The Psychology of "Happy Tree Friends"

The Happy Tree Friends has a cult following on the internet, with a huge popularity among, surprisingly, kids and teens. Most may find the gruesome and grisly ending of the lead cartoon character disturbing, and may force the network to convert their online madness into an opt-in only, parental guidance required, etc kind of presentation.

 

But Freud had always anticipated this. The father of psychoanalysis had suggested that our baser instincts drive us to do the things we do. For instance, violence and the enjoyment of it – could it be that we are training our kids to be more violent?

 

Well, I think that’s a moot point. As humans we already think such things. As humans, we laugh at other people’s demise. But more importantly, we sometimes literally enjoy that violence. Look at the number of thrillers we have feeding the mass population and media.

 

Conversely, I think Happy Tree Friends is therapeutic.

 

WHAT?!

 

Yes. I discovered that nowadays when I see serious gruesome shots from the internet or from the TV shows or movies such as ‘7 Swords’, I can’t take the gore seriously anymore. It activates a mechanism where I don’t get stressed watching the gore, but rather, my brain goes ‘that reminds me of the Happy Tree Friends’. And then, their innocuous music continues to play in my mind…

 

Perhaps Man’s quest for psychotherapy is over. Just watch HappyTreeFriends.Com and you’ll probably understand what I mean. My recommendation? If it’s your first time there, make sure you haven’t had your meal yet…