You Always Hurt the Ones You Love
by Lindsey Adler
Johnny Knoxville’s friends knelt at his feet, slicing papercuts into the skin between his toes. After enduring this, one of the most viscerally disturbing moments in the entire Jackass oeuvre, he needed to collect himself.
In a body of work defined by knees to the nuts and falls from dangerous heights, the Paper Cuts scene is still the most physically intolerable to watch. The first time I saw it—a highlight of Jackass: The Movie—I held my hands over my eyes, unable to muster the strength to endure the sight of what was happening on my screen. I have assumed the same self-protective pose during each of the roughly 25 times I’ve watched this film since it was released in 2002, right up until last weekend, when my whole body involuntarily tensed up yet again in a Pavlovian full-body recoil.
Having a consistent reaction to watching Jackass—emotionally traveling back in time—is a crucial part of its charm.
“Do you wanna do your hand now?” asks Steve-O of his immiserated, writhing co-conspirator and friend. “You’ll forget about the pain in your foot.”
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