Prank shows have existed for almost as long as television (and, of course, the practice of pranking itself goes back millenia.) Maybe the show is called "candid camera", or "just for laughs", or whatever.
Unsurprisingly, a lot of such content has been uploaded to YouTube since almost the beginning of that site, as well as all the other video sharing platforms.
A lot of people, quite justly so, heavily criticize and oppose prank videos where the pranks are mean and done in bad spirit. Scaring people, assaulting people (in American legalese "assault" does not necessarily require physical contact, just the physical movements needed to make the person seriously believe that he will get physically hurt, even if physical contact is never made; if physical contact that causes injury does occur, the legal term is "battery"), causing them stress, worry or panic (eg. faking some accident that makes nearby people panic and think that something horrible has happened), and so on and so forth.
These "pranks" are often mean-spirited and not done in good humor. It causes the victim distress and stress, even when (sometimes) the victim kind of goes along with it after it is revealed to be "just a prank".
Incredibly, such mean-spirited horrendous pranks are not always done by some youtube wannabe-celebrities, but sometimes even by more famous big-name personalities. For example there was this one prank done by one of the big-name magicians (I think it was Criss Angel, although I'm not 100% certain) where he did some street magic in front of a half dozen people and pretended that it went completely wrong and caused an accident that broke his neck and left him paralyzed from the neck down, with him acting like he had seriously hurt himself, couldn't move, and was calling for help. He made it look incredibly realistic (ie. as if it the magic trick had indeed gone wrong and he had indeed severely injured his neck) which made it absolutely horrifying and disgusting. When he revealed that it was "just a prank", nobody present laughed. They were understandably upset and disgusted. As was I (as well as most people in the comment section of the video.) It was one of the most horrendous and least funny "pranks" I have seen in my life. It was vile and disgusting. It would only have been more disgusting if he had pretended to spill his intestines or something. What on earth was the guy even thinking?
Most bad-taste youtube pranks might not go that far, but they are still extremely bad and unfunny, and are outright just harassment and abuse of people.
A huge amount of pranks involve startling people. Like, for example, a "statue" or a bush suddenly moving, scaring people walking by. Whether these are actually funny is up to opinion, I suppose.
Many people prefer the more innocent traditional-style pranks that's shown on many TV series, such as Just For Laughs Gags. These are much more harmless, they (usually) don't scare people, they just mislead and confuse them in funny ways, often in ways that even the "victim" himself will laugh at, once revealed.
I myself used to think like that as well, for the longest time.
In later years, however, I have got tired of the entire genre. All of it.
I don't find it really all that funny. Even if it's a harmless and innocent prank that doesn't cause any anxiety or fear, and even if the "victim" himself laughs at it when revealed, it's still tricking and deceiving people just for laughs. It's, in essence, deliberately lying to people, giving the wrong impression, to make fun of them. Even if the person himself laughs at it, ultimately the "prank" is still making fun of the person.
I think the entire idea, the entire genre, the entire concept of "pranking" people, no matter how innocuously and harmlessly, is stupid and unethical, and I don't really find it funny anymore.
Comments
Post a Comment