This Dark Short Film Imagines How the Selfie Stick Was Invented

Just who invented the selfie stick, and why? If that's a question you often ask yourself when walking through a crowded tourist spot these days, check out this darkly comedic short film that attempts to explain it all.

Director Evan Silver (who has helmed spots for the likes of MTV, Pizza Hut and Burger King) imagines how the evolution of the world's most annoying device came about. His story takes place on a beach in Japan, where a young businessman reluctantly accepts an offer by his moustachoied colleague to take a cellphone photo of him for his marketing pitch.

The coworker then spends ages and contorts himself heroically trying to get the shot right, framing it from different angles, asking him to smile differently and finally announcing it's failed anyway because the sun has gone. In the meantime, the guy's face has blistered, blood has burst from his nostril and one ear and one arm have fallen right off. The film then informs us that, after years of rehabilitation, the man finally invented the selfie stick--which is credited with helping "hundreds of marketing professionals, teenagers and hot moms worldwide."