| Firewalking Seminar | ||
|---|---|---|
| This clip is not available for streaming at this time. Please contact WPA. | Tape Master: | 9703 |
| Catalog #: | 489288 | |
| Clip Number: | 489288-1 | |
| Orginal Film: | 4A-3 | |
| Timecode: | ||
| Location: | Arizona | |
| Year Shot: | 1996 (Actual Year) | |
| Audio: | Yes | |
| Color: | Yes | |
| Headings: | CEREMONIES: Unusual | |
| Description: | 03:00:32:- Late afternoon, mid summer. A secluded parking lot. MS's and CU's of several people crumpling sheets of newspaper and placing them inbetween logs. This is part of a self-help seminar where the participants are to walk on hot coals as metaphor for the beginning of their new life. New Age type stuff led by an ultra-non-charismatic lady in a red dress. Mike Lukas, TV host and comedian, takes part in the festivities. He delivers some catty, smug, higher than thou poses which ultimately prove to be funny. Folks light one another's candle as the proctor yabbles about "new lives" and such before leading them in song and the lighting of the gas-soaked pile of logs. Oh yeah, CU's of gas being poured onto the logs. 03:05:39:- While smiling shamefully into the camera Mike relights his candle with a white Bic lighter. He kneels to the logs but the wind blows it out again. A flick later he kneels and helps light the fire. In a matter of moments the logs are ablaze and the proctor talks about the transformation powers of fire. 03:07:37:- Cut to good CU of the raging fire, the logs already blackened. The future firewalkers mill about the fire, singing and chanting in a circle. The proctor preps them for the event, then calls for a ten minute break. Cut to more MS's and CU's of the fire. Mike butts into the camera and talks about what is to come and how not ready for it he is (funny). 03:12:46:- high angle CU's of many Japanese fantail carp swimming in a pond; brightly colored and quite beautiful. Cut ot MS's of same, small green waterlilies floating on the surface. CU's of a turtle swimming among the fish, getting fed a piece of bread. Good CU's of the cluttered pond as they scramble for a bit of food. Cut to CU of a small stone staircase as water flows over it. 03:19:24:- MS of the proctor's assistant, a young man with a prominent lisp, talking to a roomful of attendees about the power of the mind, about focusing themselves before doing the firewalk. A candleit room, with many votives and nouveau artwork. He then asks for a volunteer for his "bending a rebar" experiment. Yes, that's right, they're going to bend a thick rod of rebar with their throats. Why? Anything's possible. A long-haired, rotund man solicits his presence and they bend the rebar, ending the feat with an awkward embrace. Much applause and an inquiry into further participance. 03:32:45:- MS interview of the proctor (name not given), as conducted by Mike Lukas, TV host and comedian. She talks about achieving the impossible, of overcoming fear, firewalking, steel bending and so on. A corporate spin of New Age beliefs, without the messy religious overtones, but all the joy of selfish propriety. | |
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