Stunt Culture

Unless you’re living under a rock (which, sometimes, I wish I was), you’ve seen or heard about the incident at the Academy Awards on Sunday night, when Will Smith, evidently offended by a joke directed at his wife, strode on-stage and slapped the host, Chris Rock, in the face. Drama ensued—shouts, accusations, consolations, tabloid speculation, a torrent of social media posts.

My take is that the entire thing was 100% staged as a publicity stunt.

Or maybe . . . it wasn’t. Maybe it was all entirely real. An actor—the world’s best actor, according to the Academy—pushed too far. Defending his wife’s honor.

And that’s exactly the point. Whether the incident was real or not, staged or spontaneous, a celebrity who snapped or an elaborate stunt to concentrate our attention, I have already given this more thought than I care to. I don’t want to study the slap in slow motion to see if they really made contact. I don’t want to watch the breathless post-event analysis. I don’t want to get into arguments on social media about it.

In fact, I recognize it as just the latest example of Stunt Culture. People in the public eye, or those who crave it, blurring the lines of reality. Perpetrating outrageous acts to get people talking. Whether an incident like this is “real” or “fake” is irrelevant. The point is to talk about it—to gaslight us into giving them exactly what they want: our attention. It’s so pervasive and insidious that I realize I’m doing it right now with this post!

It’s hard to decide if acts like this are harbingers of the downfall of civility or just the desperate flails of a dying industry. But it is undeniably the fuel that powers everything from social media to celebrity tabloids. From Janet Jackson’s exposed breast at the Super Bowl halftime show to Kim and Kanye’s relationship drama to the entire Donald Trump presidency, Stunt Culture seems to have established deep roots in contemporary American society.

The denizens of these acts of attention seeking have truly honed a mastery of their craft. Exploiting the machinery of modern media to dominate popular culture. Knowing that the 24-news cycles, celebrity gossip blogs, and social media echo chamber need to talk about something, anything. They just need to bring the grist for the mill. It doesn’t matter if it’s “real” or not—what even is “real” anymore? Does anyone care? Isn't the debate over “real” or “fake” exactly what activates the audience? Makes them watch, makes them click. By even discussing it, you are lured into the trap. Debating whether it was real or not entirely misses the point. The point was simply to get our attention.

I find the entire incident, and the myriad of those like it, tiresome and pathetic. And, in spite of this post, I wish more people would just ignore it.

Which I am going to do, starting now . . .