Go Ahead And Tase Me, Bro
August 27, 2014 1:31 AM Subscribe
The Taser Photoshoot: Portraits of People's Faces When Hit With A Stun Gun by Patrick Hall [Possibly NSFW]
Are we sure they're not just thinking about global warming?
posted by Segundus at 1:57 AM on August 27, 2014 [11 favorites]
posted by Segundus at 1:57 AM on August 27, 2014 [11 favorites]
And they're naked for like, health and safety reasons, right?
posted by Segundus at 1:59 AM on August 27, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by Segundus at 1:59 AM on August 27, 2014 [4 favorites]
Yeah, it's odd how there's something strangely sexual about those slow motion shots. I assume it's the lack of clothing, sound, and context, but a huge amount of reaction/emotion.
Or maybe I've watched too much taser porn.
(Oh god, I've just invoked Rule34, haven't I?)
posted by sodium lights the horizon at 2:02 AM on August 27, 2014
Or maybe I've watched too much taser porn.
(Oh god, I've just invoked Rule34, haven't I?)
posted by sodium lights the horizon at 2:02 AM on August 27, 2014
The video showing the reactions of those applying the tazer will teach you everything you ever need to know about human empathy.
posted by leibniz at 2:23 AM on August 27, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by leibniz at 2:23 AM on August 27, 2014 [4 favorites]
leibniz: "The video showing the reactions of those applying the tazer will teach you everything you ever need to know about human empathy."Well, according to the accompanying text they're friends or SOs and are from what I can see on the video tazing each other in pairs. I would probably be a lot more apprehensive about zapping a random stranger than my spouse with her permission.
posted by brokkr at 3:23 AM on August 27, 2014
These are great. I would love to consensually taze someone/be tazed. That sounds like a grand time. Not in a sexual way, but in a trust way and a "This should be interesting," kind of way.
posted by wrabbit at 3:25 AM on August 27, 2014
posted by wrabbit at 3:25 AM on August 27, 2014
I would love to consensually taze someone/be tazed.
Meet ups are in the IRL section.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:14 AM on August 27, 2014 [29 favorites]
Meet ups are in the IRL section.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:14 AM on August 27, 2014 [29 favorites]
Brokkr: I know. There's all kinds of rich detail in those reactions.
posted by leibniz at 5:08 AM on August 27, 2014
posted by leibniz at 5:08 AM on August 27, 2014
I think it's important to note that this device and its use--a short zap to the extremities--is very different from the tazer that is in wide use by police departments and which has resulted in deaths and controversy. That one fires barbs which attach to the body and deliver jolts for as long as the operator holds the trigger down.
I don't think the pictures of that one's use would be as cute, and it would be a bad thing for them to be confused for one another.
posted by oneironaut at 5:12 AM on August 27, 2014 [9 favorites]
I don't think the pictures of that one's use would be as cute, and it would be a bad thing for them to be confused for one another.
posted by oneironaut at 5:12 AM on August 27, 2014 [9 favorites]
Each person was tazed by their friend or significant other which created an interesting dynamic in itself. The emotions on both sides of the taser were extremely entertaining to watch.just what the world needs. another sociopath with a taste for media exposure... or maybe this is viral advertising for a reboot of American Psycho: Startup Founder.
posted by ennui.bz at 5:13 AM on August 27, 2014
I thought I would like this, but I despise it. Portraying a device used by police around the world to torture people into compliance, sometimes to death, as something that seems cute and harmless and fun and a bit sexy.
Awful.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:38 AM on August 27, 2014 [8 favorites]
Awful.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:38 AM on August 27, 2014 [8 favorites]
And they're naked for like, health and safety reasons, right?
From the making of video, the men are shirtless and the women pulled their shoulder straps down just below the camera'a view. It's nude-looking, but not actually nude; whether that is better or worse is a different question of course.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:44 AM on August 27, 2014
From the making of video, the men are shirtless and the women pulled their shoulder straps down just below the camera'a view. It's nude-looking, but not actually nude; whether that is better or worse is a different question of course.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:44 AM on August 27, 2014
I find it really fascinating that some of those people don't twist away from the source of the pain. What does that say about that person, I wonder.
WTF is up with the girl who kept her eyes open.
I suggest watching the video. Only looking at the pictures makes it seem incredibly faked.
posted by royalsong at 5:59 AM on August 27, 2014
WTF is up with the girl who kept her eyes open.
I suggest watching the video. Only looking at the pictures makes it seem incredibly faked.
posted by royalsong at 5:59 AM on August 27, 2014
I found this made me incredibly uncomfortable. That said, I was somewhat surprised they all seemed to open their mouths wide, I was expecting them to clench their teeth.
posted by tommasz at 6:00 AM on August 27, 2014
posted by tommasz at 6:00 AM on August 27, 2014
I'm just amazed at the people who kept smiling throughout, that's some messed up nervous system they have.
posted by arcticseal at 6:17 AM on August 27, 2014
posted by arcticseal at 6:17 AM on August 27, 2014
I even had about four guys and girls who did not react at all and seemed to be completely unphased by the 300,000 volts of electricity.Well, duh; it is a taser, not a phaser.
I would love for this particular ever-more-common mondegreen to vanish. To phase and to faze are two entirely different things, but when I bring it up I feel like someone kvetching about 'taxicab' being a vulgar abbreviation of the more proper 'taximeter cabriolet.'
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:34 AM on August 27, 2014 [9 favorites]
NB what oneironaut said. My understanding, such as it is, is that if you're tased in the sense we understand it, you're on the floor suffering involuntary muscle spasms, not going "Oh, wow!" into a lens.
posted by Segundus at 6:56 AM on August 27, 2014
posted by Segundus at 6:56 AM on August 27, 2014
I guess I don't really get the point of this. Using a device intended to inflict pain on people results in pain when used on people?
posted by Sangermaine at 7:04 AM on August 27, 2014
posted by Sangermaine at 7:04 AM on August 27, 2014
I guess I don't really get the point of this. Using a device intended to inflict pain on people results in pain when used on people?
it's funny, don't you see? the people make funny faces when you hurt them. lol. now watch while I twist the wings off this fly. or better, take pictures.
posted by ennui.bz at 7:08 AM on August 27, 2014 [2 favorites]
it's funny, don't you see? the people make funny faces when you hurt them. lol. now watch while I twist the wings off this fly. or better, take pictures.
posted by ennui.bz at 7:08 AM on August 27, 2014 [2 favorites]
These people are, apparently, enthusiastically consenting adults engaging in safe sadomasochistic play with their trusted partners. You don't have to get why someone would want to do that or enjoy watching it, but it's not really okay to say people who enjoy this kind of thing must be sociopathic individuals who torture insects for fun.
posted by wrabbit at 7:18 AM on August 27, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by wrabbit at 7:18 AM on August 27, 2014 [7 favorites]
True story: my dad is the police chief of a small Florida town. One time I was visiting and he introduced me to one of his deputies. "Remember that thing online where that one guy said, 'Don't tase me, bro'?" he asked me. I said yes. My dad points to his deputy, "This was the guy who tased him."
My reaction was wide-eyed shock and a stammered "uh, okay then."
posted by Kitteh at 7:20 AM on August 27, 2014 [6 favorites]
My reaction was wide-eyed shock and a stammered "uh, okay then."
posted by Kitteh at 7:20 AM on August 27, 2014 [6 favorites]
I can't decide which is dumber, the original idea for this thing or the people who willingly signed on to make it happen.
posted by peacay at 7:21 AM on August 27, 2014
posted by peacay at 7:21 AM on August 27, 2014
I feel like someone kvetching about 'taxicab' being a vulgar abbreviation of the more proper 'taximeter cabriolet.'
Most people just call them a xica.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:59 AM on August 27, 2014
Most people just call them a xica.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:59 AM on August 27, 2014
Completely unphased by 300,000 volts of electricity
As ever, it's the amps as opposed to the volts that can cause you problems.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 8:01 AM on August 27, 2014 [2 favorites]
As ever, it's the amps as opposed to the volts that can cause you problems.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 8:01 AM on August 27, 2014 [2 favorites]
The photographer's reasoning for having the subjects appearing to be nude, is that it will cause the cause the photos to appear less dated in the future. I don't agree with this reasoning since the hair and makeup styles will undoubtedly seem dated anyways.
posted by Harpocrates at 8:08 AM on August 27, 2014
posted by Harpocrates at 8:08 AM on August 27, 2014
True story: my dad is the police chief of a small Florida town. One time I was visiting and he introduced me to one of his deputies. "Remember that thing online where that one guy said, 'Don't tase me, bro'?" he asked me. I said yes. My dad points to his deputy, "This was the guy who tased him."
My reaction was wide-eyed shock and a stammered "uh, okay then."
posted by Kitteh at 3:20 PM on August 27
Mine would have been to say "Wow, what's it like to a sadistic prick?"
Yes, I have been arrested on account of my mouth.
posted by Decani at 8:26 AM on August 27, 2014 [2 favorites]
My reaction was wide-eyed shock and a stammered "uh, okay then."
posted by Kitteh at 3:20 PM on August 27
Mine would have been to say "Wow, what's it like to a sadistic prick?"
Yes, I have been arrested on account of my mouth.
posted by Decani at 8:26 AM on August 27, 2014 [2 favorites]
These people are, apparently, enthusiastically consenting adults engaging in safe sadomasochistic play with their trusted partners
I'm not the teensiest bit interested in mixing up my sexy-fun-times with owie-owie-owie pain (though I also don't give a hoot if that is what floats someone else's boat)--but I can see the appeal of "I wonder what it's actually like to get tazed?" I think, in the end, I'd be too much of a chicken to actually volunteer for this, but there's quite a loud voice in my head that says "go on--find out what that's actually like." On the other hand, I really, really, couldn't bring myself to taze my wife.
But I think the project is interesting and I don't think you need to be a "sociopath" to find it so. It's interesting to me that the way our faces express a sudden onset of pain is so similar to expressions of intense pleasure or arousal.
posted by yoink at 9:22 AM on August 27, 2014 [1 favorite]
I'm not the teensiest bit interested in mixing up my sexy-fun-times with owie-owie-owie pain (though I also don't give a hoot if that is what floats someone else's boat)--but I can see the appeal of "I wonder what it's actually like to get tazed?" I think, in the end, I'd be too much of a chicken to actually volunteer for this, but there's quite a loud voice in my head that says "go on--find out what that's actually like." On the other hand, I really, really, couldn't bring myself to taze my wife.
But I think the project is interesting and I don't think you need to be a "sociopath" to find it so. It's interesting to me that the way our faces express a sudden onset of pain is so similar to expressions of intense pleasure or arousal.
posted by yoink at 9:22 AM on August 27, 2014 [1 favorite]
So this is how the character posters for Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac were done?
posted by elgilito at 9:51 AM on August 27, 2014
posted by elgilito at 9:51 AM on August 27, 2014
I liked it. It seemed like an interesting and well-executed approach for a portrait photographer who was looking for a different angle into the inner emotional dimensions of his subjects (both the tasers and tasees). I was particularly surprised and moved by the looks of joy/wonder on many of the faces of the people applying the tase captured in the accompanying slo-mo video. Not in a sadistic way, but in a, "wow, we have living bodies!" kind of way.
posted by ericbop at 10:09 AM on August 27, 2014
posted by ericbop at 10:09 AM on August 27, 2014
From 2010:
At last count, some 350,000 Tasers were deployed among 13,000 U.S. police, corrections, and military agencies, and the company estimates that its weapons are used more than 600 times each day.posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 11:08 AM on August 27, 2014
Originally sold as an alternative to firearms, the Taser today has become an all-purpose tool for what police call “pain compliance.” Mounting evidence shows that the weapon is routinely used on people who pose little threat: those in handcuffs, in jail cells, in wheelchairs and hospital beds; schoolchildren, pregnant women, the mentally disturbed, the elderly; irate shoppers, obnoxious lawyers, argumentative drivers, nonviolent protesters — in fact, YouTube now has an entire category of videos in which people are Tasered for dubious reasons. In late 2007, public outrage flared briefly over the two most famous such videos — those of college student Andrew Meyer “drive-stunned” at a John Kerry speech, and of a distraught Polish immigrant, Robert Dziekanski, dying after repeated Taser jolts at Vancouver airport — but police and weapon were found blameless in both incidents.15 Strangely, YouTube’s videos may be promoting wider acceptance of the Taser; it appears that many viewers watch them for entertainment.
http://harpers.org/archive/2010/03/the-soft-kill-solution/?single=1
Not a Taser, a stun gun. I would hardly call that an electronic rifle worthy of Thomas A. Swift.
posted by Debaser626 at 3:22 PM on August 27, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Debaser626 at 3:22 PM on August 27, 2014 [1 favorite]
Yeah I feel like stun gun (which requires bodily contact and affects only the sensory nervous system, causing external pain, and is the device used in this project) vs. Taser (the brand name for a device that ejects metal prongs through which electrical impulses attack the motor nervous system, causing neuro-muscular impairment) is a pretty important distinction here, for reasons of both safety and politics. I'm a little surprised that the photographer didn't use the correct term--unless it was a conscious decision based on the fact that "taser" is the more recognizable, evocative, and titillating term.
For those curious but maybe not enough to experience a full-on stun gun shock, it is possible to purchase lower-power stun guns, intended for use in kinky play. (Please purchase from a reputable dealer.) I've experienced them and they're definitely intense, but certainly didn't inspire a reaction like the ones pictured here.
These are great, though, and I don't think poorly of anyone involved. And I don't think they're all perverts like me, either--some people just want to know what it's like! And those people need people willing to help them out. And it's cool for us if there's someone there to document it.
posted by rhiannonstone at 8:25 PM on August 29, 2014
For those curious but maybe not enough to experience a full-on stun gun shock, it is possible to purchase lower-power stun guns, intended for use in kinky play. (Please purchase from a reputable dealer.) I've experienced them and they're definitely intense, but certainly didn't inspire a reaction like the ones pictured here.
These are great, though, and I don't think poorly of anyone involved. And I don't think they're all perverts like me, either--some people just want to know what it's like! And those people need people willing to help them out. And it's cool for us if there's someone there to document it.
posted by rhiannonstone at 8:25 PM on August 29, 2014
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(or indeed orgasm as a result of Tasering for those niche people that are undoubtedly out there)
posted by GallonOfAlan at 1:34 AM on August 27, 2014