Oh for gods' sakes

[serai]

Is there anyone around here besides me who still has a sense of humor about things like PUNKd?

It's a JOKE. Nobody GETS HURT. All that happens is some people THINK something happened that DIDN'T. And then they FIND OUT. That's it, people!


When I was a kid, there was a show called Candid Camera. It was essentially the same thing, except that the "victims" were ordinary people, not celebrities, and the show had a microscopic budget compared to PUNKd. There were no houses blowing up. Instead, what you got were people reacting to talking mailboxes, or choreographed crowds that wouldn't let them pass, or things like that. It was funny then, and it's funny now.

Christ in a sidecar. The world is getting grimmer and more horrid every day. Where's the harm in fooling somebody and then letting them know they've been fooled? It's incredible how thin-skinned people have gotten, and how unwilling to take a joke. Especially when it isn't even on them!!


*goes back to watch promo again* I sure hope somebody captures the whole segment. I'd really love to see this!

Comments

[trilliah.livejournal.com]

There are different kinds of "hurt," Serai. Sure, no one gets physically injured, but humiliation is a psychological hurt of its own. Candid Camera was funny--one of my personal favorites was when a large group of people stood on a city sidewalk and stared up into the sky, trying to see how many passersby would pause and stare too. (In fact, that might have been a psychological study about imitation...). Talking mailboxes, people acting bizarrely, practical jokes meant to be amusing or mildly startling--they're one thing. But they can be taken too far.

I've never seen this show. I don't know what it's about, how far the jokes go, or what they do. But I can completely sympathize with people who don't find it funny to watch someone else's humiliation. Thin-skinned? Maybe. Or maybe just empathetic. Some just don't find the same kinds of things funny, just as some don't find the same sorts of things scary or sad or romantic. And frankly, some of these so-called harmless "pranks" can get down-right cruel--even if no one is physically hurt.

[trilliah.livejournal.com]

I'll add I had no idea it was Elijah we were talking about here, so this isn't some kind of overly-protective fan-girling flailing I'm doing here--I'm speaking in generalities. In this particular case, you're probably right: he probably DID laugh. Just the way he reacted to Dom's faux-interview would predict that.

I'll also add that celebrities are probably more equipped than the average Joe to deal with that sort of embarrassment--they're more used to the spotlight, after all. But I hold to what I said about some of these things being taken too far. It can happen, and it can hurt, no matter that it was done in good fun. *shrugs*