weasel butt. So the commodity fetishizes (in a sexual context that marx didn’t necessarily intend for all product fetishism to apply) it’s consumer, ignoring the circumstances that led to their situation for singular particular use that ignores the apocalyptic repercussions of those circumstances. The viewing of the desired product/service as the only thing that matters in it and damned be the production costs as long as they don’t directly bother the viewer is a destructive impulse marx analyses in capitalism as caused in all of its participants. Not as a failure of personal character per say, but as a damaging notion that affects most of not all people in capitalism’s pursuit of simplified undetailed bottom line of profit.

[@benzur3503]

Upon reflection I see how the coat, the starfish, the bugs, the weasels and nyx’s final posthumous action connect to the theme you pointed out of people using each other without consent. Not necessarily against their disconsent, but with disregard for whether that consent might even be a factor worthy of consideration

[@Pelucine]

That it is specifically a coat is also relevant to the theme of commodity fetishism because of the oft-quoted example of "x yards of linen to produce a coat" found in Das Kapital.

[@guy-sl3kr]

I think the first song's about how capitalism encourages the commodification of social relations. Norwell the weasel literally married a commodity that he can't use (but can kiss and do other stuff too that he won't talk about). The coat also gives a direct parallel between marriage and shopping for some clothing.

[@JamesDecker7]

So when is the Masters thesis this deserves to be coming out?

[@benzur3503]

@@JamesDecker7 lol I’m barely finishing my philosophy bachelors, there’s time. Plus this here is just 2 seconds of research without any sources, it’s not a real study

[@humulos]

Jason's one of my favorite filmmakers around, and you've managed to enhance his work with this fantastic essay. Thank you for your poignant analysis!

[@alessandrobuffa123]

13:35 "To avoid confusion, let's call this unicorn Jeff Bezos" I burst out laughing 🤣

[@smisipawer]

Rewatching the whole series for this video, I got the impression that Charlie the Unicorn is about internet discourse. mmaybe it's because the series was so essential for my early internet humor, but i feel it really capture that absurdist horror the internet so often falls into. like the endlessly changing jargon, the fluidity of facts and truths, and the inability to distinguish between dark humor and serious fascism (or for that matter, terrifying demonic colourful unicorns). I havent felt like this when I fisrt saw the early episodes, but now after years of internet discourse, Charlie seem to mirror my exhausted confusion perfectly.

[@Thingumadoodle0518]

I love this interpretation, and I also love Charlie’s story as an allegory for the way society treats people with depression in general. He’s treated so terribly for not being happy, and he’s told to just shut up and feel better because everyone else is happy and people love him. His negative feelings are brushed aside and he’s pressured to go out and pretend he’s okay. (As a matter of fact, the influence of the chaos spirits most definitely made it *worse.*) I tend to resonate a lot with messages that relate to interpersonal and emotional struggles, and I can relate to Charlie in that way. (Jason Steele has also stated that they’ve struggled with depression, which contributes to this interpretation.) This video was very well-done! I knew CtU was pretty much about capitalism to a degree, and you worded it better than I ever could have. Tip of the hat to you! :)

[@thomasrose2149]

I think it’s high time people stop clinging to the outdated beliefs of a 19th century man and his 19th century way of thinking just because it’s the most anti-republican thing they can do.

[@Thingumadoodle0518]

@@thomasrose2149 I’m actually not a communist, and I don’t consider Karl Marx to have been 100% right, nor do I agree with his communist manifesto, but I agree with this video’s points about capitalism.

[@ollie2111]

I just paused this to watch it and holy crap that was surprisingly amazing and beautiful and the songs were really good.

[@earth2tonez]

kinda late but i wonder if the banana peel sitting on top of Nyx’s letter in Sluv’s trashcan is meant to be connected with the banana king’s song about putting a banana in your ear to block out the bad things in the world. he covered up the warning of a potential world-shattering threat with a banana.

[@blahblah659]

This honestly makes more sense than my theory (especially since you had Jason Steele himself verify it for you): That the whole series is symbolic of an abusive relationship between a gaslighter and their possibly mentally ill victim. Pink and Blue are always acting as though each "adventure" isn't going to be harmful like all the others despite Charlie repeatedly reminding them of all the misery they've caused only to be dismissed like he's crazy for not being trusting. The songs can be interpreted as the ineffective if not harmful advice that one will often get from people who either don't understand mental illness or outright dismiss it. Candy Mountain: "Candy" is often used as a euphemism for antidepressants or other meds, with the message being that he'll be happy if he just takes his candy. The problem is that you can't just take pills and make your problems go away, not to mention that you can seriously damage your organs (like your KIDNEYS) if you aren't careful with them even if they work. Put a Banana in Your Ear: "The bad in the world is hard to hear when in your ear a banana cheers" can be interpreted as a "just ignore your problems" dismissal that plenty of mentally ill people are told by those who treat illness like nothing but a nuisance. But ignoring one's problems for the convenience of others can lead to many things such as losing one's job, one's relationships, and (in the case of Charlie) one's possessions. In the Ocean Blue (or whatever the song is called): Charlie is told that he shouldn't really be so negative because apparently a bunch of random fish he doesn't know "love" him. With the exception of Starfish (whose interruptions in the song and later actions in the series set him apart from the puppeteered fish corpses) none of the fish actually show ANY real love for Charlie outside of simply saying they do and expecting that to be enough, much like how an abusive friend, family member, or partner does. The victim is often shamed for expecting more than just words in these scenarios. I am the Millipede: The song is pretty much about just how amazing and wonderful the Millipede is, much like how an abuser will try to paint themselves as being better than they really are, most often insisting that you either won't or don't deserve to find anyone better than them. "You'll never find someone charming as I am" is a particularly familiar line for those who've experienced this. The Temple of the Cat: This one was tricky, but a few of the lines imply that the victim will never find happiness outside their relationship with their abuser. "And as he looked way back on his own quite miserable cat-less life He knew he’d be clip clop clipping the rest of his days at the temple of the cat" implies that even if you do leave the abuser you'll basically come back to them, something an abuser will try to make you believe as a means of forced dependence on them. Everyone is Smiling: This one is the most open about gaslighting. All your thoughts and feelings are wrong, you're wrong to be unhappy when everyone else is happy, lots of gaslighting in the form of contradicting speech like "please come in" and then "what are you doing inside my house?!" as though the victim remembered things wrong or imagined the first sentence, and that if one is unhappy or miserable then it's their own fault for having such feelings and not the environment or people around said victim. "Just stop feeling dread" is very similar to the usual dismissals that people with depression get like "can't you just BE happy?". Everyone is Smiling Reprise: For once Charlie is allowed to speak for himself. Much like an abuse victim he acknowledges that all of the misery he's in isn't his fault, that it isn't all in his head, and in doing so is able to be rid of the ones responsible for it all. With the abusers gone the illusions disappear too and the victim is able to see the environment they're in for the barren wasteland it really was, but with the possibility of things getting better in the future. But again, that's just a theory.

[@technicolormischief-maker5683]

Capitalism *does* tend to be very gaslighty and lead to mental health problems. Maybe it’s a bit of both.

[@jodgee2374]

Wait, when did Jason verify it?

[@ectofriend]

You said you never know how to end your videos, but I thought that was a pretty perfect ending. Maybe Charlie did win and now everyone is realizing we should be frowning a lot more.

[@TapDat52K]

Happy 2022, we still capitalize in a commune socially with a Unicorn named Charlie

[@aislingspo]

ah yes, moist critical the unicorn

[@lydiasteinebendiksen4269]

I bellieve the cube represents the accursed share; the consiquences of continnued accumulation and hording. At some point energy cannot be accumulated, and must be expended. Under normal circumastances this results in catastrophies because capitalists suck at general economics, so we have wasteful wars instead of raising living standards. Anyways in a world with things like nukes, and a more sophisticated kind of capitalism that seeks to profit even from war and disasters, the accursed share that must be spent becomes more dangerous than ever. This message was brought to you by a rudementary understanding of Georges Batailles 'general economics' described in the book "The Accursed Share" available for free in pdf format if you dig a little

[@lydiasteinebendiksen4269]

How tf has 4 people liked this? There can't be that many people who have even herd of Georges Bataille?

[@clausroquefort9545]

@@lydiasteinebendiksen4269 have not heard of it before but the model nicely accompanies the fact that the super rich like to waste their money on luxuries at absurdly inflated costs.

[@Bluefoxtail]

I went back and rewatched the finale episodes after watching this and noticed that, in the clip first showing Sea City and its inhabitants, there are different land creatures intermixed with the sea creatures (specifically one human man and two dogs), but, while they have very obvious protection against drowning (scuba gear), they wear different clothes to make them look more sea-creature-like (For example, the two dogs wear a fish tail and octopus legs sewn to their clothes or skin). I feel like this further represents the lack of true acceptance for land creatures that Suzzanix (I am probably butchering the name spelling) portrays in her interaction with Nyx. This may be a stretch, but I feel like this could also represent the conformity that capitalism can encourage. Feel free to reply if I missed something, y'all!

[@cookiesyruplover]

Amazing video. The pacing and editing is so good! Thanks for making a video that truly gives Charlie the Unicorn series a homage it deserves.

[@thomasw4422]

Reminds me of how the Charlie online game offered you a loan trap. I think the weasels were genuine in their desire to protect the tower. They just didn't know what they were doing beyond their traditions and fixed rules.

[@Saseraki]

"We may be puppets, but we don't have to be shells." Even with no context, this hit where it must.

[@iGleep]

never been so proud than to discover that the meme from my childhood was anti-capitalist messaging all along. why doesn't this happen more often

[@thomasrose2149]

Anti-capitalists shouldn’t have access to the internet

[@joshraid1550]

@@thomasrose2149 So the government should come to my house and smash my laptop and phone, leaving me unable to attend college or talk to people or read ebooks, or spend money, or do anything? Hunger games is anticapitalist, should Suzanne Collins be shunned from the internet too? Would MLK be allowed on the internet according to you if he were still alive? Lets say you found out that capitalism was made of dead baby skin, and without dead baby skin there can be no capitalism? Would you want to be kicked off the internet for knowing that? Would you just give up your entire life because you know this information?

[@shupasopni]

@@thomasrose2149 Thankfully we don't live in a world where the only people who can speak are the ones you agree with.

[@SpecialInterestShow]

​The internet should be a basic human right at this point. Considering how much shit runs on it @@thomasrose2149

[@Rs-rq9fd]

Candy Mountain is the perfect allegory of what it felt like as a millennial to go to college only to get robbed

[@loorthedarkelf8353]

Back on New Year's Eve, 2023 Hope everyone is doing alright out there

[@radicalpasta7040]

was it just me or did Blue and Pink kinda seem like a messed up versions of the Superman character Mister Mxyzptlk? Vastly powerful, nearly unstoppable, magical trickster beings with unknowable and whacky motivations that decided to mess with the main character just for the fun of it. I don't know. Thats just a thought I had.

[@youtubeuniversity3638]

Perhaps the cubes are less labourER and more just labour. Distilled and crystalized labour.

[@NaturallyVenomous]

I actually took the Charlie story as symbolism for depression. Being forced to "just be happy" when your mind is constantly at war with itself. I loved this video nonetheless and it was very eye opening

[@rebeccah4732]

I literally keep coming back to this and rewatching it. I got a job about two months ago, and as i gain more and more experience, and also as i get older and just see the world, the things you discuss here just keep landing home. And the revolutionary message of this, youre right, its small, but it's wonderful because it'a doable. This is a bleak future but 'you dont have to make yourself happy about it' is just... comforting. And im not even american.

[@rebeccah4732]

Update... i dont work in that hellhole anymore. Letting urself be upset really Is a power

[@SASardonic]

This is probably too literal a reading, but there's a chance the cubes are the blockchain, and related technologies, given how they're seemingly chained together in Charlie's. Would go with the 'guess we'll die in 10 years' climate change vibe too, and how they've taken over the minds of impressionable people in real life.

[@josh34578]

After the finale was released, Jason (filmcow) answered some questions in his community discord. I remember reading that placing the blocks in a chain was an intentional reference to blockchain.

[@rosebud8027]

I’ll gladly watch this again

[@celester8318]

I cannot possibly express how much I desperately needed this video today. Thank you VERY much, happy new year!

[@MasterEth]

Thank you for making this. Due to how long it took Jason to post episodes I'd always be confused by what was happening in the story, so this was a good way to a better understanding

[@roku144]

So glad to see you’re back! Your video essays are so good!

[@loorthedarkelf8353]

Back again, and I am still so glad this exists. Thank you for the deep dive, and for bringing me back to a series I forgot about after highschool. If you're reading this, I hope you find some rest and relaxation today.

[@WhiteCresentKnight]

Looking back at earlier videos and how the backgrounds all look like crayons or marker drawings also feel likes it’s part of the demon cubes deception

[@thoughtsofoldmanedwards9749]

Lowkey why one of my favorite movies is Film Cow's Detective Heart of America The Final Freedom relates to a lot of the points you made here. Film Cow's films are goofy and strange but can have deep and interesting political criticism within the goofy story. It's so interesting and fun to analyze! Loved this vid!

[@babygrl78]

I'm curious, could you link a way to watch it? Or pm me?

[@thoughtsofoldmanedwards9749]

@@babygrl78 it's here on KZbin! kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3eUiqx6hb9_jpo

[@zalekenney6754]

Oh yeah! Another Sin Squad upload. Looks like Christmas came a little late for 2021, but what a banger to start off the new year.

[@btchpants]

I've always related to Charlie. I like seeing someone put my feelings into words. Thanks.

[@akirinau6932]

Maybe the cubes do represent the working class and thinking of Jason, the working class that escaped would become themselves capitalist because of the repeatable result of a certain way of thinking

[@dekelneedstime411]

YESSSS OH GOD UR BACK THANK GOD! Happy New Year!!! I love your content!!! I hope 2022 is significantly less shitty

[@eudstersgamersquad6738]

This is 100% one of my favorite channels ever! This is great stuff your doing here! Especially your last like 5 videos or so! Keep it up! You are awesome!

[@fandral92]

Finally, you're back! I was really missing your videos

[@realcrazyhane]

Thank you so much. I had forgotten to watch the last (two...) release(s) of this series, but the title of this video showed me I was missing out. I am overjoyed. This has been a great analysis on a great finale.

[@bacchiguu86]

Your videos are always worth the wait. They are masterpieces.

[@The_Sin_Squad]

This is such a sweet comment, thank you so much ;w;

[@halfchiangel88]

Had no idea a finale for Charlie the unicorn was released so I watched it real quick before this, better than expected :D Totally agree with all your points, there sure was a lot of gaslighting in that finale wasn't there haha, Charlie was right time to be angry >:) Great video and happy 2022

[@alacrity7591]

I finally binged your videos and subscribed! I came across you through your "Why is fandom so toxic?" video, watched and liked that one, but then never managed to get into your channel for a long while. But now I did and I love your analyses~.

[@treysonmcgrady4750]

Filmcow has always had good subtle and not so subtle political and social commentary. I’ve been rewatching a lot of their old videos and I never realized (mostly because I was younger) how often it comes up.

[@japoonboals718]

I'd argue that the "put a banana in your ears" is less a criticism of communist ideology, but of either Leninist or Stalinist or both approaches to centralizing power or suppressing reality in service of the state. So where Sluv is a combination of market forces and capitalism, the banana in your ears is a more blunt attack at ignoring reality. Also, the horses have a pink and blue heteronormative scheme, but charlie still refers to the pink one as "they" when their head disappears, which is an interesting choice to reject patriarchal labels. whether the author intended it or not, I shall interpret this text so hard that it bends to my will and literally proves everything I think.

[@inkanisula1373]

You're back! I love your videos💜

[@vivicomplex]

Very enjoyable video, many thanks! Charlie is one of those series I keep meaning to go back to, and now I feel like I should even more, lol. (Came here from recs, algorithm smiles upon ye apparently.)

[@luismartinezpaz3586]

Not me finding out the finale came out through this video.

[@Semudara]

If you're not already, then you should sub to FilmCow! Then you won't miss out on whatever oddities come next. ;D

[@theberrby6836]

Yay! So nice to hear from you once again 😊

[@Purpleturtlehurtler]

You earned yourself a spot on my already overrun subscription list.

[@DarkLordGanondorf190]

My goodness, this was insanely satisfying to watch. Kudos.

[@cryptidrecording]

Having rewatched Jason Steele’s Heart of America for about three years prior to the finale, the obvious late stage capitalism analogue really came through and kinda made me fall in love with these joke videos again.

[@renroxhrd]

This is the most philosophical thing about an internet series I've ever seen. It makes perfect sense. The first Charlie the unicorn came out the year of the recession, and the finale came out during COVID and the brink of another recession. I was 7-8 years old in 2008, and I'm almost 22 now. This series, like for so many people besides me that are in their 20s, culminated our childhood to adult lives. It started with a recession, it's ending with probably a recession. I just hope people finally get paid what they deserve in my lifetime, and companies don't see us as interchangeable.

[@kennydarmawan13]

The Everyone is Smiling reprise can be seen as the tipping point of Benson's raging speech against Mordecai and Rigby. No fire, no thunder, no screams, no explosions. Just a massive force that puts you into place in one fell swoop.

[@Did.You.Forget]

1. I thought the first video for Charlie the Unicorn was a standalone. I saw that back in what..’07? 2. This is the first video I’ve seen on this channel and I instantly subscribed 3. The algorithm finally got something right. 4. Great freakin work. Omg this is exactly the video essays I love dearly. You are fantastic. The scriiiiiiiipt! Chef’s kiss.

[@jammin023]

Great analysis, thank you! The finale came as a big shock to me - first of all I didn't even know it existed until stumbling on your video, then to go over there and find it was 40 minutes long, and then to watch it and find it had such a different tone to what had come before, and built around a serious message rather than just being an absurdist joke. I definitely didn't expect Charlie The Unicorn to make me think! TBH the message definitely felt retconned in rather than something that had been in mind from the start, but I'm ok with that. It's ok for something that started with no particular purpose to find a purpose later on as its creator finds they have something real they want to say. And your analysis has really helped me to better understand and digest that message.

[@CottonCandyBlueBird]

First watched video of 2022. Great start. Well second from the re-upload.

[@Geph873]

What makes this even better? You underscore the video with the Clarinet Polka. (Jimmy Dorsey?) I love it!

[@cocomyah]

The Charlie Finally was amazing and the songs were beautiful I started watching it around 2020 and seeing that it’s over now is mind blowing I made so much FanArt of it too and I’m willing to make more, also the finale came out in my birthday month which is a great present to have as well, Charlie the Unicorn is amazing and I’m glad it exists

[@lemonlordminecraft]

I'm just here to say the GFC montage was superb, well done

[@aratinatophat1072]

Yooo you’re back!

[@yipyip3044]

babe wake up new sin squad video just dropped

[@GeahkBurchill]

The video I watched just before this one was Müsecat dissecting the LuLuRoe pyramid scheme where the husband of the founder essentially sang all the songs from Charlie the Unicorn at his frustrated workers who were unhappy with how the company had trapped them.

[@rabnerd28]

I swear this series shaped what media I seek out today

[@senaytwolde8151]

I feel the cubes parallel the historical development of capitalism as we know it. It used to be that all of the power was held by the nobility of the world and western society was contained by strict hierarchies headed by feudal lords. Eventually the power of these nobility began to wane as the mercantilists developed their own wealth and created the bourgeois(middle) classes. As the material wealth (soft power) of the peasantry grew, the hard power of the nobility decreased until the western world transitioned into democracies. But power is power, the people with the wealth still had the means to influence government and effectively retained their old positions. The only difference now is that very few of the exploited classes now had the opportunity to join them. Nothing has materially changed though. Just the aesthetics have shifted. The working class is still at the mercy of those with power and we're supposed to be happy about it because of an illusion of freedom and opportunity.

[@hyacinthdathenes9405]

I actually think if you accept the premise that the cubes are capitalism itself then episode 2 is basically just a representation of anti-communist propaganda. You have a mockery of communist symbols and phrases juxtaposed with a pyramid (scheme) and an absurd creature proposing absurd actions will lead to Charlie's (the working class) happiness. Meanwhile the suggestion that Charlie is the king, that is that the working class IS the ruling class is presented to him as just another opportunity for him to exploited. It may be a stretch but it works in my head.

[@quaelgeist3337]

I found this vid two days ago and didn't realize there was more than one video and now I'm obsessed

[@CrabKFP]

Also, love the fact that most of the songs in the first 4 episodes retale the story of Nyx. "Candy montain cave" represents the dangers of enticing rewards, like with the weasels that entered the cave in the castle thinking that there were weapons. "Put a banana in your ear" it's what happened to the mayor of Magic City: City of Magic, thinking that he could just ignore what Nyx said. "In the Ocean Blue" shows a shallow idea of love, that the Sea Kingdom had with the world by not interfering. Last, byt certainly not least is "I am a millipide" that represents the ego of the bugs, but still died because, well, they were powerless nonetheless and didn't do anything

[@blackroseknight77]

welcomes back.🎉🎊 Happy New year The Sin Squad.

[@SocioJoe]

also I really like how you highlighted Charlie's simple emotional agency as the source of his victory, especially given the interpretation he best represents the subjugated working class - I seem to recall you mentioning a thought in the Lion King 1 1/2 vid about how sometimes the best and even only act of resistance beneath overwhelming minimization in a system like capitalism is to simply carve out your own niche and live your own truth, and sure enough, that's how Charlie makes it 'out' in the end

[@Kyrbi0]

This was really insightful & engaging analysis. Thank you!

[@ebisawkward]

I really should watch the finale. The first Charlie the Unicorn video is the first video I ever watched on KZbin and really kick-started my internet journey. Feels like coming full circle.

[@moonstrifflimestone5493]

woah man. Great essay!! Gosh, I'm definitely gonna watch this series! :)

[@leopardbunny]

I wish this was one of your most viewed videos, because it's such a powerful analysis of an equally powerful finale.

[@captaincassidy8287]

Outstanding start to the year. Not... really what I expected to start the year with, but I'm not complaining.

[@quinnlove5777]

You’re back!! Yay!!

[@CamCommand99]

Loved this video, it put all my feelings of the great finale in 1 video. I do wish the bat at the end had more symbolic meaning, but Jason confirmed on Reddit it didn't mean anything.

[@ObaREX]

Good to have you back

[@jaredcollins85]

Your analysis is spot on. Great video. I have always shared a kinship with Charlie since I stumbled on the original on new grounds. I graduated from college with a degree in psychology in 2008 a month before the financial collapse. This was right after I had received a research award from the department faculty for a study I conducted supporting a significant decline in the moral comprehension skills of my business major peers. I was never the most cheerful student but the optimism and toxic-positivity surrounding me has felt even more surreal and alien even since.

[@BasicallyBaconSandvichIV]

So a couple of notes on the finally which may add to the theory: Charlie bezos only really works in syphons, his only skill is stealing stuff. The chaos spirits were malicious, yet harmless before Charlie bezos put them in the steel cubes. Those cubes worked as a syphon stealing all the surrounding magic and making the spirits more powerful. The magic they use isn't theirs it's stolen. Charlie the unicorn often nearly goes along with them at the end of the episode and loses things because of it. When he doesn't, he survives, and when he's actively voicing his displeasure he wins. Heck, he is the most receptive in the flashback to where he met the two, when he obviously loses the most by meeting them. I have the feeling that the song roughly coincide with see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil and think no evil. With perhaps be a millipede being like do no evil. But I still need to go further on that. The millipede and it's cult are the last surviving bugs of space, you know, those that control everything. The sea creatures are the last of Sea City, City of the Sea. The bananas have a connection with Magic City, City of Magic, one is even shown in the video. And I don't know what candy cave has to do with the weasels, but both have cave bits. Anyway Charlie basically goes through the same journey as Nix does. Low-level forest thing, to something from Magic City, City of Magic, to Sea City, City of the Sea, to the Space Bugs to Charlie bezos. It is telling that Nix releases the second chaos spirit because he didn't know what to do and didn't have time. I don't know what it's telling, but it's telling nonetheless. The only survivors are Charlie, briefly the starfish before having a completely natural hart attack, the freaky looking bat and (presumably) the pufferfish. Charlie survives because obviously. The starfish survives because he's constantly been transformed into something different (first a wheel, then a starfish) and because he was constantly not recognized as a threat (I believe that the two spirits both thought the other was controlling him, making him get away with it). The freaky looking bat survived because it was left alone due to it's appearance (kinda like Charlie). And the pufferfish (presumably) survives because the starfish doesn't let it get a chance to join in and contribute. Which is the sole reason it is presumed it survived. Nix was wrong. Not completely. But he was, the main danger was the tower as it housed most of the spirits, though he was correct in one danger being in the cavern. If he was truly given the time to research it he would have figured it out though, all of Nix's mistakes would not have been made if he had enough time to inform himself. They mispronounced Liopleurodon. Doesn't have any bearings on any of this, but just wanted to let yous know. Since Charlie made them really popular, so most fans of the thing mispronounce it. I hope this is something of worth. Or not, I don't care I liked writing it :D.

[@MrAlice613]

This is a very astute and succinct analysis! I really enjoy it!

[@dudeist_priest]

Thank you, dear machine, for the pixels.

[@loorthedarkelf8353]

Back for another rewatch, still love your videos. To anyone reading this, drink some water and unclench your jaw 🫂💚✨