Mr. Messy

## Books

**Mr. Messy** is the eight book in the Mr. Men series by Roger Hargreaves. His attribute is being messy, neglectful of his living environment and himself, inattentive to how other people perceive him and how to interact with them, specifically on the topic of their (hygienic) boundaries.

## Fiction

Mr. Messy's depiction has varied greatly and that has all to do with changing public perception and how lighthearted fiction fit for children would approach the character. His messiness has not been associated with hoarding and he has never been shown to neglect himself or his environment out of (mental) misery and/or poverty, as it is often the case in real life.

His classic story depicts a man who likes being messy. His 1997 cartoon depiction made him uncomfortably socially awkward and thus his way of living a consequence of not being able to take care of oneself. Unseen by his poor social skill as well is that characters tried to avoid interacting with him. Entirely different from his Mr. Men Show depiction where chaos is the norm and he is also a major figure in the social circles, hosting his radio show Shazam! That's Good!. This time around, messiness is an active choice where he voices cleanliness makes him anxious.

## **The Mr. Men Show**

Mr. Messy in the Mr. Men Show is by far the most prominent role the character had ever had and it is largely thanks to Peter Rida Michail, the art director and designer, to voice Mr. Messy and use him as the effector into the 70s art direction. As such, Mr. Messy sings most songs and hosts his radio program Shazam! That's good!

He has no problem with eating rotten food and has a specific thing for sock cheese, often keeping food in dirty socks or somewhere on his body. He does seem to draw the line at eating snails or eating food that has (had) ants all over it, neither of those things being explicitly unhygienic at all but simply out of some odd personal principle.

Mr. Messy lives next to his total opposite, Mr. Fussy in a duplex house; the only one of its kind in Dillydale. While a positively presented character, he is wholeheartedly an "aggressor" and Mr. Fussy is his "victim" most of the time. The plot is always in favor of Messy, which has to do with the nature of the show. As such, it is hard to tell to what extend Mr. Messy fears cleanliness. His messiness is validated or simple not made a fuss about by most characters - with the exception of Mr. Fussy - to the extend he feels no need to adjust himself to others. This often shows him to be careless of Fussy's belonging and needs even when Fussy explicitly voices them. Messy has only had one occasion of being clean (S2E35 Library)

But even so, Messy's messiness does not stop Fussy from wanting to be with Messy, and Fussy's cleanliness does not stop Messy from wanting to be with Fussy.

From his house to his hair, Mr. Messy's life is an unorganised messy muddle. But Mr. Messy doesn't think he is messy, he just thinks everyone else in Dillydale is far too tidy.

## Description Mr.Men.com

Careless ♦ Chaotic ♦ Sloppy

Mr. Messy is the messiest person you could ever meet in your whole life. He looked messy because he is messy in everything he does. Marvellously messy.

Did You Know?

Mr. Messy Never cuts his lawn, his neighbors hate it!

He’s the only Mr. Men character who doesn’t have a black outline

Doesn’t like having a bath

## Relationships

* Mr. Fussy - opposite, friend, neighbor

* Little Miss Bossy - friend
* Little Miss Neat - opposite, enemy
* Little Miss Tidy - opposite

## Notes and citations

**References**

1. ↑ Mr Men, Mr Messy on youtube

**Notes**
1. ↑ The USA animation industry in 2000-2010 has a large portion of gross-out humor in which a lack of hygiene and manners was an acceptable vulgarity for kid's shows. This was also largely catered to boys and Cartoon Network favored a male demographic.