Disclaimer: This video is NOT SAFE FOR WORK and contains explicit language that will definitely offend some people. But, for better or worse, it’s an honest portrait of what actually happens on the sand at Huntington Beach during the US Open of Surfing. So…there’s that.
I headed down to Huntington Beach for the 2014 US Open of Surfing excited to capture the energy of the event. I intended to get attendees’ thoughts on the heats. I intended to document the fans’ collective stoke for their favorite surfers. I was excited. But a stampede of booty shots and language that would make mothers the world over cry trampled all over those intentions. And this came after authorities made changes, eliminating concerts and vendors on the beach and increasing security, to safeguard the event after the riots in 2013.
Beyond that, it fascinates me how trends work on kids’ minds, and where they come from. No rules existed to having only “free kisses,” “free hugs,” and hand prints on their bodies, but 99% didn’t deviate from that formula. Next, there was the whole “f*ck her right in the pussy” movement. It literally happened in every interview — I didn’t ask for a single one of those. Apparently, it’s an Internet meme and people the world over hijack broadcast interviews by screaming it into an unsuspecting reporter’s microphone. It’s actually kinda funny. But it’s offensive. Then everyone freaked out about some famous “Viner” kid.
Everyone’s behavior was web-based. I assume all the Instagramming and tweeting of body paint photos perpetuated that trend. And the fans raved for the Cameron Dallas kid from Vine, but none of the competitors received so much as an afterthought. At one point, I watched Jordy Smith walk with his logo-ed surfboard through an entire crowd of kids entirely unnoticed. Granted, hardly any of them surfed, but none of them cared about Kelly Slater or a single other surfer in the event. So much for being at the US Open of Surfing...
It’s Gnarls Barkley down there.
