“This Performance Art Is for the Birds:” Jackass, 'Extreme' Sports, and The
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Copyright 2008 by the Studies in Art Education National Art Education Association A Journal of Issues and Research 2008, 49(2),136-146 “This Performance Art is for the Birds:” Jackass, ‘Extreme’ Sports, and the De(con)struction of Gender Robert W. Sweeny Indiana University of Pennsylvania Correspondence Many challenges currently face art educators who aim to address aspects of popular regarding this article visual culture in the art classroom This article analyzes the relationship between should be sent to the performance art and the MTV program Jackass, one example of problematic author at 115 Sprowls popular visual culture Issues of gender representation and violence within the Hall, 470 N 11th context of Reality TV and ‘extreme’ sports will be analyzed, with the intent of Street, Indiana, PA questioning the pedagogical limitations and possibilities of such topics within the 15701 E-mail: field of art education, in order to provide art educators with related critical peda- sweeny@iup edu gogical strategies The author wishes to thank Dr Charles This isn’t a movie: it’s a symptom Garoian for his invaluable review of an —Brian Webster (2005) early draft of this article, which was presented at With the release of Jackass Number Two in 2006 (Tremaine, 2005), the 2006 NAEA Annual the entertainment world was once again confronted with a peculiar chal- Conference, Chicago, lenge: How to respond to a motion picture released by a major studio Illinois made up of short clips featuring gross-out gags and life-threatening stunts, with no script, no actors, a minimal budget, and enough images of excrement to justify the double entendre of the title? Simple Either applaud the film for its lowbrow insolence and potential for cathartic release, or pan it for the same reasons As film critic Brian Webster (2005) states, the popular television show and film series might be best thought of as a representation of a larger problem, of all things wrong with the entertainment world in the 21st century, an infec- tious meme that, upon viewing, spreads beyond the sealed confines of the cathode ray tube into the living room, the backyard, and the quiet 1The opening scene suburban street 1 presents this through the (subtle) metaphor It is this infectious potential of Jackass, the television show and its of the Jackass crew filmic offshoots, and the larger confluence of reality TV, ‘extreme’ sports, recreating the ‘running and accessible media that it represents, that requires a thoughtful, critical with the bulls,’ replacing Pamplona with a response from art educators living within a visual culture Does Jackass, stereotypical suburban an example of popular, problematic visual culture, represent the limits neighborhood, the bulls of that which can be discussed in the art classroom: the unteachable? Or, destroying bodies and buildings alike might an analysis of Jackass, as it relates to contemporary performance art theory and practice, allow for constructive responses that address issues of media violence and gender representation, where art educators and students might develop critical, creative responses that resist infection? 136 Studies in Art Education “This Performance Art is for the Birds” “This Performance Art is for the Birds” The television program Jackass debuted on MTV in 2000 It was quickly reviled for featuring stunts and gags performed by a variety of individuals, the most popular of which were Steve-O (Steven Glover), Chris Pontius, Bam Margera, and Johnny Knoxville (Philip John Clapp) The show was developed from two sources: Big Brother skateboarding magazine and the skateboarding video Landspeed: CKY (Margera, 1999) It is important to note that both of these inspirations are derived from the world of skateboarding; the marketing of skateboarding as an ‘extreme’ sport points to the larger interrelationship between shows such as Jackass and media representations of gender identity, with provocative links to recent examples from performance art practices, which will be discussed following an exploration of the Jackass phenomenon Jackass continued a tradition of inane, risqué, and blatantly lowbrow programming on MTV established by shows like Beavis and Butthead and The Tom Green Show It also tapped into the Reality TV market, extending the voyeurism of Big Brother, which debuted in the Netherlands in the summer of 1999, and anticipating gross-out shows such as Fear Factor (2000) It became infamous when young people started to mimic stunts from the show, such as in the case of 13-year-old Connecticut native Jason Lind, who tried to re-create the infamous ‘meat suit’ perfor- mance from season one This segment involved the character Johnny Knoxville lying atop a large barbeque grill, wearing a flame retardant suit covered with steaks Awkwardly rising from the grill, Knoxville samples a piece of barbequed meat, and states, wearily: “This performance art is for the birds ” Whereas Knoxville was suitably protected from the intense heat of the fire, Lind was not; he doused his legs with gasoline and lit himself on fire, suffering from second and third degree burns to his legs and feet (Teller, 2001) News of the Lind case quickly spread, generating responses from MTV as well as politicians such as Joe Lieberman (2001), Independent Senator from Connecticut, who noted in a press briefing: Most children are not going to make the tragic mistake Jason Lind did But there are a number of children out there watching your programming who may be susceptible to the powers of MTV’s persuasion and try one of these stunts without thinking of the consequences That being the case, I think we all have an obligation—parents and programmers alike—to do what we can to protect these children and limit the potential for harm to them As referenced by Lieberman, and in the Webster (2005) epigraph, many feel that MTV holds an undue amount of influence on today’s Studies in Art Education 137 Robert W Sweeny youth In a statement, titled MTV’s Programming Hurts Kids (Pitts, 2005), U S Congress lawmaker Joseph R Pitts, a Republican from Pennsylvania, addressed the House of Representatives on the dangers of MTV: “Madam Speaker, it seems that Music Television plays a lot more than music these days From reality TV to tasteless dramas, MTV has become one of cable’s largest purveyors of smut ” While Pitts does not mention Jackass or the Lind case specifically, he does reinforce the image of MTV as being harmful to the youth of the United States In this statement, the danger is increased in the shift from broadcasting professionally produced music videos to the increased airplay of Reality TV programs, such as The Real World, Road Rules, and, of course, Jackass These Reality TV programs lack the gloss of the average music video; they appear amateurish, and, therefore, are more easily replicated In response to such criticism, MTV can comfortably refer to the disclaimer that precedes each episode of Jackass: The following show features stunts performed by professionals and/or total idiots under very strict control or supervision MTV and the producers insist that neither you or anyone else attempt to recreate or perform anything you have seen on this show This statement is clearly offered as a legal protection from lawsuits such as those that followed in the wake of the Jason Lind incident However, as viewed within the larger spectrum of Reality TV programming, the legitimacy of the ‘reality’ of Jackass is thrown into question through the use of the label ‘professional ’ Surely part of the provocative nature of the show is due to the fact that the activities caught on film typically require little skill: Can one be a professional Jackass? Although the Jackass crew represents the ‘average,’ bored, white male, who, for lack of anything better to do, attempts to outdo friends through physical exertion and body humor, they are, in most cases, well-trained, either as professional skateboarders, or, in the case of Steve-O, as a circus clown The unprofessional production of the skits, shot on handheld digital video without the assistance of a ‘steady cam’ device, contributes to their unvarnished allure Art educators and students might first inquire as to the relationship between the professional training and assistance that the Jackass crew undergoes, and the low-tech manner of presentation as the first of many critical questions raised by the show Why go to so much trouble to develop and organize these skits and stunts, only to present them as if they were spontaneous, and unplanned? What are the responsibilities of MTV, and the producers of Jackass, when these stunts are replicated, with disastrous consequences, in the case of Jason Lind? I suggest that the tension between the production and the presen- tation of Jackass introduces a problematic scenario for those who buy 138 Studies in Art Education “This Performance Art is for the Birds” into the ‘reality’ of Reality TV 2 As Andrejevic (2004) suggests, Reality TV exists within and is sustained by complex networks of commerce, technology, and visuality, increasing the potential for both suspicion 2See jagodzinski (2003) for a relevant, Lacanian and glamorization of the mechanisms of surveillance, of watching and analysis of the ‘reality’ of being watched Jackass therefore presents itself as a marker for the limits Reality TV of acceptable social behavior, as the symptom indicates the spread of disease or illness, while indicating that replication of the activities are within the reach of the average viewer As such, they might also