If you’re of a certain age (let’s say, under 30, but over 20), there’s a good chance that once upon a time, long ago, you really liked Barney the Purple Dinosaur. Today this cultural phenomenon, and pardon the inevitable pun, is extinct – but for a certain period, from the mid-90s to the early 2000s, he was everywhere, with the catchy songs, the endlessly optimistic attitude and the rage he provoked in quite a few people . Wait, rage? What’s the fuss about? After all, television for toddlers has existed more or less as long as there has been television, and it is true that cultural theories bordering on conspiracy have been built around it (such as the theory that claims that “The Teletubbies” takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that survived a nuclear war, or all kinds of theses behind the plot of “Sammy the Fireman”), But this is already a reaction from bored adults who had to watch these programs together with their children, isn’t it?
So with Barney something a little different happened, and around this thing was woven the doco “I love you, you hate me” (which echoes Barney’s best-known song, in which of course “I love you, you love me”, and so on ad infinitum). Because Barney was lucky enough to break into the public consciousness just as the Internet was entering every home, and the hatred for Barney became a kind of early meme (and not only Internet: Barney was also slaughtered on “Saturday Night Live”, in music videos on MTV, in comic books, etc. But the majority was on the Internet), while the surfers were still trying to shape some kind of internet language that had not yet fully matured, but it was clear that she had a great interest in black humor – and what could be more fitting than hating, abusing and being angry at an overly smiling purple dinosaur doll?
This phenomenon was significant enough to justify its own Wikipedia entry (search for Anti-Barney humor) and, as it turns out, this docu, which is broadcast tonight on Bis Docu and also available on Bis VOD. Besides, if you’re already into it, you might also want to look for a wonderful and completely underrated black comedy from 2002 called “Smoochie Must Die” (directed by Danny DeVito!) about a violent rivalry between children’s show hosts (Robin Williams and Edward Norton), who one One of them appears in the form of a smiling purple rhino named Smoochy – who is clearly whispering to Barney.
“I love you, you hate me”, Tuesday (6.12) 22:00 Bis Docu and Bis VOD