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Consensual Violence In The Slap, By Max Landis

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Point of Impact

Would you ever agree to consensual violence? Let me rephrase this; Would you agree to slap a stranger? I would. Apparently, forty people in “The Slap”, a video on YouTube by Max Landis, agreed to be slapped by a stranger. Absolutely no one was pressured, and everyone was hit as hard as they wanted to be hit. Although, it may seem pointless, it is funny. People enjoy the relentless energy of slapping one another. Within the challenge an antagonist captures the values of trust within social interaction amongst a group of willing strangers.
The antagonist in this role is the camera. Basically, you put two people in front of a camera giving them one direction; to slap each other. Nobody else is interrupting. The strangers have …show more content…

You have to trust that the person will not hit you harder than asked, make you cry or vigorously hurt you. You have to have trust in yourself to do the same. Most of the participants have never been hit before, slapped, or been in a fight. Not knowing the outcome of someone slapping you is mind boggling. Within the actions of the participants you notice a relationship between the strangers. They embraced the risk and gained personal growth in trusting someone so easily. The consensual violence within the video, takes out the aggression, and gives a more intimate feeling. This is similar to the trust building exercise known as the ‘trust fall’. A trust fall is when a person intentionally allows themselves to fall while relying on another person to catch them. There are many options of the trust fall. You may fall off of a stage while having a group of people catch you or you may choose to just trust one person to catch you. The endless amount of ‘what ifs’ run through your head as you give your trust in someone. Along the way of gaining someone’s trust, a relationship is built between each …show more content…

Walking on to fresh grounds of the unfamiliar; college. I knew for a fact I wasn’t ready. Although, what else is there to do? Why not comply to something and pay an unreasonable amount of money for. An education, is what is on the line. What I find amusing, is that the people in the video are letting strangers slap them for free! They get to experience something unusual for free. Now that I think about it, although we fork out thousands of dollars for school, we do get to encounter unexpected things. Imagine all the stories and memories that we will never forget as we approach graduation. Wonderful, we get some cool stories to tell our kids and may I not forget, a piece of paper that certifies us as a human being with an education. Then afterwards its another new world. The next step of the unknown. Who will ever know what will happen? Unless, you are blessed with some sort of psychic powers, or receive a hallucinogenic that makes you figure out the world; nobody will no what will happen. Its about taking the risk, taking the journey of what could be out there. Next time, think about what could be. Will you know what will happen? No. Neither will

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