Crazy Stunts Guide

Crazy stunts have become a ubiquitous source of entertainment for Americans, from the classic daredevil antics of Evil Kneivel to the lucrative “Jackass” franchise. With images of risk-taking as fun becoming more and more common, parents may be concerned that their children will put themselves in danger in order to imitate their famous idols. While it is true that the power of suggestion can influence children, parental supervision can counteract the unrealistic, glamorized images of such stunts and give children the perspective to keep entertainment separate from reality. At the same time, parents should not be ruled by their worries; crazy stunts have been well-publicized for years, through public events and traditions such as the circus, and generations of children have survived unscathed.

Crazy public stunts may have been around for years, but they have certainly evolved and taken on a new flavor in this digital age. One of the most enduring form of public stunts is the Niagara Falls-related stunt. It is illegal to attempt going over the falls in a barrel; however, that has not stopped daredevils from continuing to do so. In recent years, technology has allowed the few adrenaline lovers who have braved the falls to document the view. As the illegal stunt has become better-funded, the equipment has been upgraded from a literal barrel to padded, reinforce pods with a viewing window that allows the ride to be videotaped. People who want to live vicariously through the risks of daredevils can search for these videos online.

Another famous stunt is tightrope walking across the Niagara Falls gorge, a feat that has been repeated numerous times. The first woman to complete the act, Maria Spelterini, did so in 1896. Each new attempt becomes a national spectacle, as the rare form of crazy stunt that is driven by focus and grace rather than force and resilience.

Crazy stunts can be inspired by long-standing attractions, such as the Falls, or by innovative scenes in action movies. One of the most career-oriented paths for people who love crazy stunts is to be a stuntman. Athleticism and a daring attitude can lead to jobs performing dangerous moves for actors in films, or choreographing such sequences. Stuntmen have been an invaluable resource in Hollywood for decades, as they enable directors to execute stunning scenes without jeopardizing the safety of the stars.

While the aforementioned stunts range from the shocking to the theatrical, there is another, incredibly common venue for stunts: the circus. The traditional circus, like Barnum & Bailey, regularly showcase trained animals and dizzying displays of risk. Even the refined modern circus, Cirque du Soleil, maintains the formula of dazzling the audience by fearlessly presenting unexpected stunts with the illusion of ease. Cirque du Soleil has taken the core values of the circus and translated them into a mélange of dance and musical fantasy.

Crazy stunts can be watched responsibly with families so that children can have all the enjoyment of marveling at unique spectacles and the hard work that goes into making them possible.

While crazy stunts used to be an anomaly, to be heard about occasionally on the news of seen on TV and used as a warning to little children not to get out of control, they have become a ubiquitous pastime in recent years. From tightrope walks and barrel rides over Niagara Falls to Evil Knievel’s career to the proliferation of shows and movies based around the “Jackass” franchise, it seems that crazy stunts are the everyman’s newest sport. While stuntmen have had a place as real-life daredevils in American culture since the early days of Hollywood, this new form of stunt performance is often based on the accomplishment of shocking and dangerous tasks without preparation, in contrast to the highly trained athleticism of the Hollywood tradition.

Crazy stunts have served as a form of entertainment in many cultures, in various representations. One of the most universal venues for crazy stunts is the circus. From Barnum & Bailey’s big top adventures and optical illusions to the graceful contortionists and highly coordinated massive dance troop of Cirque du Soleil, the circus is a cultural fixture that has managed to reinvent itself to create a booming industry. While the wealthy once scorned the stunning feats performed in circuses as sideshow diversions, the popularity of the Cirque du Soleil production has been accompanied by a professed respect for the artistry and athleticism that goes into the creation of their awe-inspiring shows.

In addition to the classic circus shows, the last few decades have seen the commercialization of the human impulse to take risks on a grand scale. Evil Knievel is a legend for his crazy stunts, which drew as much attention for their grand scale as for the risk, and fulfillment of that risk, of serious injury. One of his most audacious motorcycle jumps in Wembley stadium resulted in a crash after Knievel attempted to clear 13 busses. Despite his broken pelvis and physical shock over the trauma, Knievel refused to use a stretcher and walked off the field as an act of bravado. The showmanship involved in denying the pain of such an intense injury is part of the draw of crazy stunts.

While for years such stunts were considered the territory of career daredevils such as Knievel, the popular TV series “Jackass” has changed that perception. On the short-lived series, which spawned the careers of Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O and Bam Margera, various amateur showmen performed dangerous stunts, which were taped and broadcast with warnings to audiences not to imitate their stunts. The show originated from one of the cast members desire to write an article on self-defense tools, by trying them out on himself. The freewheeling, lowbrow nature of the show created a new spin on the performance of crazy stunts, and led to a movie as well as other franchise developments.

Some crazy stunts are so dangerous as to be illegal. For example, many daredevils throughout recent history have attempted to traverse Niagara Falls in a barrel. The likelihood of death is extremely high, as the height of the drop combined with the boulders at the bottom of the falls and the risk of drowning present a series of factors that conspire to create a fatal ending. Tightrope walking across the Falls is another crazy stunt, performed by trained tightrope walkers, which has been immortalized in famous photos going back to Maria Spelterini’s successful crossing in 1876.

Crazy stunts have become part of popular culture, since the days of Evil Knievel’s public spectacles to the prevalence of the “Jackass” franchise. While such stunts are often used for entertainment or to build lucrative empires, they have also always been a part of one unique experience: the marriage proposal. What are the craziest stunts that have been used to make a marriage proposal stand out? What are good ideas for crazy, but romantic, stunts that a person in love can customize to impress their future fiancé?

Just as dangerous or violent stunts have become commonplace in movies, so have the romantic stunts- from desperate declarations of love to triumphant last-minute proposals that seal the happy ending. This staple technique of the romantic comedy can be played successfully to warm the audience’s heart, yet it has equal potential to be used as a comic ploy to set off peals of laughter. Sometimes, action movies such as the James Bond series have combined danger and romance through elaborate chase sequences or shoot-outs. Another recent example is the film “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” the Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt vehicle that used fight scenes between the two main characters to symbolize both the dissolution and renewal of a marriage. Witty banter escalates into full-throttle shoot-outs, and loving reconciliation culminates in fireworks so great that their house literally explodes.

Films use crazy stunts to symbolize powerful emotions because the immediacy of the gesture transcends language and culture. People who want to convey the depth of their emotion often attempt to create powerful scenes in their own lives, while maintaining a balance between the real and unreal.

Certain romantic gestures are so well known as to be clichéd, such as the marriage proposal via fireworks or the mad dash to the airport to chase a disillusioned lover and win back their attention. Crazy stunts can be perceived differently in real life than in film, so it is important to keep perspective if you are planning such a feat. While sending a woman flowers and asking her on a date every day in spite of her rejection may lead to a happy ending in a movie, in reality it is more likely to result in a restraining order.

That said, there are crazy stunts that have led to real-life happy endings for couples in love. There are a few websites that cater to the stimulation of such proposals, offering ideas such as taking out an ad in a newspaper that your loved one reads to confess your love. A treasure hunt with clues that direct your loved one all over town to the final prize of you with a diamond ring is another clever suggestion.

Many people agree that crazy stunts work best as marriage proposals when they reflect either an interest of the person to whom you are proposing, or a shared experience from the relationship thus far. Proposing to a movie buff by arranging for a clip to be shown before the opening credits at your local movie theater will astonish your girlfriend, while arranging for a singer to serenade your boyfriend with your favorite song will create a lasting memory.

In this present day of adrenalin and high-risk sports, many people across the globe are looking for new and exciting ways to push the barriers of the human body, this however is not a new entity, and people have been performing crazy stunts all over the world for more than 30 years. They come in many forms, from riding a motorbike at full speed into the side off a stationary van, attempting to jump the same bike over a large row of buses, leaping from the top of skyscrapers with nothing more than a parachute or even attempting to escape from a straight jacket whilst submerged under water and bound with chains. All of these crazy stunts have been attempted at some point over the years by a number of the many stuntmen and women across the planet.

Quite possibly the oldest and most legendary of all the stuntmen of past years is the Hungarian/American escapologist Harry Houdini, born March 1874 and died October 1926. Harry and his large family immigrated to the United States in 1878 when he was only 4 years old, they spent their early days in America in Appleton Wisconsin, they were later to relocate to New York city in around 1887. During his childhood, Harry had various jobs, he even managed to become a cross-country running champion at a very early age, and his first public appearance however came at the age of 9 as a trapeze artist. The early days of Harry’s magic career were not overly successful; he spent much of the early days concentrating on card tricks and hand magic until 1899 when he caught his big break. A man named Martin Beck spotted him and advised him to concentrate on his escapology acts, this would prove to be the making of him. By 1900 harry was booked for a tour across Europe performing all of his crazy stunts, he became commonly known as the handcuff king.

Over his long and illustrious career, Harry Houdini performed many dangerous and crazy stunts, many of which brought him within seconds of his life. In 1904 the Daily Mirror newspaper had laid down the gauntlet to Harry that he could not escape from a new handcuff that had reputably taken the blacksmith concerned 7 years to make, Harry promptly accepted the challenge, and after many hours, in front of a crowd of over 4000 people finally succeeded. In 1912, he performed one of his most famous acts, the Chinese water torture cell. His feet were secured by locks into stocks and he was lowered, upside down into a metal and glass tank over water, a curtain was drawn around the tank to hide his escape, which again was a success, this would be an escape that he would continue to perform until his death in 1926. Many over the years have tried to emulate him but Harry Houdini to this day remains one of the most famous and respected performers of death defying crazy stunts that has ever walked the earth.