The Stunt

You do something daring or unusual or dangerous and people say that you have pulled off a great stunt. There is this sense of positive emotion in that word when I look up the dictionary. But then when I look up a dictionary throwing up more meanings than just one, I get the feeling that there are shades of grey and sometimes its too cloudy for my liking.

For example, lets say in Live and Let Die, Roger Moore’s motor boat takes a huge flight from one part of the lake, crosses a road and then does a smooth landing on the other part of the lake and carries on as if nothing has happened. Now here, what’s real? That the boat took off and landed was real, but we all know that Roger Moore was not in that boat. That’s cinematographic license of misrepresentation but that is a genuine requirement. The movies are easy to refer to since that’s where most stunts are pulled off and it does not really affect us. But the example I gave was a real stunt, meaning the event had occurred but the character was misrepresented. But in movies you would also find stunts that in actual life could not have happened. For example like the one in Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragon – the long steps or jumps in the air or walking in flight. That’s make-believe event but is also a stunt.

Going back to the meaning of the word, stunt is also defined as a make believe event, something that’s not true, It’s also described as an event that is used for publicity or advertisement. Nothing could be truer in real life.

In the Indian context you have the relay fasts when people go on hunger strike by rotation. So you could have breakfast, join up the fast and then have a sumptuous dinner afterwards!! Then there are these numerous Indians who go on fast but consume fruits and yoghurt during that period. Don’t fool me and least of all, your GOD if any!!!

People also get carried away. You would have heard of David Blaine the famous street magician. Now his magic is great. But then he decided to spend some time under water and then had to be hospitalized at the end of it. That’s a bad one, stunt I mean. But full marks on publicity.

Why celebrities, advertising and publicity is so important in normal life too. You have books on networking, self-advertising, positive perceptions and what not. All of them would teach you how to show your skin, smooth and silky albeit with make up on it. And the public laps that up too. In your neighborhood the community president is publicizing himself, in your social club there are fights before elections and there are campaigns. In the corporate hierarchy, intense games are being played. So therefore while there is definitely a degree of genuineness in all what is said and projected, there would be a lot of “stunts” put up for the benefit of the hungry public!!!

To give you an example, we have these MIS reports being churned out everyday. So while the data shows that a particular department is going great guns, the accompanying statement reflects the negative aspect of a problem with a daily achievement while overall they are tops. That’s a negative stunt? Then what about an Indian breaking up in Korean in a Conference Call in a multinational bank to get some pseudo kudos from a few Koreans while the other Koreans find it funny and stupid. When I counter the latter they say, can he participate in a dialogue,....if not lets not put up stunts!!! So there you are!! So while this bloke has been doing good work on so many things, they do not get highlighted.....but then he has to pull up a stunt to get some attention...and he gets it too.

So would you think that publicity at any cost works for us? It does temporarily and nobody can deny it. But as they say, someday the bubble will burst. The product has to function no matter what you promise. But to me that’s not the issue in question. Life is transient and is on the move. So would you keep waiting for the stunt to be uncovered on its own? Would you just take it lying down? Or this is the time for only stunts.

World Politics, economic growth, negotiations, sales, trade, policies, Gatt, Green Peace, are these all stunts? That’s for you to ponder?
I just need to worry about my next stunt – so that you may come back to this blog!!!! Sphere: Related Content