It’s hard to classify something like Jackass. In many ways, it seemed like a phenomenon of the time. It arose at a particular junction when the world was craving viral content before the advent of social media. It classified itself as a stunt and prank show, but it went way beyond that. Punk’ed and Impractical Jokers could definitely be described as prank shows, but Jackass was on a completely different level. And the stunts performed in the show weren’t of the variety the public was used to. Evel Knievel is held up as the celebrity showman who performed traditional stunts for entertainment. Jackass had none of that flare and seemed to perform stunts just for the sake of failure, which makes its unique content all the more puzzling.
A glimpse into the core of Jackass’s appeal can be found during its most recently installment, Jackass Forever. The film brings back a lot of the original stars with some fresh faces. It also includes a segment called “The Dum Dum Game.” The premise: three contestants in a quiz show all lined up with a mechanical arm positioned to hit their groin. Series star Johnny Knoxville asks the questions and operates the arms, which are triggered after a wrong answer. Hilarity ensues as they all suffer blows over the course of the segment.
On the surface, the segment looks fairly detailed; a group of guys are willing to get hit in a vulnerable spot and it features a pretty impressive work of engineering. But below the surface, this is really nothing more than a group of friends finding creative ways to hit each other in the groin — something young and dumb men do all the time. Guys are stupid like that. And so Jackass is merely the next evolution of taking that male camaraderie to the masses. Jackass isn’t necessarily a stunt or a prank show any more than boys being stupid in their backyard. The only difference is they filmed each other and caught lightning in a bottle by broadcasting it at a particular time when the public was craving it. The only reason Jackass Forever had appeal was because it had those original actors which fans of the series have nostalgia for. It’s unclear whether or not anything original like that could ever become popular again.
Jackass Forever is now streaming on Paramount+.
0 Commentaires