Mask wearing and excellent storytelling

Have you seen Paul Rudd’s new campaign video to promote the wearing of masks amongst millennials?

New York’s Governor Cuomo asked Rudd to create something to promote mask wearing, and Rudd obliged.

While a few (emphasis on a few) have criticized the video for it’s shaming of millennials, its parody of youth and black culture, and its lack of humor, most (emphasis on most) thought the video was funny, pointed, and relevant.

I’m not going to dive into whether or not I think the video is culturally insensitive or agist (I don’t), nor will I point out that at least two of the loudest critics of the video utilized the incredibly clever, highly original, not-at-all overdone, not-at-all agist quip “Okay, boomer” when criticizing Rudd and the video.

Also, I’m not a boomer, so this isn’t personal.

I’ll just point out that Rudd’s video is an excellent example of storytelling.

Almost.

The structure of the video is a simple but effective one:

Rudd spends most of the video making the audience laugh.

Yes, I know. Maybe you didn’t laugh. You say it isn’t funny, but really, it probably just hurt your feelings.

Either way, it’s objectively funny.

Rudd charms the audience with humor. He entertains the audience. He connects with all but the most humorless culture warriors and fragile millennials. Also probably the soulless, stupid cretins who aren’t wearing their masks.

But for the majority of folks, Rudd makes the audience happy.

Then, with just 27% of the video remaining Rudd stops being funny. Rather abruptly. He transitions from parody to genuine anger. In an instant, the video shifts from something amusing and entertaining to something very real. An honest, insistent, angry demand to wear a mask.

Elysha once said that her favorite of my stories follow the “laugh, laugh, laugh, cry” model. I take my audience along an amusing, entertaining road, only to show them at the end that the road wasn’t as funny as they had initially thought. I break down their defenses, draw them close, and put them at ease before revealing some hard, painful truth.

Rudd does the same. Just when you’re enjoying yourself the most, he gets real. In my mind, it’s excellent storytelling.

Then he kind of ruins it.

Just like so many storytellers who feel like they need to end on a laugh (you don’t and shouldn’t), Rudd tags the video with an attempt at humor in the closing seconds. He and someone who I think I’m supposed to know but don’t attempt to eat chicken through a mask. It’s the least funny of all the humor, and it only serves to blunt Rudd’s pointed, angry demands.

Why storytellers insist on ending on a laugh will forever baffler me. Make your audience laugh as much as you want (though I have some objections to this, too) until the moment when you’re saying something real, but once that real thing has been stated, shut up. Let it stand.

End of heart. Not humor.

But other than the last few seconds of the video, I think it’s excellent. A solid example of effective storytelling.

Yes, there was some criticism of the video, but there will always be critics.

Sometimes that critic is me.

I don’t think Rudd minds. I’m fond of saying that if you love my content, fantastic. If you despise my content, that’s pretty good, too. Just please don’t be ambivalent about my content. A strong positive or negative reaction is just what I want.

Indifference kills me.

I suspect that most people react positively or negatively to Rudd’s video. It’s hard to imagine someone watching it with indifference.

Either way, wear your goddamn mask. As Rudd says, it’s easy. It’s simple. Hundreds of thousands of people are dying, and it’s preventable. It’s science.

Wear your mask.