Whipping Boy Transports Us to a Disconnected Future

[harpere]

Whipping Boy Transports Us to a Disconnected Future

Check out our behind-the-scenes interview with Whipping Boy filmmakers Aiah Samba and Michael Chance.

We're searching for the next great sci-fi filmmaker with the short films by all eight finalists [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/content/prototype/about] right now, but if you want to go behind the scenes to learn more about the creation of these movies, we're publishing interviews with the Prototype filmmakers.

Today, you can take a peek into the minds behind Whipping Boy [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/content/prototype/filmmakers/aiah-samba-and-michael-chancel] in our interview, where writer Aiah Samba explains where the film concept came from:


The concept spawned from an idea that we as a people are growing further and further apart. I used to always go on this rant about texting. I'm not a fan of texting and I even used to be against excessive phone calls as a kid. If I had the option to walk over to my friend's house and meet up with him over chatting on the line, that's what I'd do. That's just the way I was.

So I imagined a place where we dwell in the extreme end of that spectrum. Where people don't have a reason to leave their homes anymore because they've become so reliant on the newest techno gadget. Where you're so in tune with technology but not with people, that you begin to crave contact anyway you can get it. So that led to a new fetish because... why not. Men who would go to your place of residence and allow you to pummel them into a bloody pulp. Getting all your frustrations and loneliness out in the session. They're called Whipping Boys. And you have to understand that the Whip we follow, Napalm, is getting something out of this deal as well. He's very much a part of this desensitized society that's gone adrift. So by allowing the client to take all their rage of the current state of the world, out on his body, Napalm in that instance, gets to connect with them. So I loved the dynamics of such a relationship.


For more, watch Whipping Boy [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/content/prototype/filmmakers/aiah-samba-and-michael-chance] for yourself.

[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/movies-and-tv/]

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[Scow2]

... this has to be the dumbest attempt at re-making Fight Club that I've ever seen.

 

[Deathfish15]

This movie's concept is just.....bleh. Disconnect humans use other humans only as punching bags to get an emotional attachment to a society that has drifted apart? That makes nearly no sense at all. It's like a cross between Surrogates and Gamer with all the worse parts and none of the "good". People were attached to their Surrogates because of a fear to go out into the dangerous world themselves. Instead the tech allowed them to do things without really doing them at all. For Gamer, particularly the part called "Society", was about...well, it was essentially living out The Sims through control of a real life avatar; sex, partying, drugs, and just crazy weird stuff.


The basic idea needs to expand to make them more than just a 'Whipping Boy' for the sake of violence. When I read the synopsis of this I instead instantly went to the word "Puppets". The word casts itself upon all the characters of the movie: those that are attached to the stings of their technological things and a direct name for the for-hire social interactions. However instead of just being there for violence only, Puppets would be there for nearly ANY social interaction. Some lonely people just hiring a Puppet for a hug, for a joke, a conversation, to tell them they're pretty, for sex, and finally for violence if so be it. This way the Puppet is in it for the bad (the hitting and so on) so that the more enjoyable good (hugs, etc) can be felt as well.