The Mook Within

One piece of "The Merchants of Cool" that caught my attention was when the documentary outlined the concept of a "Mook". I've spent a good deal of time since seeing Jackass for the first time in eighth grade, side-splittingly laughing to Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera and the rest of the show's cast and their incredulous antics. What I found striking was that MTV's Mook was admittedly not a portrayal of the American teenage male, but a caricature. "It's about understanding John(or any teenage male) as a customer," the narrator says. Ok, so now the Mook has a little more defined purpose. I think his purpose is to please all of us who once thought of doing something wildly moronic, like the clip in the documentary when a guy dons snorkeling gear and hops into a sewage tank. That kind of television is hilarious, and because it is off-limits to us normal folk we enjoy watching it. MTV cracked the code.