Derren Brown's 'Apocalypse'

not to mention the insane legal risks involved.

By the way, all of Derren Brown's "poor me" outrage about being accused that it's a hoax centers around "this guy is not a professional actor." Nice choice of words. He's clearly an untrained amateur, so of course he's not a "professional."

  On 11/3/2012 at 5:27 AM, lumpenprol said:

not to mention the insane legal risks involved.

It's clear you have not spent even 5 minutes looking into the matter.

He's been following the same protocol for like 15 years, since Trick Or Treat and his other early shows: people apply to be used on one of his shows, they are then asked to sign a waiver saying essentially he can do whatever he wants with them. Thousands of people apply. They are never told "you are gonna be on Derren Brown's show."

Instead, they just randomly find themselves in whatever situation DB puts them in.

That's how he does stuff like this.

Yes I figured that out without reading it. That still doesn't cover a scenario where he bashes someone's brains in. Or where he has a complete nervous breakdown that destroys his life.

Clearly you are just the sort of target audience Darren is looking for. "Suggestible."

  On 11/3/2012 at 5:40 AM, lumpenprol said:

Yes I figured that out without reading it. That still doesn't cover a scenario where he bashes someone's brains in. Or where he has a complete nervous breakdown that destroys his life.

 

Clearly you are just the sort of target audience Darren is looking for. "Suggestible."

Clearly you are one of those people that has strongs opinions about things you know absolutely nothing about.

clearly you are a limpyloo

  On 11/3/2012 at 5:42 AM, LimpyLoo said:

  On 11/3/2012 at 5:40 AM, lumpenprol said:

Yes I figured that out without reading it. That still doesn't cover a scenario where he bashes someone's brains in. Or where he has a complete nervous breakdown that destroys his life.

 

Clearly you are just the sort of target audience Darren is looking for. "Suggestible."

 

Clearly you are one of those people that has strongs opinions about things you know absolutely nothing about.

If someone asks me the time and I tell them the wrong time (as a joke), I'm not really going to worry about them seeking revenge by possibly murdering my whole extended family, however If I decide to trick someone into thinking that they fucked their long lost sister or have a heart defect or its the end of the world I would stop and think...wait...maybe if I do this they will get revenge by killing me and everyone i know.............

BETTER NOT RISK IT!

  On 11/3/2012 at 5:55 AM, RadarJammer said:

  On 11/3/2012 at 5:42 AM, LimpyLoo said:

  On 11/3/2012 at 5:40 AM, lumpenprol said:

Yes I figured that out without reading it. That still doesn't cover a scenario where he bashes someone's brains in. Or where he has a complete nervous breakdown that destroys his life.

 

Clearly you are just the sort of target audience Darren is looking for. "Suggestible."

 

Clearly you are one of those people that has strongs opinions about things you know absolutely nothing about.

 

If someone asks me the time and I tell them the wrong time (as a joke), I'm not really going to worry about them seeking revenge by possibly murdering my whole extended family, however If I decide to trick someone into thinking that they fucked their long lost sister or have a heart defect or its the end of the world I would stop and think...wait...maybe if I do this they will get revenge by killing me and everyone i know.............

 

BETTER NOT RISK IT!

What did you think of the end of pt 2 of Apocalypse?

Did he look like he wanted to kill anyone?

Or wait, let me guess: you didn't even watch it and (like everyone in this thread, apparently) are just speculating baselessly.

P.S. nice Old Boy reference lol

  On 11/3/2012 at 6:00 AM, LimpyLoo said:

  On 11/3/2012 at 5:55 AM, RadarJammer said:

  On 11/3/2012 at 5:42 AM, LimpyLoo said:

  On 11/3/2012 at 5:40 AM, lumpenprol said:

Yes I figured that out without reading it. That still doesn't cover a scenario where he bashes someone's brains in. Or where he has a complete nervous breakdown that destroys his life.

 

Clearly you are just the sort of target audience Darren is looking for. "Suggestible."

 

Clearly you are one of those people that has strongs opinions about things you know absolutely nothing about.

 

If someone asks me the time and I tell them the wrong time (as a joke), I'm not really going to worry about them seeking revenge by possibly murdering my whole extended family, however If I decide to trick someone into thinking that they fucked their long lost sister or have a heart defect or its the end of the world I would stop and think...wait...maybe if I do this they will get revenge by killing me and everyone i know.............

 

BETTER NOT RISK IT!

 

What did you think of the end of pt 2 of Apocalypse?

 

Did he look like he wanted to kill anyone?

 

 

 

Or wait, let me guess: you didn't even watch it and (like everyone in this thread, apparently) are just speculating baselessly.

 

P.S. nice Old Boy reference lol

The point is nothing like this could be played out for real on TV because the concept would have to pass through dozens of guys in suits who would think that scrambling someones brains shoots clear past fun and games and lands into the most dangerous kind of territory. I didn't watch it because I don't watch MTV level reality TV.

  On 11/3/2012 at 6:04 AM, RadarJammer said:

  On 11/3/2012 at 6:00 AM, LimpyLoo said:

  On 11/3/2012 at 5:55 AM, RadarJammer said:

  On 11/3/2012 at 5:42 AM, LimpyLoo said:

  On 11/3/2012 at 5:40 AM, lumpenprol said:

Yes I figured that out without reading it. That still doesn't cover a scenario where he bashes someone's brains in. Or where he has a complete nervous breakdown that destroys his life.

 

Clearly you are just the sort of target audience Darren is looking for. "Suggestible."

 

Clearly you are one of those people that has strongs opinions about things you know absolutely nothing about.

 

If someone asks me the time and I tell them the wrong time (as a joke), I'm not really going to worry about them seeking revenge by possibly murdering my whole extended family, however If I decide to trick someone into thinking that they fucked their long lost sister or have a heart defect or its the end of the world I would stop and think...wait...maybe if I do this they will get revenge by killing me and everyone i know.............

 

BETTER NOT RISK IT!

 

What did you think of the end of pt 2 of Apocalypse?

 

Did he look like he wanted to kill anyone?

 

 

 

Or wait, let me guess: you didn't even watch it and (like everyone in this thread, apparently) are just speculating baselessly.

 

P.S. nice Old Boy reference lol

 

The point is nothing like this could be played out for real on TV because the concept would have to pass through dozens of guys in suits who would think that scrambling someones brains shoots clear past fun and games and lands into the most dangerous kind of territory. I didn't watch it because I don't watch MTV level reality TV.

Derren Brown has talked extensively about this in interviews. All of the conditions are strenously controlled. There was about 6 months of pre-production addressing the logistics of this show.

I really don't understand this particular skepticism. This show is simply a more ambitious version of what DB has always done.

But hey, some people believe that the moon landing was fake simply because it's easier to stage it.

I still think it is a uproariously sadistic thing to do to anyone and comes across a quizzical act of first-world decadence.

Btw Limpyloo, I just finished it. I didn't see anything that made me seriously doubt it was all staged, and I saw a lot that confirmed the impression that it was. A short list off the top of my head:

- the fact that the main guy seemed like an animated, lively fellow not only in his post-show interviews, but in his pre-show "i'm a lazy guy" interviews as well. He seemed highly intelligent and sensitive, not boorish, which makes his strangely subdued affect during the duration of the show (even pre-catastrophe) all the more noticeable...you might counter that he was "hypnotized throughout", but I ascribe it to his being an amateur actor told "not to overact"

- the fact that he uttered different lines through the show that don't seem natural, such as "come with me". I think people only say that in hollywood.

- the fact that he didn't have any of a dozen more plausible reactions such as: losing his shit, saying things like "i can't believe it, this is just like a movie", brainstorming with his "new friends" about "maybe we could try this or that", or just hiding in a corner with a piece of pipe. No amount of pyschological profiling can truly account for all the possible ways someone can react.

- the truly absurd moment where she says "do you think we need weapons?" and he says something like "no, we've got you and me" (couldn't make out what he was saying due to the accent, but it was clearly a scripted dialogue)

- the video diary where he takes care to mention his pub friends

- leading/being led by the hand. People don't normally do this, except in movies

etc etc. So many I lost count.

By the way, you can't sign away your right to sue people, truly. I had to sign a fistful of waivers when i went skydiving, but that doesn't mean i couldn't sue the company if something went wrong. The waivers are just there to dissuade the impressionable, and give the company a bit more ammo should a legal battle ensue. But it doesn't preclude a legal battle. Not sure if it's the same in the UK but I suspect it is. Just the same way you can't "sign yourself into slavery."

Edit: one more thing, the over edited and "tying everything up with a bow" aspect of the show also points to the staginess, because these elements (picture perfect tearful reunions, mentioning his pub friends) seem to tie in perfectly with my armchair analysis of Derren Brown the sociopath. You see him hug the guy and look truly beatific. They do close ups of Brown where he appears to be gravely concerned and coaching them in real time. And he pays a lot of lip service to wanting to improve this guy's life. All of which paints the portrait of a sociopath keen on manipulating others for ostensibly socially beneficial ends. Brown wants to confirm and have others confirm to him his belief that he alone sees the good, and is merely a shepherd guiding others to it. Creepy guy. Or so says my armchair analysis.

  On 11/3/2012 at 6:36 AM, Salvatorin said:

I still think it is a uproariously sadistic thing to do to anyone and comes across a quizzical act of first-world decadence.

The point of the show definitely wasn't sadism or schadenfreud, which is the norm of typical reality tv. As with most of of what DB does, the point was therapy. He tends not to put people through ordeals needlessly.

When he convinced a guy that he was landing a plane after the pilots had passed out, the point was to address the guy's self-confidence issues.

The irony of all this talk is that DB did a show about staging a fake schadenfreud-y reality game show where the audience could vote on what kind of fate they wanted the 'subject' to endure. The point of that show was to demonstrate how anonymity could turn people nasty:

Besides that one there are 3 other 'Experiments,' all very good and ambitious. Milgram-esque in their attempts to address questions about human nature. Definitely temporarily stressfull for the participants but DB is very careful about ensuring their pyschological well-being.

*sigh*

Believe whatever you want, Lumpenprol.

P.S. I'd be curious to see what other of his stuff you think is staged.

Does anyone believe in this junkfood hypnosis for real? How does one come to drink the Darren Brown kool aid?

  On 11/3/2012 at 7:02 AM, LimpyLoo said:

P.S. I'd be curious to see what other of his stuff you think is staged.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2003/oct/08/broadcasting.channel41

fool me once......

(edit: @ limpyloo)

fair enough. I will admit that I snap judged, but I have a short fuse when it comes to con artists. Especially those who seem to want to believe (and convince others to believe) that sadism can result in social good. Reminds me of that other con artist, John Edward, the spiritual medium. "Not only will I con you, but I'll get you to thank me for it!" In this case, since he could never get the result he needed through normal means, he staged it to convince the public, instead of the victim.

Incidentally, I've seen plenty of magic tricks that I couldn't explain, including those old David Blaine street levitations and other acts that looked fantastic on film. Doesn't mean I believed them though, because simple common sense (or maybe educated skepticism) says it's highly unlikely that such a thing could be true.

  On 11/3/2012 at 6:59 AM, LimpyLoo said:

The point of the show definitely wasn't sadism or schadenfreud, which is the norm of typical reality tv. As with most of of what DB does, the point was therapy. He tends not to put people through ordeals needlessly.

this is a really interesting and (though I'm sure this sounds condescending) revealing thing to say. By very definition it is a needless ordeal. Who made Derren Brown and/or DB arbiters of what someone "deserves" or "needs" in their lives? It's pure egomania.

In fact both guys seem like really interesting studies in egomania. That endless hunger to not only impress others, but to be loved and worshipped by them, as some sort of messiah. So eventually doing a simple magic trick or con is not enough, they need to do it "for the public good."

I laugh at people who go out of their way to tell everyone how a magic act is fake. Oh really, people can't really levitate, materialize objects, teleport or read minds? Derren Brown is no different than any other magician or illusionist, he uses all the tricks in the book to make an entertaining show. So what if he wraps it up in some faux-self-help package. People take these sort of things too seriously. What happened to just being amazed and entertained by an elaborate illusion? Now it's all seen as a puzzle that NEEDS to be solved, for what purpose, to be smug about it on the internet?

  On 11/3/2012 at 7:10 AM, RadarJammer said:

Does anyone believe in this junkfood hypnosis for real? How does one come to drink the Darren Brown kool aid?

 

  On 11/3/2012 at 7:02 AM, LimpyLoo said:

P.S. I'd be curious to see what other of his stuff you think is staged.

 

http://www.guardian....sting.channel41

 

fool me once......

On the magician/illusionist end of the spectrum there no, he's not actually reading people's minds or changing the Ace of Spades into a rose or snapping his fingers and turning the sun into the moon.

But no, he doesn't use stooges. If you've read his autobiography or his two books on magic and performance [i have; the ladder were written explicitly for other magicians and [i]not[/i] for the general public and so he speaks very candidly about methods and aesthetic principles] you'll quickly learn that nothing puts him off worse than the idea of using stooges. http://derrenbrown.co.uk/claim-claim-2/

And if you watch his stage shows, you would see that it would require literally tens of thousands of stooges to accomplish what he does.

I`m with you,

LimpyLoo

People are so easy to control, you don`t have to stage a shit.

  On 11/3/2012 at 7:49 AM, azatoth said:

I laugh at people who go out of their way to tell everyone how a magic act is fake. Oh really, people can't really levitate, materialize objects, teleport or read minds? Derren Brown is no different than any other magician or illusionist, he uses all the tricks in the book to make an entertaining show. So what if he wraps it up in some faux-self-help package. People take these sort of things too seriously. What happened to just being amazed and entertained by an elaborate illusion? Now it's all seen as a puzzle that NEEDS to be solved, for what purpose, to be smug about it on the internet?

This thread would have been gold had it been about having a laugh at the absurdity of it. I love a good illusion but a loose script and some goofballs meandering around a set doesn't really make a puzzle or an illusion any more than an episode of Ghost Hunters does. Its fun to see these disposable "so bad its good" reality-fantasy shows that at the core seem to prey on innocent people who still may believe in Santa Claus but Its more fun to see illusions and tricks done without the writers and producers taking the audiences intelligence for granted. Sometimes the trick is even real, like when David Blaine went on Oprah and won a new world record by holding his breath for 17 minutes.

This was not a magic trick lol wat

  On 11/3/2012 at 5:18 AM, lumpenprol said:

Apart from the dodgy insta-hypnosis,

You seem to underestimate how suggestible people really are.

  Quote

Highly doubtful they would risk that much money if there was the possibility he'd go off script.

Like all reality shows they pick and choose from a ridiculous amount of footage.

saw this and while I don't think the guy was an actor he might aswell have been. the whole thing was lame and unbelievable.

he must be a bit of a tard to have believed all that shit was really going at the time, it was soooooo fake looking.

has he never seen 28 days later??

what a load of shit. total lamezballz.

I should add I thought it was really disappointing. it had the possibility, and it looked like it might be really good/entertaining/interesting.

but it sucked. he (DB) kept going on about he amount of money they'd spent on it.. blah blah bah. clearly didn't spend enough.