Moral Values

Even though HTF is a cartoon, it does not have the usual ‘living happily after’ ending. However, it still follows a format similar to that of a childhood story – that there’s always a moral value at the end. Some of these moral values include ‘Don’t throw the baby out with the water’ and ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. Very often, the moral value is pretty much senseless and has no direct link to the content (incidents) shown on the videos.

It seems that it has been put there just for the sake of putting it there. I feel that there is a contradiction for the moral value to be there. The content of HTF includes mainly violence and gore, which does not complement the value at the end, resulting in a stark contrast. Since it does not really complement what the video is putting across, what is the purpose of the moral value?

Could it be a reminder? A reminder from the producers that we should still remain good and proper even after watching all these violence on the videos? To pull people back to reality, to relieve them of the guilt by being so involved in watching such violence?

Or could it just be a kind of irony that the producers want to bring out? Violence and Gore versus Good and Proper.

I feel that when the producers include such values at the end of the video, it results in a ‘mocking effect’. Especially for those addicted to HTF, it seems like the producers are mocking them for enjoying the show, that the producers have actually stumbled onto their ‘dirty little secret’ of enjoying the sadistic nature of their videos.

When I first started watching the videos, I thought the presence of the moral values is an irony. I tried to link them to the ‘direct’ content that I have watched but usually to no avail. Then, I get curious about what the producers can come up with at the end of the video – what kind of senseless values will they post up. Eventually, I kind of ignored the existence of the moral values after a long time. Since it does not make any sense to me, I block them out. I’ll ‘x’ the window before the moral values could even pop out. When this happens to the audience, the producers’ intent will be unsuccessful. The reminders and the irony that the producers are trying to bring out gradually loses its appeal as they do not make any sense.

Yet, it could also be the producers’ intent to have senseless moral values at the end to portray how absurd the situation is. How absurd that people actually find their videos entertaining despite its grotesque content.