Los therians They are fashionable not only in Argentina; They are a thing of the world. So much so that these people – mostly teenagers – who identify with a non-human animal already have representation on the most popular entertainment platform on the planet: Netflix.
The algorithm is aware of the event, so it responds accordingly if the word “therians” is searched in the search engine. The first production that appears as soon as one looks for that word in the “N” is a series very consistent with the phenomenon: Sweet Tooth: the deer boy.
This fiction, created by Jim Mickle and released on the platform in 2021, it tells the story of a half-human, half-deer boy who joins other “hybrids” like him to find the answers to a cataclysm that devastated the world. Christian Convery he puts himself in the shoes of Gus, that character.
The relationship between the therian phenomenon and the series is evident, although in this case Sweet Tooth’s child in the plot is a «real» hybrid.
The series has three seasons and a total of 24 episodes. And it’s over; There are no more episodes on the horizon. The story, highly endorsed by critics since its premiere, is an adaptation of a comic series created by Jeff Lemire and published by DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint.
Many series and movies that appear on the platform if someone searches for “therian” or “therians” repeat the same patterns.
The most impressive is the animated series Beastardsalso with three seasons, whose official synopsis reads: “In a world of anthropomorphic animals, carnivores and herbivores coexist with each other.” His story is that of Regoshi, a wolf who is part of a student theater club and carries the weight of having a threatening appearance.
Also included are the Dreamworks classic Spirit: the indomitable steedwhich tells the story of a horse; Miss Peregrine and the peculiar childrende Tim Burton; o my little pony.
The therian phenomenon in the world
He therian phenomenonwhich describes people who say they identify on a psychological and/or spiritual level with a non-human animal, is evident on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube, where this experience is usually expressed with videos of “quadrobics” (moving on all fours), sounds, masks or tails (the community insists that the central thing is the internal identity, not the costume).
Although it may seem something new, as an organized community it has roots in internet forums from the 90s, and is usually related to the umbrella of non-human identities of different types.
An important point: it is very confused with the furry subculture, but it’s not the same; Furry is usually an artistic/performative fandom, while therian is considered a personal identity.
The recent global leap has to do with the logic of virality: highly visual, replicable content with a community, which attracts especially adolescents who seek belonging and language to explain how they feel.
In mental health it is convenient to separate two things: what the community calls therian (non-physical identity, generally without losing touch with reality) of clinical therianthropya rare psychiatric term for cases of delusions of animal transformation. They are different categories and mixing them tends to confuse rather than clarify.
