Star Wars Elevator Prank

July 28, 2014 12:05 PM

SLYT of some guys exploiting causal perception in order to do something funny.
posted by Jonathan Livengood (37 comments total)

*stares* "Stairs!"
posted by kinnakeet at 12:18 PM on July 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

Worst super power ever
posted by chrchr at 12:21 PM on July 28, 2014 [5 favorites]

Nobody is thinking outside the box.

This is the greatest elevator button ever.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 12:22 PM on July 28, 2014 [8 favorites]

The simplicity of the prank puts it over the top for me. I sniggered.
posted by prefpara at 12:23 PM on July 28, 2014

Imagine if people did this for millenia, worshiping Star Wars guy for his powers.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 12:24 PM on July 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

Man that looks like fun (for the parties on either side of the prank, really).
posted by saulgoodman at 12:31 PM on July 28, 2014

Yes, fun for both sides. I'm seeing a delicious blend of awestruck wonder and irritation.

"Do it one more time and we'll show you a different kind of force."
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 12:38 PM on July 28, 2014 [2 favorites]

Well, okay, it might get old after a while, but I think I'd definitely get a little fun boost in my day out of being on the other side of this particular hoax. Sometimes it's fun to just find yourself in the middle of inexplicable, magical-seeming things for a little while (as long as they don't hurt you, of course, and you eventually get let in on the joke in a good-natured way).
posted by saulgoodman at 12:51 PM on July 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

you eventually get let in on the joke in a good-natured way

They don't seem to be letting these people in on the joke, though. The problem with this one, for me--and you can kind of see it in people's responses--is that it's pretty obvious that something in the set-up is rigged. I mean, there's a reason no stage magician is going to use something the audience knows to be electronically controlled in their stage act. People are kind of bemused by this, but they're not "OMG, the chair is levitating--that can't be real, can it?" It's not a question of "do I believe my eyes" it's simply a question of "how is this being managed?: is he signalling someone on the lift's security camera, does he have a remote control in his pocket, did he figure out something hinky with this lift's electric eye beam etc.

I mean, I think the reason they're not letting people in on the gag is precisely because the response wouldn't be that "Candid Camera" one of hilarity/relief at realizing you're not losing your marbles or living in a world where real magic is possible--it would be more "really, did leaving flaming bags of dog poop on people's doorsteps get dull?"
posted by yoink at 12:59 PM on July 28, 2014 [2 favorites]

These are not the elevator doors you are seeking.
posted by Cranberry at 1:00 PM on July 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

You're probably right Yoink. I don't think I'd personally mind so much, as long as they didn't waste too much of my time with it and I eventually got let in on the trick (in fact, it might help me realize something about how narrowly I'd been thinking about the mechanism employed for the trick), but this kind of trick could definitely just be annoying in the wrong circumstances, so I guess YMMV.
posted by saulgoodman at 1:10 PM on July 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

Christ, what an asshole.
posted by psoas at 1:11 PM on July 28, 2014 [6 favorites]

My favorite thing to do on an elevator is to get on and not turn around. Let the doors close behind your ass. When the next person gets on they won't turn around either. You get to the top and the doors open and everyone is facing the back. No idea what the actual psychology is behind this, but it works. I find it to be an odd convention that people do turn around, even if alone.
posted by cjorgensen at 1:13 PM on July 28, 2014 [5 favorites]

Going down the Youtube prank hole brought me to this horrible elevator prank.
posted by yonega at 1:16 PM on July 28, 2014 [3 favorites]

I always thought we turned around in the elevator in anticipation of the doors opening again.
posted by hellphish at 1:19 PM on July 28, 2014 [7 favorites]

I always thought we turned around in the elevator in anticipation of the doors opening again.

They open again?

What have I been doing with my life?
posted by ryoshu at 1:31 PM on July 28, 2014 [7 favorites]

ryoshu: "What have I been doing with my life?"

Waiting to exit an elevator, apparently.
posted by boo_radley at 1:32 PM on July 28, 2014 [8 favorites]

Orienting oneself to face the only point of entry and egress in an enclosed space seems like a pretty basic smart move along the lines of sleeping under an overhanging rock and not eating berries from that weird bush with all the dead birds around it.
posted by theodolite at 1:32 PM on July 28, 2014 [7 favorites]

What have I been doing with my life?

The usual ups and downs.
posted by yoink at 1:34 PM on July 28, 2014 [6 favorites]

The elevator in my building has a front and a back door, and the back door opens up to let you out on the second floor (where my office is). I LOVE to get on the elevator with people that don't know this and face the back of the elevator.
posted by Curious Artificer at 1:37 PM on July 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

My brother picked up his first serious girlfriend with a similar mind-trick. As he took her for a walk outside the school during a dance, his happy gang of friends were in the main office that controlled all the lights. When they saw he waved his arms toward the lights on school grounds, they shut them off. He waved his arm again and they turned the lights back on. He was saying something about he lights to the by now VERY impressed girl, but he had no idea his wing-men were in the control room backing him up.
posted by dabitch at 1:55 PM on July 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

Of course, the first thing you do when you're stuck in an elevator is establish a pee corner.
posted by sour cream at 2:32 PM on July 28, 2014

I find it to be an odd convention that people do turn around, even if alone.

The reason people turn around in elevators is because that's where the buttons are, and once you've hit the button you don't have any reason to turn around again because now you're facing the correct direction to leave.
posted by LSK at 2:58 PM on July 28, 2014 [6 favorites]

Not as magical as the voice-activated, multi-lingual intelevator.
posted by Theiform at 3:08 PM on July 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

I thought this gag would be far better than it actually is in practice.

It's really only just... annoying. Without the underlying music, it's a bust.
posted by dbiedny at 3:28 PM on July 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

I was in an elevator in a hotel where the crowd in it were... shall we say, a little tipsy on drinks and vacation-fun. The elevator stopped at every floor, possibly a quirk, to everyones increasing annoyance as we were trying to get from floor -lobby to floor 4. At each floor, the elevator announced with a robotic monotone voice where we were. By the second floor, a tipsy lady starting arguing with the robot-voice "No, we don't wanna be on 2, we wanna go to 4." and she kept arguing with the elevator for two more floors, believing there was a human controlling the elevator somewhere, it was hilarious.
posted by dabitch at 3:31 PM on July 28, 2014

Theiform,

there are always problems with voice recognition technology, especially in Scotland....
posted by MessageInABottle at 3:50 PM on July 28, 2014

dabitch -- was it a Friday night or Saturday? That elevator might have been in Shabbat mode; many modern elevators (and ovens!) have such an option. Maybe it was turned on by the hotel to accommodate some patrons? Or triggered by accident.
posted by Westringia F. at 3:53 PM on July 28, 2014 [5 favorites]

He didn't even try to choke one of those little girls.
posted by QueerAngel28 at 3:55 PM on July 28, 2014

Going down the Youtube prank hole brought me to this horrible elevator prank.

Good God! In the trigger happy US, doing something that stupid would be all too likely to end up with someone getting killed. Do not try this at home or anywhere else for that matter!
posted by marsha56 at 4:51 PM on July 28, 2014

Buster Keaton didn't need The Force to move an entire train by himself!
posted by Bron at 6:58 PM on July 28, 2014 [2 favorites]

Needs another confederate running up late yelling for someone to hold the elevator door. Then when you wave your hand to reopen the door for him or her. you're no longer being a prick, you're a hero to those slower of reflex. You're not only a Jedi you're a gentleman,
posted by hal9k at 7:09 PM on July 28, 2014 [9 favorites]

I wonder if 90% of the time, someone actually peeked out of the doors to catch the accomplice, but those incidents were left on the cutting room floor.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 8:41 PM on July 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

It's funny a few times, but the fact that they keep cutting in the middle of it is really irritating.
posted by aaronetc at 9:31 PM on July 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

This is funny, on many levels.
posted by quarsan at 11:13 PM on July 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

This guy is better :)
posted by pjern at 6:54 AM on July 29, 2014

Westringia F., I don't actually recall, but nice trivia info on those elevators, I never knew. :)
posted by dabitch at 9:23 AM on July 29, 2014