Ghost Of A Chance
Here's a new video featured on YouTube that's already got over 20 millions hits:
Okay. I you didn't watch it, it's a prank from a Brazilian TV show. People are led into an elevator where the lights flicker on and off and a spooky young girl out of a horror movie magically appears and disappears, often screaming at them. The people scream as well, and generally cower.
It's very well done and reminds me of the outrageous pranks on an American show, Scare Tactics. And while I admit it's fascinating to see how people actually react in a true horror situation, I still find it hard to watch. Comedy generally has us laughing at other people's pain, but it's fictional. This is (as far as I can tell) real people in real fright.
Furthermore, they're using a young girl. Isn't this too dangerous? Isn't there a decent chance someone will attack her? Or do they figure the prohibiton against harming children is too strong for people to overcome? (Or maybe liability laws are different in Brazil.)
In general, I don't like practical jokes, much less shows about them. I don't even get them. Working hard to make others look foolish, or be embarrassed? Doesn't sound like fun to me.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:03 AM
4 Comments:
I too thought that Scare Tactics was a dangerous and unethical show. I always wondered if some of their pranks had resulted in real injuries or people who permanently rejected their friends who had played these pranks... and they just never aired such episodes.
Practical jokes on ordinary folks never did much for me- Alan Funt seemed like a royal jerk- but I generally enjoy targeted pranks like SPY used to (getting John Sununu to claim be a "people person" in a fake job interview) or sometimes Howard Stern (one of minions asking Gennifer Flowers if she planned to sleep with any of the other candidates).
Just For Laughs took practical jokes to a whole level of awesomeness and was truly funny. Leave it to the French Canadians.
The video you linked to has a lot of edits. Part Two, a different prank (also taken from horror movies) doesn't cut, and you can see the victim sobbing for a long time after the prank is done -- and even after she is told it's a prank she is sobbing and screaming at the pranksters.
Makes it a lot less funny.
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