Salad Fingers

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Flash series

Salad Fingers plays with

Horace Horsecollar in Episode 6.
Salad Fingers
Devised by David Firth
Written by David Firth
Christian Pickup (co-writer)
Animated by David Firth
Voiced by David Firth
Launch date July 1, 2004
Website http://www.fat-pie.com

Salad Fingers is a Flash cartoon series originally created by David Firth in July 2004[1] which gained rapid internet popularity in 2005. The San Francisco Chronicle ranked it in the "top 10" pop culture phenomena for that year.[2]

Contents

[edit] Summary

In the surreal cartoons, the eponymous Salad Fingers inhabits a desolate, sparsely populated post-apocalyptic world in which he revels in the delightful feeling of the textures of various objects on his salad fingers (his fingers are long, green and strangely shaped). He enjoys rusty articles (especially spoons) and derives similar pleasure from experiencing pain. He appears to enjoy meeting new people, though many of his acquaintances are simply avatars (such as finger puppets including Hubert Cumberdale, Jeremy Fisher, and Marjory Stewart Baxter) for which he provides voice. On the rare occasion he hears coherent speech from another living person, he falls into a state of shock or insanity. When Salad Fingers himself speaks, his voice is generally gentle and fluid though occasionally sharp and stern, and also appears in the cartoon as animated text.

The eerie music featured in the background is the tune "Beware the Friendly Stranger" by Boards of Canada. The dark music in the soundtrack that appears when Salad Fingers is scared is actually Firth playing the guitar, slowed down and reversed. Other music included in Salad Fingers episodes includes work credited to Brian Eno, Sigur Rós and Aphex Twin.[3] David Firth frequently inserts references to Aphex Twin in his flash cartoons; for example, the Aphex Twin logo can be found on the telephone in Salad Fingers episode five. Firth has also cited the films of David Lynch, South Park, Tim Burton, the League of Gentlemen and Chris Morris as sources of inspiration.[3]

[edit] Characters

Salad Fingers greeting his finger puppet friends. Left to right: Jeremy Fisher, Marjory Stewart-Baxter, and Hubert Cumberdale.
Salad Fingers greeting his finger puppet friends. Left to right: Jeremy Fisher, Marjory Stewart-Baxter, and Hubert Cumberdale.
Salad Fingers 
The main character is a bald, hunchbacked humanoid with light-green skin. His long, strangely-shaped fingers are his most notable feature. They were the focus of the first episode of the series, where Salad Fingers is shown deriving pleasure from rubbing various objects, particularly rusty spoons. Salad Fingers appears to suffer from psychosis, and is unable or unwilling to distinguish between sentient beings and inanimate objects, and is frequently found talking to various inert articles (notably his finger puppets). He often assigns such objects proper names and appears to believe that they can communicate with him directly, sometimes voicing their perceived thoughts himself. He lives alone in a small shack with the number 22 on the door. His talents include playing the flute and speaking French.
The name "Salad Fingers" was invented by Firth's co-writer, Christian 'Crust' Pickup, who described Firth as having salad fingers while playing the guitar.[3]
Hubert Cumberdale, Marjory Stewart-Baxter, and Jeremy Fisher 
Finger puppets who appear variously in episodes two, three, five, six, seven and eight. They often appear in Salad Fingers's fantasies as life sized beings. Salad Fingers also enjoys "tasting" these puppets, claiming they taste like "soot and poo" or "sunshine dust". Salad Fingers has also referred to Jeremy Fisher as having been out fighting "The Great War". Jeremy Fisher is also a name of a frog in the Beatrix Potter books. In episode five Hubert Cumberdale is temporarily renamed Barbara Logan-Price.
Harry/Milford Cubicle 
Appearing in episode three, Cubicle is a human-like armless being who wears an apron identifying him as being employed at a "BBQ". Though his nametag reads "Harry", Salad Fingers calls him Milford Cubicle. He dies of exsanguination by banging his head on Salad Fingers' door. Salad Fingers then finds him and drags him inside his house and hangs him on a meat hook.
Bordois 
Appearing in episode four, Bordois is a woodlouse which Salad Fingers accidentally kills by attempting to pet her. He refers to this bug as "little sister". Once he squishes her, he says "I shalln't play with you again until you've had a wash."
Mable
Appearing in episode five, Mable is a young girl who goes to a picnic with Salad Fingers. She is the first character other than Salad Fingers who can communicate in English, and she is the first person other than Salad Fingers to actually speak— something that seems to shock and dismay Salad Fingers. When she sees Salad Fingers looking at her in dismay she says "What's wrong? Do you not like my mouth-words?"
Kenneth 
A decomposing corpse found in a hole near Salad Fingers's house; Salad Fingers claims that it is his brother, "back from the Great War," and invites him in for dinner.
Roger 
Appearing in episode eight, Roger is a broken radio, which speaks in a robotic, aggressive manner (much like a Dalek) and scares Salad Fingers into the cupboard twice. Roger, according to Salad Fingers, must be given 'sustenance' (in the form of small brown pellets which appear to be beans or marbles).
Horace Horsecollar 
A toy horse with which Salad Fingers indulges his senses.
Penny Pigtails 
A character Salad Fingers' imagination created while hiding from Roger in the safety cupboard.
Young Child 
A small yellow child who looks more like an old person who talks by screeching. He is in episode one.

Salad Fingers also ramblingly mentions he has an "old pal" named "Charlie" as well as a daughter, though neither of them are seen. It could be that neither of these characters are real, as they could be nothing more than the title character's delusions.

Unnamed Characters 
  • A young child wearing a varsity-type jacket whom Salad Fingers accidentally cooks in an oven in episode two.
  • A big eyed, grotesque small boy who falls in love with Salad Fingers in episode four.

[edit] Episodes

Each episode is 1-6 minutes long; the narratives themselves are quite surreal, and each one only follows a semblance of a story.

[edit] Episode 1 - Spoons

This episode introduces us to Salad Fingers and his love of touching rusty spoons. He explains how touching any form of rust—including spoons, a door bell panel, and a kettle—stimulates him ("The feeling of rust against my salad fingers is almost orgasmic"), and that he holds a particular love of spoons. Salad Fingers walks to the house of a strange young boy to see if he has any rusty spoons; the child screeches two times, at which point Salad Fingers leaves, after asking to caress a rusty kettle that is on a table beside him.

[edit] Episode 2 - Friends

  • Release date: July 15, 2004
  • Credits: Drawn, animated and voiced by David Firth. Written by David Firth and Christian "Crust" Pickup. Music by Boards of Canada and David Firth.

Salad Fingers has a get-together with his "friends"—finger puppets—whom Salad Fingers introduces as Hubert Cumberdale, Marjory Stewart-Baxter and Jeremy Fisher. He appears to believe that his "friends" are real, living beings. Wondering what his friends taste like, he briefly inserts them into his mouth. Salad Fingers then tells them that he has a fish cooking in the oven and speaks a nonsensical phrase in French: "Alors. Habille-la. Comment t'appelles tu? Qu'est-ce qu'il y a?." This roughly translates to, "So then. Dress it. What's your name? What's the matter?"

In the next scene, a frightened child responds to Salad Fingers's call for help. Salad Fingers cannot reach the fish cooking in his oven and asks the child to get it for him. As the child reaches into the oven, Salad Fingers sees a rusty nail jutting out of the wall reaches to stroke it, causing the oven door to close and trap the child inside. Salad Fingers then impales his finger on the spike and begins bleeding.

Salad Fingers pales and passes out. Apparently dreaming, Salad Fingers walks through a large meat locker singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow to himself. While inside, he meets a full-size Hubert Cumberdale, who screams distorted electronic noises at him. When Salad Fingers awakens, the oven smokes and oozes, the child forgotten inside as Salad Fingers states, "That fish smells about done."

[edit] Episode 3 - Nettles

  • Release date: August 1, 2004
  • Credits: Drawn, animated and voiced by David Firth. Written by David Firth and Christian "Crust" Pickup. Music by Boards of Canada, Brian Eno and a yoga flute.

Salad Fingers is playing with nettles and has irritated blisters all over his hands. He then comes across an empty baby carriage, which he calls a "nettle carrier" and then leaves with it. An armless man wearing an apron labeled "BBQ" appears and chases after Salad Fingers, screaming unintelligibly. Salad Fingers is sitting on the floor at his home and brushing the nettle over his nipple, which makes "the milk drop out from inside my teat!", when the armless man runs to Salad Fingers' house and begins to bang his head on the door. Eventually, Salad Fingers comes outside and finds the man bloody and unconscious (or possibly dead). He names the man "Milford Cubicle", ignoring the man's name tag reading "Harry". Salad Fingers then drags Milford inside and hangs him on a meat hook on the wall, offering him a "warm glass of milk" which can be assumed to have come from Salad Fingers' "teat".

[edit] Episode 4 - Cage

The boy who falls in love with Salad Fingers.
The boy who falls in love with Salad Fingers.
  • Release date: August 20, 2004
  • Credits: Drawn, animated and voiced by David Firth. Written by David Firth, Christian "Crust" Pickup, and Jimi Mwng. Additional character design by Jimi Mwng. Music by Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin and David Firth.

Salad Fingers wears a beret and declares that he is going to try and find France. However, he is frightened by a mutated boy with disproportionately large eyeballs that has been "watching him for a while". Salad Fingers becomes uncomfortable with the child's proximity and begins to leave. The boy, who speaks only in growls and grunts, approaches Salad Fingers, having apparently fallen in love with him.

Inside his house, Salad Fingers hears a knock on the door, which he opens to find a "grubby tap" attached to a string on the ground. Salad Fingers becomes excited about this "gift" and begins to fantasize about taps. He attempts to fetch it, but it is drawn away on the string as bait. He is caught in a bear trap which causes him to lose blood and consciousness while savoring the pain blissfully. He wakes up in a cage, and enjoys rubbing the rusted bars. The grotesque boy approaches the cage and holds out a ring (on which is mounted a human tooth) as if proposing marriage. Salad Fingers becomes distraught, states "I don't like this game", then pulls a curtain down over the window of the cage. When the curtain lifts, the boy, seeing that Salad Fingers has disappeared, begins to cry. The episode closes with Salad Fingers, wearing his beret, flying away gleefully on a giant tap.

[edit] Episode 5 - Picnic

Salad Fingers talks to an apparently broken and disconnected phone, asking the operator to connect him to his "old pal Charlie" so he can invite him to a picnic. Whilst describing the picnic fare, Salad Fingers rubs his stomach in hunger, then claims to have been rudely disconnected.

In the next scene, Salad Fingers wears a bridal train and talks to himself in a mirror, declaring "You look so beautiful". He then goes outside for his picnic, which is attended by a strange crow (which appears in other David Firth cartoons) and a little girl with scars on her face, a filthy, stained pink dress, and orange hair. Salad Fingers asks the orange-haired girl a question and answers it for her (as he seems to think that only he can speak), ending with "replied Mable". Salad Fingers calls her his new playmate and compliments her on her dress, and as he does this, Marjory Stewart-Baxter is seen in the window, jealous. Salad Fingers offers "Mable" some "Pease Pudding", which he feeds to her with a grotesque, rusty spoon. The crow then swoops down and steals Salad Fingers's spoon.

The little girl giggles and says that the crow must like spoons too. The shock of the girl speaking to him in English and not via Salad Finger's own voice drives Salad Fingers to temporary insanity, hallucinating, hearing screeching, distorted noises, and seeing the girl (complete with empty eye sockets) saying, "What's wrong, Mr. Fingers? Do you not like my mouth-words?"

[edit] Episode 6 - Present

Salad Fingers' teeth often have alphabetical characters drawn on them. In some frames there are other characters (eg. "j") or even smilies.
Salad Fingers' teeth often have alphabetical characters drawn on them. In some frames there are other characters (eg. "j") or even smilies.

The episode begins with Salad Fingers walking about his house. He sees Hubert Cumberdale on top of a cupboard, and instructs the finger puppet to come down at once. Hubert turns into a black, viscous fluid and oozes down the cupboard. A silhouette is then seen walking through the house and Salad Fingers asks if somebody is there; it is, in fact, the Jeremy Fisher puppet on his finger. Salad Fingers remarks that he thought Jeremy was out "fighting the Great War".

Another perspective shot shows Jeremy Fisher (now with arms) handing Salad Fingers a toy horse. Salad Fingers is pleased with the present, and remarks on the pleasing texture of the toy. He then eats Jeremy Fisher and plays with the toy horse while making "neigh" sounds. He walks outside with it and goes to an abandoned toilet which he starts having a conversation with. Suddenly, the mood changes and the music becomes sinister; he grows concerned and he begins defending himself, saying "You've got the wrong bloke, squire." He then flushes the toilet to "wash those bad thoughts away".

Upon arriving home, Salad Fingers gasps and sees himself sitting inside. The Salad Fingers inside appears to be hallucinating, seeing the "outside" Salad Fingers as a life-size Jeremy Fisher. The "inside" Salad Fingers speaks in a slightly different voice and also has rougher text showing what he is saying. The conversation starts off just like the earlier one with Jeremy Fisher, but goes on to include accusations that Jeremy Fisher has been "tailgating [his] daughter with aspirations of deflowering her rose". This appears to be the other "side" of the conversation Salad Fingers had into the toilet.

The inside Salad Fingers is now seen with the Jeremy Fisher finger puppet. Salad Fingers remarks that he never did "sample the delights of your flavor", and begins putting the finger-puppet in his mouth, but the scene quickly changes to a bloody scene of the "inside" Salad Fingers eating the "outside" Salad Fingers' head/brains. The episode ends abruptly.

[edit] Episode 7 - Shore Leave

As Salad Fingers is digging holes outside with his finger puppets, occasionally tasting the sand (which he calls "floor sugar"), he finds the decomposing torso of an old corpse. Salad Fingers immediately "recognizes" the cadaver as "Kenneth," his "younger brother" who is back from the previously mentioned "Great War" on shore leave. Salad Fingers pulls the gruesome, dismembered corpse out of the hole, saying it was rude of him to leave for the "the Great War" without him, but promises to draw him a hot bath.

The next scene shows Salad Fingers turning a cog which pulls clothesline, drawing Kenneth out of a wardrobe, now dressed in a suit He starts to talk about life with the women of the great war. Salad Fingers has prepared a dinner of sand for his guest, saying "I—hope you like... SAND". Salad Fingers tells Kenneth of his life, keeping busy with "every shift I can... [and] sing[ing] at all the functions". There is a flashback in which Salad Fingers measures the distance from his door to a tree with a clickwheel and subsequently teases it for its slow movement.

It is now evening, and Salad Fingers is with Kenneth outside near the same hole he found him in. He cries over the fact that Kenneth has to go "back to the ghastly trenches," suggesting that the "Great War" may be a reference to World War I. Also, World War I war was once called the "Great War," before the second World War. He salutes Kenneth and sings "We'll Meet Again" for him. He then kicks Kenneth back into the hole. A dream-like sequence follows in which Salad Fingers sings the same song, in a white dress, on a stage in front of an audience of a theatre. After singing a few strains, he complains to the pianist - who is shown as the silhouette of a marionette, with strings attached - that the key is wrong, walks off the stage, and the screen fades to black.

[edit] Episode 8 - Cupboard

Salad Fingers is sitting in his armchair, trying to tune his radio, which he calls "Roger." After feeding Roger his "sustenance" (which seems to be marbles or rocks), it begins to emit a strange, piercing frequency. He decides to wait out the tormenting event in his "safety cupboard."

When in the cupboard, Salad begins to converse with his hands. One hand enacts "Penny Pigtails," the other a market vendor. After being refused her purchase of raspberry jam, Penny Pigtails discovers a long strand of hair, which Salad rubs over his eyeball, apparently causing him great pleasure. He then leaves the cupboard and tapes it to a wall to form a "quintet" with four other hairs he has collected. Next, he goes to bed with the Hubert Cumberdale puppet. Before going to sleep, Salad sings "Three in the Bed," and instructs Hubert Cumberdale to "roll over"; as a result, the finger puppet is sent off the bed into a bowl of a filthy, brown substance (likely a chamberpot). Salad Fingers orders him to clean himself as he doesn't want any "dirty immigrants" in his house.

Later that night, the radio begins to emit strange sounds again. Salad Fingers approaches it wearily and threatens Roger with expulsion from the house. The radio replies it was rude of Salad to take his hair. The radio speaks in a static voice, instructing Salad to return its hair, as well as to tidy the house. Salad declares that he shan't, on the grounds that it isn't "his turn" and that it is an extremely unpleasant job. The radio continues to torment him, causing him to eat all of the hairs from his quintet, tape and all, and return to his cupboard in tears.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Salad Fingers' Stream Of Consciousness Entertains Viewers." The Daily Campus Online Edition. December 8, 2005
  2. ^ "2005 In Review: Pop Culture." The San Francisco Chronicle. December 25, 2005.
  3. ^ a b c "Interview with Salad Fingers Creator David Firth."

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Episodes


[edit] David Firth