Drowning, not waving: The acrobat that drowned in the Seine River as an entire film crew watched
Whether they’re in a movie or beyond, a lot of very powerful people want you to think that health and safety measures are ridiculous examples of a state coddling its own people.
After all, passing health and safety standards costs companies money. Money that these powerful people think ought to be rotting in their bank accounts for the rest of their lives, while working people go hungry. Billionaires fundamentally don’t care about people and thus have spent the last couple of decades paying their media empires to parrot talking points that benefit them. Things like how health and safety standards are nanny state bullshit that prevents radical thinking…or something.
No, what health and safety measures prevent stories like that of M Otreps, a French acrobat who showed exactly what happens when there are no regulations put in place to help people when they need it most. Otreps was called into work on the morning of June 14th, 1909, with one hell of a brief. The film was depicting a number of violent events that normal people go through, and his one would be suicide. He was to jump off a pontoon in Bellevue and into the Seine River.
Now, everyone seemed to be acting within their capabilities. Otreps was a strong swimmer so despite the surprisingly strong currents of the Seine, he would be able to get out any pinch. So, the camera crew allowed a crowd to gather behind the camera to watch a man jump into the river. A crowd that waited with baited breath and applauded when Otreps leaped in. They kept applauding him when he popped back up, seemingly staying character as he cried for help.
Why did the crew keep filming the death of Otreps?
So, here’s the thing, when a person does anything physical, they need to warm up. Otreps warmed up and then jumped into the Seine, despite this shoot taking place in early summer, rivers like the Seine or the Thames are never, ever warm.
Quite the opposite, in fact, they will always be freezing cold and the shock of Otreps’ warm body hitting the freezing water sent all his muscles spasming at once. Leaving the strong swimmer completely unable to swim as pretty much every major muscle in his body cramped at once.
Otreps popped up on the surface and tried to cry for help. The waiting crowd thought he was acting and, since no signal had been agreed on to show that something went wrong, nobody thought to go in and help him until long after it was too late. He sank beneath the water and it took the production half an hour to bring him out of the river. Otreps had drowned long before that. In fact, it stood to reason that the cameras had probably still been rolling while Otreps lost his life.
Thus, the cameras had caught a man dying. The footage did exist briefly, being passed around the many media outlets that reported on the tragedy, but like 90% of footage taken in the silent era, it was almost certainly destroyed. While that’s a good thing, it might have been good to keep the footage as a sobering reminder of what people tend to do when they’re not told exactly how to help people.
Absolutely nothing.