Life

There's Another "First Kiss" Parody?

by Marisa Riley

Remember that one time the Internet deceived us (haha, one time) with WREN's "First Kiss"— an advertisement disguised as a romantic tale about strangers kissing each other for the first time? Well, parody, after parody, after parody of the viral video later, American screenwriter Max Landis made — wait for it — yet another "First Kiss" parody... about people slapping each other.

Yep, according to Ad Week, Landis' video, "The Slap," is making waves on the Internet, recently hitting 3 three million views. But what makes this one video different than all the others? According to Landis, it's not a parody — even though it looks and feels like one. (That, and Haley Joel Osment, star of The Sixth Sense, is in it.) These people are actually slapping one another for the first time.

In "The Slap — Point of Impact," a behind-the-scenes look into his not-parody, Landis explains that his intentions behind "The Slap" are to show how "violence minus aggression equals intimacy" — which actually comes across in the video. The subjects of "The Slap," who are actually friends and acquaintances of Landis, each get to slap each other as many times as they want. However, the difference between this video and Fight Club is that these people react positively to their partners' slaps — and, by positively, I mean with giggles and smiles. Then again, despite however innocent or sweet their taps and slaps come off, the video does pose a huge issue: The fact that Landis is suggesting that violence can be funny, or that it can bring about intimacy, exactly something we shouldn't be implying with any form of entertainment.

Landis didn't exactly strike the iron while it was hot, and this could be just another undercover advertisement, but I'm not going to lie: I would love to see a parody of this parody.

Take a look at "The Slap":

Image: "The Slap"/YouTube