Is there anyone who doesnt know David Blaine is spending 44 days suspended in a box above Tower Bridge? It is going to be a marathon ordeal, a supreme test, one requiring superhuman physical and mental strength. And thats just whats its going to be like for me having to put up with the barrage of hype from Blaines PR machine. The only person escaping every moment is currently suspended in that very box over Tower Bridge.
<*dv_1*> The site of the stunt is an empty patch of dusty scrubland adjacent to Tower Bridge. Having had previous stunts homed at prestigious locations like Time Square this new location must come as a rude shock. Its as if hes been shunted into the location by some petty bureaucrat who couldnt be bothered to find a more aesthetically attractive venue.
No wonder then that Blaine spends most of his time lying dormant inside his Perspex prison. Surveying the tragically thin crowds and post apocalyptic dust bowl every day would be enough to send me into a somnambulistic coma. For there he lies, inert, like a dead gerbil in a giant forgotten fish tank. I spend a total of three minutes observing the scene. It is quite the most uninteresting spectacle that I have ever witnessed.
<*dv_0*> I admit that I am now party to the very thing I hate. By writing about this stunt, I am legitimating the very reason Blaine is doing it. It is like the debate every year about the Turner Prize. Its selections are deliberately controversial. It thrives on its annual slating by the artistic establishment who cry but its not art! Little realising that if they kept their mouths shut the Turner Prize would soon wither and die leaving its artists deprived of the pre-eminence which they so despise them holding. But this stunt is happening just down the road from me. I feel I cant ignore it. So let me acknowledge my hypocrisy and move on.
With this in mind it is interesting to note the relish with which the media have lapped up the bombardment of Blaines capsule with eggs, beer and phlegm. Whilst aware they are being manipulated the media cannot ignore Blaines shenanigans as a storys a story, even if it has all been elaborately stage managed for their benefit. So when the great British unwashed decide to deviate from the carefully prepared script the journalists love every moment. For there is a message implicit in the coverage, a reminder or warning; that you can never, ever, control a story.
TJB
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