Cultural Perception (Collin Lund) on rollerbladers
Artifacts:
Retweet if you support equality for all! @HouseOfVansLDN does not allow Rollerbladers at their skatepark in London UK #discrimination #hate
on @joanlemay 's birthday I saw 2 rollerbladers holding hands @ sunset. REAL JAZZED about this confluence of events. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPK7ZF6jfJE …
I was able to find lots of information on the internet when searching the term "rollerblading". The single story I found on rollerblading is that rollerblading is a nerdy activity, and not an activity someone should pursue if they are trying to be cool or fit in with the popular people. If you want to be cool you would do an activity like skateboarding, or dirt biking. If you wanted a girlfriend, you most definitely would not want her to see you rollerblading down the street. You would want to be on your motorcycle because that is what's cool. If you see a rollerblader at the skatepark, the rollerblader will most likely always be getting in your way, and making a fool out of himself.
The first twitter post says that they do not let rollerbladers into there skatepark; there must be a good reason for this! The second twitter post says that he saw rollerbladers holding hands; this is obviously an activity that is not considered cool. For the first picture, I don't even think you need an explanation.... They look way to far from cool to ever get a girlfriend. And the picture of Napoleon Dynamite shows rollerblading again in a negative light. Napoleon and his cousin Rico are far from cool.
This story can be limiting because roller blading is a great way to get exercise, and is much more efficient than walking around. You can get places very quickly and of course, they can be fun! There have been many very difficult and scary trick preformed on rollerblades. Just because someone rides rollerblades around, does not mean they are not cool and can not have a girlfriend, but that is how they are portrayed these days. This is sad, but it is the truth. Will rollerblades ever make a comeback and become a cool activity?
I think I want a further definition of what you mean by "rollerbladers" since all of your media examples are featuring young males and you write from the perspective of a heterosexual male. Do bisexual female rollerbladers suffer from the same "single-story" tragedy as heterosexual male rollerbladers? If I was a rollerblader, I don't see how I would identify with all your male-oriented examples as artifacts of how the world perceives rollerbladers as a whole group.
ReplyDeleteRollerbladers are cool in my book. But I do see how there are so many misconceptions about them. I think there is much more to their entire story than the artifacts show.
ReplyDeletePeople need to calm down and quit picking on fun little things that we did for fun as kids! Roller blading is great and it is sad to see people pick on each other.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a cool topic, and it also applies to other "nerdy" things as well like video games, pokemon, etc. This is a physical activity too that is good for you!
ReplyDelete