Teens Out-Stunting 'Jackass'
Nov. 8 -- Police say it began years ago with graffiti vandals. They started videotaping one another spray painting buildings and trains.
Dozens of videos have been seized by the New York Police Department. Lt. Steve Mona says to the vandals the tapes are as important as the graffiti.
"In a way video is a way of proving, 'hey look what I did.' It might sound silly to us, but to them it's a really big deal," said Mona.Mona said these videos are a sort of trophy for the teens — something to show off to their friends.
But kids aren't just sharing these with their friends. Some of the tapes are being slickly packaged and sold for up to $25 apiece. Also for sale on the Internet are tapes of backyard fight clubs, home videos of kids imitating the violence they see on wrestling.
Reality TV — The Play-at-Home Version
Jane Buckingham, a marketing expert who studies teenage trends, said affordable video cameras and the popularity of reality TV are drawing more and more kids to videotaping. Buckingham said backyard wrestling and making movies are among the hottest trends with teens.
It's not just fake violence that kids are taping. The hottest video in this underground market is called Bum Fights — having reportedly sold over 300,000 copies at $20 apiece.
In Bum Fights, the young videomakers pay homeless people to fight one another, bash their heads into crates, tumble down stairs in a shopping cart, one man even pulls his teeth out with pliers. On the same tape is scene after scene of real street brawls among kids.
Violent streetfight videos are such a hot item one Internet site was offering $1,000 for tapes — advertising: "Got brawls? We'll make you famous."
One man who became famous from stunt videos is Johnny Knoxville, creator of MTV's Jackass.
Knoxville has become a cult hero among kids for his willingness to do all kinds of wacky things on videotape. And now he's moved from TV to the big screen.
Buckingham said a lot of young boys look up to Knoxville, because he struck it big. "Unfortunately, the crazier, the more outrageous, the more dangerous, the more they give him credit," Buckingham said.
