Misha Collins, an actor and published poet, wrote and directed the video short "Stranger Danger". It is about just that: the danger of strangers. The video features a young girl skipping down a neighborhood street who ultimately enters a suspicious-looking white van. Through this video, Collins conveys the message to his audience – virtually anyone – that one should not judge the safety of others based solely on their appearance. To achieve this, Collins uses irony.
The video begins by following a young girl as she walks down a neighborhood street, presumably after getting off of the school bus. From the outset, the viewer trusts this girl, who is dressed in pink and seems cheerful and altogether normal. She waves to her neighbors and smells the flowers by the sidewalk. Then, the video cuts to a shot from the inside of a vehicle, in which a man is smoking and looking at the little girl. The man begins to drive slowly behind the girl, and viewers begin to think of him as a predator – they immediately distrust him. The van stops near the little girl, and she looks inside at a Barbie doll. Seemingly trusting the vehicle, she heads towards the side doors. At this point, viewers become very worried for the innocent girl. The man throws the doors open, and, much to the viewers' surprise, the little girl sprouts fangs and leaps at the man, sinking her teeth into him. This alarming twist causes watchers to reconsider how they perceived the people in the video. The man may not have had good intentions, but not once did they consider that the seemingly innocent little girl would have evil intentions as well. Through his use of irony, Collins effectively forces viewers to really think about how they judge people based on their looks, and makes them realize that just because a stranger looks safe doesn't mean that they actually are.
In the video short "Stranger Danger", Misha Collins successfully conveys his message of not judging the safety of others based only upon their appearance. By employing irony through a twist ending, Collins shocks readers into reconsidering their perspective on strangers altogether. He hopes, surely, that if many people view his video, the world may ultimately be a slightly safer place.
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