Pity the stunt people. All of us may be stuck inside, but it’s this group in particular who must be going completely stir crazy now that they have no proper way to satisfy their need to jump off skyscrapers, crash cars into stuff, or find other well-trained people with whom to have choreographed fist fights. We shouldn’t be surprised, given their quarantine restlessness, that the same people who gave us innovations such as “lighting yourself on fire without dying” have discovered creative ways to overcome their current situation—like, as a recent video shows, using the internet to do remote stunts.
Spotted by Rex Chapman on Twitter, a French stunt school called Campus Univers Cascades posted a clip in which various performers engage in a digitally-enabled, super athletic brawl. Presented as a #hashtagged social media challenge (that actually most of us probably shouldn’t participate in), the video sees a bunch of different people punching, kicking, flipping around, and headbutting each other in turns, responding to the attack that came before their segment.
There’s a great, Jackie Chan-esque cartoonishness to the whole thing, what with the premise of an internet stunt fight being inherently goofy from the jump. One guy smacks another with a banana, someone throws a roll of toilet paper from one clip into the next, a dude goes cross-eyed after being hit with a frying pan, and, best of all, a little kid is picked up and swung as a weapon.
Thank you, stunt people. We know your backyards and living rooms aren’t the ideal venue for your work, but your dedication to hurting yourselves for the world’s amusement is appreciated, no matter the format.
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