How the writing about skateboarding reflects the views of skateboarders - Essay Example

?The Changing Conceptions of Skateboarding Since the beginning of skateboarding, there have been many perceptions of what it means to be a skateboarder. If you ask a skateboarder what skateboarding is you’ll likely get a response of how it is a non-competitive sport of self-expression where everyone supports each other, or perhaps they will simply say skateboarding is about having fun. Skateboarders have always viewed the sport this way. On the other hand, if you ask non-skateboarders about what they think of skateboarding the responses will vary. Society’s perception of skateboarding is always changing. The early writings about skateboarding show that society’s appreciation for the sport outweighed the public’s frustrations with skateboarders. By the late 1980’s when skateboarding showed resurgence, writings about skateboarding voiced frustrations with the skateboarding culture and even tried to deter people from skateboarding. Today there still exists some negative stereotypes from the past, but society is more careful when writing about skateboarding. To examine the changing perception of skateboarding, this essay examines writings about skateboarding in the late seventies, and late eighties (both eras had a resurgence of popularity to the sport) then the present date, to illustrate the changing views of the activity. Technological advances in the design of the skateboard in the 1970’s created an explosion of new skateboarders around the world. As a result, the skill level of skateboarders progressed quickly. Skateboarding was just beginning to become recognized as a sport in the late 1970’s. This resulted in skateboarding companies flourishing. Skateboards, skateboarding paraphernalia, and plenty of skateboarding magazines emerged. The skateboarding magazines eager to profit from this new sport would have to be careful with their treatment, as to make it appealing to young skateboarders, but also write cautiously about the problems associated with skateboarding. One considers that an article ‘There’s more than one shiny pebble on Brighton Beach’ (1977) discussed the planning stages of a skateboarding club. Still, they only briefly mention the problems associated with skateboarding, noting “there was a general discussion about the new sport – its popularity and its problems.” Although, one may find articles in skateboarding magazines that mention that skateboarding has its problems, it is very difficult to find any articles which go into detail about those problems. This article is selective in how it chooses the material to present the problems associated with skateboarding because during the late 70’s skateboarding was just beginning to gain popularity. The explosion of many new skateboarders meant lots of new skateboards and skateboard paraphernalia to be sold. Hence, skateboarding magazines would have been cautious in what they choose to portray. When this article refers to trouble making kids they say are inferring that the group prevents them from causing trouble. The articles notes It’s all worth it and very refreshing for those of us involved. Kids who are normally out in the streets aren’t – they come skateboarding with us instead. We get some of the young hoods with us but they never cause trouble. All they want to do is skateboard – and that’s why it’s so rewarding. (para. 6) When this article refers to kids who cause trouble being when there out on the streets, it does not go into to detail about those problems. The article illustrates how it is rewarding to see the group have a positive effect on the youth, as it keeps them out of trouble. Since skateboarding was only beginning to gain popularity during the late 1970’s, it is possible that the general public was not entirely frustrated with skateboarders yet. Teeter (1979) further expands the discussion on skateboarding, in a newspaper article from the Lethbridge Herald. This article is also only slightly suggestive of the public’s frustrations with skateboarding. The article starts out with an interesting choice of words to captivate the reader. It begins with “it’s a sport that grabs its victims by the bottom of the feet and won’t let go. Whizzing back and forth on a ramp at neck breaking speeds, a small group of 10 youths quickly attracted a small crowd.” Describing youth as victims who are grabbed by the feet, and not let go of, sounds like these young skateboarders are addicted to a sport that will eventually end up seriously injuring them. Instead of saying the young skaters flew with tremendous speeds from one end of the ramp to the other, Teeter describes them as “whizzing back and forth on a ramp at neck breaking speeds.” This article begins with the feel that it would give credence to an anti-skateboarders view on the dangers associated with skateboarding. It is not until the sixth paragraph that the reader discovers that Teeter’s article is meant to show that skateboarding can be safe, and that skateboarding has some positive aspects to the sport. If Teeter’s awareness of his audience required him to draw his readers in this way, then this might suggest that Teeter felt as though his audience would dismiss his article before even reading it. If this were the case then perhaps older people (who would be likely to read the newspaper) may have had negative views towards the skateboarding culture. Teeter points out the problems and hazards of skateboarding but then directly after that he writes that skaters claim that the injuries are due to “improper use of boards, inferior equipment, no facilities and inadequate training.” Teeter then writes that a local skater Klunczny says “the sport keeps him busy and off the streets.” Another skater by the name of Brian Ballja says “if you’re really into it, you don’t have time to get in any trouble.” Teeter is using what skateboarders have told him to show the public that the skaters who really get into the sport do not cause trouble. Keeping off the streets and staying out of trouble is a common phrase when talking about skateboarding as seen in the article above from the skateboarding magazine. This might be suggestive that skateboarders were considered to be trouble makers even during the late 1970’s. Then Teeter points out that there was a “lack of proper facilities … in Lethbridge.” Teeter reports that skateboarders had told him (at that time) there were only a few ramps that were always crowded. Teeter seems to be showing the public that if the skateboarders were given an area to skateboard at, then the skaters would not be a nuisance on the streets. After illustrating that skateboarders would not be a problem if they had the proper facilities, Teeter goes on to write about social relations between skaters by reporting that a local skater, Ballja, says “skateboarders look up to the guy who wins a competition. They don’t want to punch him in the face.” What is emerging is not only the progressive understanding of skateboarding, but an increased understanding of the skateboarding culture that is emerging. While to a great degree these earlier perspectives heralded skateboarding as an egalitarian sport, by the late 1980s writing had emerged that further questioned the safety concerns related to skateboarding. The tone in the late 1980’s was one of frustration. In a newspaper article, Metzler (1988) considered many of the dangers of skateboarding. She expresses the dangers of skateboarding by providing the reader with statistics, then providing examples of some celebrities’ accidents. This article concludes with two tragic stories of skateboarding accidents. The details that Metzler includes makes the reader feel terrified of the accidents associated with skateboarding. Metzler tells a story about a young skater by the name of Vargas skateboarding to the hospital to go visit his friend who sustained an injury to his liver while skateboarding. Vargas fell and hit his head and went into a comma for 4 days. When Vargas regained consciousness he was very dizzy. Metzler says “a friend sent a balloon to his hospital room but it had to be removed because the injured teen couldn’t tell if was moving.” By selecting this story to write about Metzler has the purpose of instilling fear into the reader. Metzler recognizes that her audience is likely to have some parents of skateboarders and it is clear that her message is to frighten parents into not allowing their kids to skateboard. Metzler reports on what Vargas’ mother says “it was a struggle just to give him the will to live.” By including this line of Vargas’ mother struggle to give her son the will to live, Metzler is making the reader empathize with the mother whose child became a victim to an injury of skateboarding. Metzler’s article instills fear to readers who are parents of skateboarders. The article ‘Thousands of injuries blamed on skateboards’ on its own might show that Metzler is only concerned with the safety issues associated with skateboarding. In the Ukiah Daily Journal, Metzler has another article directly after ‘Thousands of injuries blamed on skateboards’ called ‘It’s dangerous, but a crime?’ After reading the both of these articles Metzler’s motive and purpose becomes clear that she too is frustrated with skateboarders and her purpose is to deter parents from allowing their children from skateboarding. Metzler describes several communities’ frustration with skateboarders by saying “communities are fed up with skateboarders who dash between cars, scar concrete and plow down pedestrians” (Metzler, 1988). Metzler could have said that the skateboarders are causing a frustration to communities as they weave through traffic and pedestrians, and blacken curbs and hand rails. Then Metzler tells a story of 3 youths being arrested for skateboarding and she notes that Assistant Police Chief says “there is a duty to protect these kids from becoming paraplegics.” This statement seems to imply that skateboarding inevitably leads to a tragic injury, which is a continuation of Metzler’s theme from the previous article. Ultimately, Metzler’s writing is meant to make skateboarding seem so dangerous that it should just be avoided altogether. Since it is in a newspaper it is unlikely that she is warning young skaters of the dangers, but rather the parents of the young skaters. The next phrases that Metzler reports on seems to show that Metzler’s motived by a frustration with skateboarders and does not seem to be entirely for the concern of the safety of young skateboarders, but rather this is just a tool she is using to deter parents from allowing their children to skateboard. Metzler reports a town clerk saying “they just took over the road.” The clerk continues “some of these kids consider themselves fairly skilled … tell that to the little old lady walking down the street, with someone coming barreling at her.” It seems Metzler is using someone else’s words to say what she actually wants to say. The selection of this particular quote from the town clerk would give parents ammunition for the inevitable argument that would arise if a parent did not want their children to skateboard anymore. Metzler’s articles up to this point have primarily been to warn parents of the dangers associated with skateboarding. Mothers are usually more the more protective of the parents in regards to safety, so Metzler’s article feels as though it’s written primarily to mothers. Although, Metzler ends a note that would strike heartstrings with fathers by saying “skateboarders say that the sport is popular because it allows them to develop skills at their own pace, without letting down a team, or even Dad, who probably has never been on a board.” Metzler’s articles are selective in such a way to only show the dangers and frustrations associated with skateboarding. Since Metzler did not suggest any solutions to those problems, the only solution to imply is that skateboarding is too dangerous and criminal and should just be avoided. She appeals to both parents as to persuade them not to allow their kids to skateboard. Concerns regarding skateboarding would extend into the modern day, as writers such as Kara-Jane Lombard (2010) give several accounts of skateboarders invading areas and damaging curbs and rails, and how those problems were dealt with by the municipalities. Lombard shows little bias; she points out the criminal nature of skateboarders but also some of the positive aspects of the sport as well. The more current writings about skateboarding are fair to the culture of skateboarding. This shows people’s consideration of skateboarding as a respected sport has increased drastically from the late 1980’s. Lombard also writes about skateboarder’s resistance to security guards. Lombard says “skaters resist security guards in various ways – arguing, playing ‘cat and mouse’ games or knowing the rounds of security guards.” Lombard points out that many skateboarders have videotaped their confrontations with security guards and then posted their videos online. Lombard says that the comments of these videos “criticize security guards and celebrate the outlaw ethos of skateboarding.” Even though Lombard points these criminal behaviors of skateboarders, the article is about how the resistance has a purpose, and near the end of Governance and resistance section of her paper, she uses the example of the Burnside skate park to illustrate resistance to cause change. The Burnside Park started with a few skaters troweling a bank up against a wall. In order to make the area skate-able skaters swept the area and kept it clean. Lombard says “skaters convinced local businesses (who saw skaters as cleaning up the area) to support them. While perspectives on skateboarding in the 1970s and 1980s largely presented issues that clearly embraced or criticized skateboarding, modern day perspectives are noticeably more complex in their understandings. For instance, Haines, Smith, & Baxter (2010) recognizes that while skateboarding presents clear injury potentials, the positive aspects of the occurrence outweigh these risks. This ethnographic study of skateboarders identifies skateboarders’ values of self-progression and freedom of self-expression, and illustrates how those values outweigh the risk of injury. This paper does not over emphasize serious injuries, as does Metzler (1988). Instead this paper just states that skateboarding is dangerous, and refers to skateboarders as high sensation-seeking individuals. Just as Haines, Smith, & Baxter (2010) considered that skateboarding is an egalitarian sport that outweighs the risks, Linda Moore (2009) considers that there are negative elements related to skateboarding, but also that the positive aspects are in great supply. In these regards, what is emerging in these later day perspectives is not an effort to better define skateboarding, as in earlier writings, but pro-active actions taken to sell skateboarding. Indeed, Moore addresses the common themes of skateboarding as acceptance, energy and drive, concern for safety, self-expression of style, and progression. This study seems to have the purpose of influencing people to understand skateboarders’ values, so that people will be able to communicate with the youth more effectively. Each ethnographic study identifies its bias, as does this one, but this article in particular concentrates (even more than Haines, Baxter, & Smith’s article) on only the positive aspects of skateboarding. Moore’s study portrays skateboarders as a fun, driven crowd of people who support each other in their creative talents, and he only briefly mentions the no skateboarding signs posted in public places. While the perspectives Moore (2009) and Haines, Smith, & Baxter (2010) put forward are an embracement of the general practice of skateboarding, other perspectives consider self-reflexive aspects of modern skateboarding culture. In these regards, Lombard (2010) examines the way that skateboarding has internally resisted specific forms of corporate co-optation in the establishment of its egalitarian approach. Lombard illustrates that the resistance in skate boarding is meant to shape whatever it is resisting. She uses the example of when Nike launched their skate shoes to the skateboarding public and skaters resisted from buying the new Nike’s as skaters were suspicious of Nike’s motives. Lombard points out that Consolidated Skateboarders led a boycott with their “don’t do it campaign. This resulted in Nike taking their skate shoes off the market. However, Nike came back but this time they only sold to local skate shops and sponsored several skaters, and include them in the design process. Nike spent five years becoming more involved in skateboarding and which resulted in skaters became more accepting of Nike. Now Nike is successful in the skateboarding market. Still other perspectives considers skateboarders as less culturally and politically united and instead as a disorganized unit of social misfits. One blog writer, bluejohn, writes “the skateboarding culture is based on slacking and rebelling. Provocation and narcissism will be encouraged by peers.” Still, bluejohn does not provide any evidence to this claim. The next blogger agrees with this claim by saying “I agree with the statement above and think that skateboarding does lead to bad attitude and drug infested invironment” [sic]. It is obvious that the well-written calm and composed blogs portray a more well thought out perception of skateboarders, than do the last two blogs; one provides no evidence and the other is poorly written. Thus parents here have shown that a negative stereotype of skateboarders exists today but most people are aware of that overgeneralization of the skateboarding sub-culture does not entirely represent the group. In conclusion, this essay has examined the social, political, and cultural evolution of skateboarding through the linear progression of writings on the subject. The essay has demonstrated that with the late 1970s skateboarding magazines were of the few resources to read from, and since skateboarding was just beginning to become popular skateboarding magazine would write carefully about the skateboarding culture. Writings aside from skateboarding magazines, such as newspaper articles, in the late 1970’s showed that while some frustrations with skateboarding may have existed; there was a proactive approach to those problems. Metzler’s writing about skateboarding in the late 1980s uses selection and slanting to show the criminal nature of skateboarding. She selects tragic stories to appeal to parents concern for safety of their children, and she chooses quotes from other people which would demonstrate that skateboarders have a lack of consideration for others. Metzler’s frustrations with skateboarding are very apparent and she uses fear to try and deter the sport. Finally modern writing has considered the complex variety of perspectives on the subject, as well as added self-conscious reflection as to how skateboarding culture is dynamically maintained. The modern day sources that were biased towards the positive aspects of skateboarding were Haines, Smith, & Baxter (2010), Moore (2009), and some of the parents of skateboarders in the blogs from Empowering parents (Blog post, 2010). Kara-Jane Lombard shows the least amount of bias, in either direction of the arguments, when writing about skateboarding. The mother in the blog post shows little bias as well, since her kids were only just beginning to skateboard. Ultimately, the cumulative consideration of these textual artifacts demonstrates that perceptions of skateboarding and skateboarding culture are just as fluid and dynamic as the sport itself. References Empowering parents, (2010, April 21). Do skateboards come with attitudes? [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.empoweringparents.com/blog/backtalk-and-attitude/do-skateboards-come-with-attitudes/ Haines, C., Smith, T. M., & Baxter M. F. (2010). Participation in the Risk-taking Occupation of Skateboarding. Journal of Occupational Science 17(4), 239-245. Moore, L. (2009). An ethnographic study of the skateboarding culture. The Sport Journal 12(4), n.p. There’s more than one shiny pebble on Brighton Beach. (1977). TV’s Nationwide Skateboarding, Spring Special, 17. Retrieved from http://vintageskateboardmagazines.com/Nationwide.html Teeter, B. (July 31, 1979). Skateboard wizards draw amazement at fairgrounds. The Lethbridge Herald. B. 17-32. Retrieved from http://newspaperarchive.com/the-lethbridge-herald/1979-07-31/page-17?tag=skateboarding+skateboard+wizards+draw&rtserp=articles/skateboarding?pc=16234&psi=4&pci=2&py=1977&pey=1988&pep=skateboard-wizards-draw Metzler, B. (September 12, 1988). Thousands of injuries blamed on skateboards. The Ukiah Daily Journal. Retrieved from http://newspaperarchive.com/ukiah-daily-journal/1988-09-12/page-2?tag=skateboarding&rtserp=articles/skateboarding?psb=relavance&pse=30 Metzler, B. (September 12, 1988). It’s dangerous, but a crime? The Ukiah Daily Journal. Retrieved from http://newspaperarchive.com/ukiah-daily-journal/1988-09-12/page-2?tag=skateboarding&rtserp=articles/skateboarding?psb=relavance&pse=30 Read More