Ready? Okay!
Sep. 25th, 2007 10:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adiva_calandiaSay sorry: More Heroes related content. It's all general, though, so don't worry about spoilers.
Okay. Cheerleaders.
I know basically nothing about cheerleading. My high school didn't have any sports teams -- well, except for the gym hockey and the ultimate frisbee, but those barely count. So of course, we had no cheerleaders. My experience with cheerleaders is limited to a couple football games that I played music at, and being in a show with a few girls with cheerleading experience (I don't think any of them were active at the time).
Heroes perpetuates the cheerleader stereotype: blonde, beautiful, and bitchy. Jackie doesn't hesitate to take credit for someone else's heroism; she pressures and belittles her BFF while they're BFFs, and shows no remorse over the switch from BFF to rival. The other cheerleaders are there for set dressing, basically, so it should be no surprise that they go along with The Popular Girl and become The Posse Of Shallow Gigglers.
Am I the only person really bothered by this? I don't know cheerleading, but I know people. I'm not saying that people like Jackie don't exist, but why aren't there more Claires? Or even Zachs, people who are at least quietly uncomfortable with overt bitchiness?
Yeah, okay, storytelling. *sigh* If I can defend SPN's portrayal of women through the lens of storytelling, I can defend Heroes' portrayal of teenage girls the same way. We need Claire to look good -- not just as in "likable," but as in "heroic." And the easiest way to do that is to put her against her foil, Jackie (I probably don't need to go into the Jackie-Claire foil, but I do have to say that I still love the fact that even the characters can't tell them apart).
Still! It don't make it right! I don't need a miraculously kind amazing cheerleading squad leader -- I just want one girl on the squad looking uncomfortable when The Bitch makes snide comments about Hapless Extra's fashion sense/athleticism/sexual orientation. A cheerleading captain who was genuinely in it for the athletics or the school spirit, rather than the popularity and Bitch rights, would be amazing, but probably too much to ask for.
In a slightly related theme, I've decided that Claire is really inordinately klutzy for such a good cheerleader. Again, storytelling -- she has to be so she can be Wolverine, and it's not totally unreasonable since she knows she's indestructible -- but it gets to the point where every time she moves faster than a walk I start wincing, because I'm so sure she'll trip while moving at a run and break her neck.
Okay. Cheerleaders.
I know basically nothing about cheerleading. My high school didn't have any sports teams -- well, except for the gym hockey and the ultimate frisbee, but those barely count. So of course, we had no cheerleaders. My experience with cheerleaders is limited to a couple football games that I played music at, and being in a show with a few girls with cheerleading experience (I don't think any of them were active at the time).
Heroes perpetuates the cheerleader stereotype: blonde, beautiful, and bitchy. Jackie doesn't hesitate to take credit for someone else's heroism; she pressures and belittles her BFF while they're BFFs, and shows no remorse over the switch from BFF to rival. The other cheerleaders are there for set dressing, basically, so it should be no surprise that they go along with The Popular Girl and become The Posse Of Shallow Gigglers.
Am I the only person really bothered by this? I don't know cheerleading, but I know people. I'm not saying that people like Jackie don't exist, but why aren't there more Claires? Or even Zachs, people who are at least quietly uncomfortable with overt bitchiness?
Yeah, okay, storytelling. *sigh* If I can defend SPN's portrayal of women through the lens of storytelling, I can defend Heroes' portrayal of teenage girls the same way. We need Claire to look good -- not just as in "likable," but as in "heroic." And the easiest way to do that is to put her against her foil, Jackie (I probably don't need to go into the Jackie-Claire foil, but I do have to say that I still love the fact that even the characters can't tell them apart).
Still! It don't make it right! I don't need a miraculously kind amazing cheerleading squad leader -- I just want one girl on the squad looking uncomfortable when The Bitch makes snide comments about Hapless Extra's fashion sense/athleticism/sexual orientation. A cheerleading captain who was genuinely in it for the athletics or the school spirit, rather than the popularity and Bitch rights, would be amazing, but probably too much to ask for.
In a slightly related theme, I've decided that Claire is really inordinately klutzy for such a good cheerleader. Again, storytelling -- she has to be so she can be Wolverine, and it's not totally unreasonable since she knows she's indestructible -- but it gets to the point where every time she moves faster than a walk I start wincing, because I'm so sure she'll trip while moving at a run and break her neck.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-09-26 12:53 am (UTC)