Donkey See, Donkey Do

Knoxville, the Instigator

Was at my Mother’s house over Christmas, staying up late and watching TV. I was surfing across the channel lineup, and Comedy Central’s “Jackass the Movie” caught my attention. Never watched the “Jackass” TV show, so all the proceedings were new to me. Have to be honest and say that I was fascinated (yes, strangely fascinated) with what was on, much like when you slow down to see a car accident. The “Jackass” cast is a group of @ 5 men in their twenties who do ridiculous things on a dare. Some of the things are merely embarrassing, but more often there is a real risk of bodily injury; on at least one stunt (paper cuts), bodily injury was the actual intent. I saw about the last 2/3 of the movie, and here are some of the delightful stunts that were done:

- Using the bathroom (for real) in a department store display toilet
- Kick boxing the champion female Korean kick boxer (and getting flattened)
- Shooting bottle rockets from the (naked) posterior
- Getting shot in the abdomen with a bean bag gun (wearing “protective” vest)
- Creating, and then eating a “golden” snow cone
- Having a Matchbox car (wrapped in a condom) rectally inserted, and then visiting a doctor for x-ray

Much of the activity involved people either naked or wearing Speedos; it can make you wonder why the main following of the show is heterosexual teenage and twenty-something males. One can only guess that the spare clothing is needed to focus attention on (for example) the launching pad of the bottle rockets in above example. The appeal of all the shenanigans is obvious in at least one respect: the movie will bring out the snickering adolescent in almost anyone – it’s a gleeful return to junior high.

On another score, I was bothered on a couple of items. The paper cuts were deliberate self-mutilation, however minor. That behavior should never be shown or encouraged for any amount of money, in any venue. Yes, it’s minor injury but everything is a matter of degree. What might someone do next – cigarette burns? Self-asphyxiation? A related issue – real deaths have occurred from children and teenagers doing copycat stunts. Kids do enough deranged things without giving them new ideas. Could “Jackass” still be viable as a male, adolescent ratcheted-down version of “Candid Camera”? My guess is that it probably could. If you removed every component of scatological crudity, humiliation, and cutting edge, well, cuts, you could probably still have some funny scenes left. Would it have the appeal of a car accident? Probably not – and that’s probably a good thing.