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Louise Thomas
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Netflix viewers have been left divided by a viral scene from new seriesThe Accident depicting a tragedy in which three children are killed after strong winds sweep them away in a bouncy castle.
The show stars Sebastian Martinez as Emiliano, a businessman who takes a call instead of fully securing the bouncy castle to the ground, which leads to it blowing away when high winds appear. The Mexican series recorded over 76.6 million viewing hours last week, according to ScreenCrush.
The streaming service has billed the show as a “fictional” story, but viewers have highlighted comparisons to the Hillcrest Tragedy in which six children were killed in real life after a strikingly similar incident in Australia.
In the knowledge that the show was fictional, many joked about the premise of the show and the likelihood of children being blown away in the inflatable. However, Netflix said the storyline is based on something that happens regularly.
“As unbelievable as it may seem, bouncy houses can and very much have flown away before, much to the horror of the parents involved,” the streamer wrote on an information page for the show.
“The kids party staple is apt to lift off the ground with as little as 15 miles-per-hour winds. According to the American Meteorological Society, wind-related bouncy house accidents have caused at least 28 deaths and 479 injuries between 2000 and 2021.”
One person with a dark humour wrote, “Just laughed so hard I cried because I just started the second most popular show on Netflix called The Accident and they spend 20 mins building up to the tragic event which is that at a kids birthday party it got really windy and a bounce house full of kids flew away”.
Another added, “It’s even funnier than I could have imagined” along with a balloon emoji.
But others were less impressed as they wrote, “This does happen, but making this definitely doesn’t help people take those accidents seriously.”
“Six children were killed in Devonport, Tasmania in December 2021. A lot of Australians won’t see the humour in this,” wrote another.
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Some were clear to separate the tragedy depicted in the show, which is based on fiction, from its adaptation for the screen, as they wrote: “We know it happens. This dramatisation just happens to be hilariously poor quality.”
Others were left incredibly moved by the programme, as they called it “the saddest show I’ve ever seen in my life”.
