But I’m a Cheerleader was released in 1999 by lesbian director Jamie Babbit. This movie is centered around the 17 year old highschooler Megan Bloomfield, portrayed by Natasha Lyonne, and Graham, played by Clea Duvall. This 85-minute movie, labeled as a comedy and romance, still provides comedic relief 25 years after its release. Despite its label as a comedic romance, the film revolves around a much more threatening topic for queer people: conversion therapy. However, that is why I think most queer people I know who have watched this movie find it funny — because it makes fun of conversion therapy, and many use humor as a coping mechanism for fears or trauma. But I’m a Cheerleader is a movie that deserves more positive reviews when analyzing it two …show more content…
The movie opens with cuts of high school cheerleaders flying through the air between the opening credits, cheering, and taking a turn of a more sexual nature by focusing the camera on the underside of skirts and on women’s chests. These sexual scenes get longer when we see Megan kissing her boyfriend, as that is what she imagines while she “kisses” him; she is not kissing him so much as leaving her mouth open with her tongue hanging out. These actions, along with having a picture of a woman in a bikini in her school locker and a Melissa Etheridge poster, cause her parents to confront Megan about being a lesbian. She then gets sent to the conversion therapy camp called True Directions. In the scenes leading up to True Directions, the colors are quite muted with browns and beiges, or the bright orange and white of Megan’s cheerleading costume. But upon arriving at True Directions, the color palette of the movie shifts to blues and pinks to reinforce the gender roles of boys wearing blue and girls wearing
Pleasantville is a film set around two teenagers who happen to fall into the predictable 1950s’ black and white sitcom, Pleasantville. The show represents a very stereotypical image of what American culture was known for in the 50s’, in regards to gender roles, segregation of races, and basic societal standards. With a society, so bland, David and Jennifer bring along their personalities that influence new ideas and innovation, keenness for knowledge and most importantly a display of freedom. As the citizens of Pleasantville became exposed to new experiences and opportunities, an eruption of “intense” emotions took over the town, which led to the outburst of the symbol of colour. These abrupt changes to the society’s norms highlight the uneasiness that follows change: unrest, an eagerness to break out of gender roles and most importantly the grasp for freedom.
When I arrived at my new and enormous high school, I got lost. It was June, and since classes had just ended for the day, large crowds of kids filled up the hallways, and I got bumped around like I did not exist. Thankfully, a cheerleader saw me and figured that I had come there for tryouts since I wore shorts, cheer shoes and a big bow in my hair. She took me to the gym where at least sixty girls had shown up for the competition. The first things I saw were cheerleaders doing high level tumbling on the gym floor with no fear. The upperclassmen led us in warm-ups, and they seemed nice. A lot of the girls I met had been cheering since they were five and six years old. I saw a lot of talent in the room, so I knew it would not be easy to
Although this topic was a small scene in the movie, it still stuck out to the audience. In the movie, a gay football player named “Sunshine” comes to the camp and is immediately stereotyped into being a “hippy”. To counteract this, he decides to kiss another football player, causing a stir in the locker room. The audience has no idea if Sunshine is actually gay or not, but the issue of gay rights was clearly brought up in this scene. During the time period of when the movie took place, gays and lesbians were fighting for equality. They were not treated equally during the 1970’s and wanted to be looked at just like everybody else. Although this is a small part of the larger picture, this event is still important in the development of the movie.
I believe that cheerleaders are a key element. The missing puzzle piece that fully completes a high school. Though many may ponder of the stereotypical affluent blonde with an egotistical aura, those should be informed that they aren’t even half-way correct. Cheerleaders are much more than how they appear in Hollywood movies or on daily TV dramas. I believe that cheerleaders are crucial, and work very hard to bring smiles onto people’s faces.
This gender swap gives way to an innocuous girl-power film that doesn’t in any way degrade or trivialize the male leads of the film. I love it when a film can be gender-centric yet still equal opportunity because it’s immensely difficult to find a sense of balance between those two. This film is friendly to both genders, and it actually has something to say about sexual orientation as well. It’s briefly mentioned in passing, but that one line easily sums up how the entire film feels about all types of
Because some cheerleading squads don’t compete, society thinks of it merely as a physical activity. Even though cheerleaders’ main purpose is to support other athletic activities, cheer squads whom compete, follow all physical criteria to be considered a sport. Cheerleaders put forth an incredible amount of determination. They practice tirelessly to show off their skills, with little or no recognition for their efforts. Cheerleading is a sport because it requires physical fitness, skill, dedication, and stamina. Cheerleading should be considered a sport globally.
According to Joe Hatton, the author of the article, “Sports Beat - The sport of cheerleading: It’s more than just pompoms and smiles,” cheerleading is a sport because it requires strength, balance, and coordination. The major claim of the article is “cheerleading is a sport - plain and simple - and cheerleaders are true athletes” (Hatton C-04). The article offers the following arguments in support of the claim. Hatton claims because cheerleaders are athletes, cheerleading is a sport. Hatton also says cheerleading is a sport because of the competitive aspects. We believe cheerleading is not a sport, because not all cheerleaders compete. Most cheerleaders rarely, if ever, show athleticism. Cheerleading is an activity based on confidence and school spirit. Activities in schools such as debate clubs revolve around the trust, confidence and competition of the team members yet most people do not consider debate club a sport.
In the late 1980s when the film was created, the LGBT community faced many stigmas. Subjects in the film spoke about the harsh treatment that they endured due to stereotypes. People in mainstream society were not fully comfortable with the idea of homosexuality due to its lack of publicity in the media. It was rare at that time to have homosexual characters on television, and many athletes and professionals did not come out due to fear of judgment. Because of this, people who were openly part of the LGBT community faced discrimination. The Harlem ball circuit allowed the subjects to embrace their sexuality and come together as minorities. The mutual bonds that the minorities shared provided a judgment-free zone to enjoy themselves and form lasting
The best leadership accomplishment that demonstrates my potential to make significant contributions to the campus community and broader society is cheerleading. Cheerleading has made a huge impact on my life and has created many opportunities for me. It has paved the way for my high school career. Cheerleading provided me with opportunities to lead, volunteer, perform and show the athletic ability of our squad.
When most people think of cheerleading, they think of the spirit squads that attempt to pump up the local crowd at high school basketball and football games. People are not aware of what these athletes are doing when they are not in front of these crowds. Strangers to cheerleaders who do not follow the sport extensively do not know the exact involvement of the athletes in this sport, at all ages. Cheerleading requires athleticism like all other sports as you must be in shape and at a great fitness level to be involved in most circumstances. Cheerleaders have to know what they’re doing at all times; while knowing what everyone else on the team is doing as well, which involves a high level of mental preparation. Cheerleading, high school or club teams are now considered one of the most dangerous sports, and there is even a rule book for competition cheerleading now. The book consists of the same concepts that any other team sports such as football would include. The book has rules and regulations for jumps, stunts, tumbling, and many other conditions that involve the sport; School cheerleading, on the other hand, has very few rules and very seldom do they tumble or stunt. Most schools are not allowed to stunt they’re what is referred to as, “ground bound.” People that do not know the facts about cheerleading have deemed cheerleading as not being a sport, they usually call these teams a spirit club and show disrespect towards these athletes. If people knew all of the facts and strengths of cheerleaders, they would consider cheerleading to be a sport just as much as your common sports.
The New York Times states that cheerleading is the fastest growing girls’ sport, yet more than half of Americans do not believe it is a sport. A sport is defined as “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature” (dictionary.com). Cheerleading at a competitive level is physically demanding and requires team work to be the best. The misconception of cheerleaders being weak, nonathletic crowd entertainers makes people believe cheerleaders are not athletes and that cheerleading is just a hobby but cheerleaders that compete at a competitive level are in fact athletes because it meets the standards of what a sport is, which includes rules and regulations, and overcoming air resistance.
Mean Girls, starring Lindsey Lohan and Rachel McAdams, took over worldwide box office sales in 2004 making it a staple in pop culture today. The movie is about a young girl named Cady who lived in Africa with her family and moved to a new town in the suburbs of Illinois. Cady gets a taste of what real public school is like and unfortunately it’s a rude awakening. The film portrays many stereotypical gender roles that society has created for females, males, and the LGBT community. This essay will seek to explore how the film Mean Girls portrays gendered pressures from peers, parental modeling, and the gendered expectations and pressures facing female students.
The 1990s saw surge of gay characters in both television and movies. From Ellen Degeneres and her character Ellen Morgan coming out under much scrutiny on the TV show ‘Ellen,’ to Julia Roberts and Rupert Everett comedically playing off each other in the motion picture ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding.’ Sure, gays and lesbians have been around forever, especially in Hollywood. But never has there been a time to be more out. With the popularity of shows like Will and Grace, which feature leading gay characters, as well as Dawson’s Creek and it’s supporting character of teenager Jack McPhee, we are slowly seeing gay and lesbian characters creeping into the mainstream media.
Cheer, a diverse and dangerous sport is a very foggy subject for many. The majority of the population would say cheer is just a group cheering on a sports team. Before being able to define what cheer is, one must first look at current day competitive cheer. How cheer gained its stereotypes lays in its history, and rapidly evolved into a completely different function. With cheer being the number one cause of sports injury for girls under twenty, twenty thousand deaths from stunting, and seventy percent of girls sports injuries in high school, the statistics raises an eyebrow as to just what cheerleaders are doing. Cheer went from chants, to stunt groups, to worlds championships in just a century.
A jolt of energy rushed through my body and hit my heart when they call me up to get the team trophy. Not fourth, third, or second, but first place for the third year in a row. Being a captain of a team is an amazing experience. You get to see your team physically, mentally, and emotionally prepare for competition. It's a lot of hard work, but if you try your hardest, make all the practices and have a passion for cheerleading its worth it. Every year we take a few weeks to build a competition routine, the out come is incredible, but the celebration is the best part.