Stick Figure Wire-Fu

The other night, I showed my two boys—eight and five—the Fatboy Slim Weapon of Choice video. They are too young to remember the song from its late-2000 release, but it is such a seriously cool video clip that a loving father would not deprive them of the experience.

Connor, my five year old was particularly amazed at the flying sequence and asked, “How does he stay up?”

“He has wires holding him up,” I explained, “You can’t see them because they’re very thin.” Connor thought about it, figured out how it might work and was happy.

The three of us watched the video twice and then I decided to introduce the boys to some Internet culture in the form of a stick figure rendition of the same video. The boys watched, rapt. When it finished, I asked them what they thought. Mitchell nodded, but Connor thought of the stick figure flying through the air, wrinkled his little forehead and asked, “What held that man up? There weren’t any wires.”