Satire...Satire...Satire...
Do you ever hear about satire in your life? What about having satire in your life? I know for sure that I both hear a ton of satire, and experience some too, which means you probably do too. Wait a second here, how many of you even know what satire is? Yeah...I didn't think so.
Satire is "a literary composition in verse or prose, in which human folly or vice are held up to scorn, derision, or ridicule."Great, now that you know what satire is..lets move on!
Satire is very common in today's society, especially in certain sports. Personally I have heard and experienced satire in Cheerleading. Now, I'm assuming most of you know what high school football cheerleading is, but how many of you know what ALLSTAR cheerleading is? Not many of you right? Right, thats just what I thought. Take a look at the links above to the you-tube vidoes, and then tell me the better one. You better me sure that you say ALLSTAR, I mean just look at the difference.
Anyways, back to Satire, High school cheerleading is most commonly hit with all kinds of satire. And most of what is said during this satire is very true. High school cheerleaders get a lot less respect because, I mean they're high school cheerleaders, they cheer at football games, and practice minimally, and they do cheers, and use pom poms. I mean some of them only cheer for the super super short skirts that show off their body, hello that reads high school cheerleader all over and "hey we're easy satire targets. Now come to an allstar cheerleading practice, and you will see none of that whatsoever!
I mean there is a reason why allstar cheerleading was rated the number one most DANGEROUS sport. I mean just look at this video from earlier this month, and take a look at the collide. Both girls fractured their skulls, and left the mat (as seen in the left) and the other stayed on the mat and performed with a blood stained uniform until the coach literally told her to stop and rushed her off the mat, forfeiting their routine. Also in this routine you see a girl tear her acl and break her ribs before leaving the mat (Seen in the right). Now I mean just from that you can clearly tell that there's no need for satire in Allstar Cheerleading, and that it is often misjudged as a sport, which it absolutely is.
I personally absolutely disagree with the satire in cheerleading. I can see where it comes from with high school cheerleading, but definitely not in Allstar. As you can probably tell there is satire evident just about everywhere in life, and it can often be misleading and not always true, but also hurtful to others. If you check out the blog Simplexcellence, you will see the true satire from cheerleading, and what is even more satirical is the fact that the owners are real cheerleading coaches.
Now you're probably wondering if there was a point to this blog by now, and you're correct there is...it is meant to show the world of satire outside of literature. To refer to satire in literature lets move on to Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn using an extreme amount of satire. From the very beginning Twain satirizes the society of the South before the war, racism, and the rich/poor relationship. Twain also shows satire towards the end during Huck's (as Tom) conversation with Aunt Sally about the black man. When Aunt Sally asks if anyone was hurt in the steamboat accident, and Huck says no a black man was killed, she replies with "lucky." Huckleberry Finn is written a lot deeper, it is actually written without a lot of hidden satire that many people don't grasp.
Sources:
Dictionary.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2012.
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/satire>.
Simplexcellence. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.
i have to disagree with you because obviously you havent been on West High School cheerleading. 1) we dont use pom poms 2) we practice at least 3 days a week and all attend tumbling classes (so therefore we practice more than half of the week) and 3) our skirts are just as long as the field hockey or lacrosse team skirts. MOST, and im not saying all because maybe your team doesnt, but most allstar teamms wear uniforms wear their stomachs show and they are like spandex. my cousin is an all star cheerleader and ive seen/felt the material of her uniform so yeah i know what im talking about. i know that both all stars and high school cheerleading work very hard and are both very competitive and ANY kind of cheerleading is just as hard as the other. I mean our high school team has over half the team with standing tucks(and we dont use spring floors). so no high school cheerleading isnt exactly what you think it is, step in our shows and our mats before you can make a judgment.
ReplyDeleteI agreed with mostly everything you said. Cheeleading is often satirized in everything like books, movies, and tv shows. Cheerleaders are often portrayed as stupid non athletic girls and thats all cheerleaders. Even highschool cheerleaders dont get the respect they deserve. Highschool cheerleaders do get a bad rep becaus of what they have to do on the sidelines but thats not all they do. A lot of highschool teams work just as hard as allstar cheerleaders outside of game stuff. Highschool teams also compete in competitions just like allstar teams. These teams can be just as competative as allstar. And as for how dangerous it is cheerleading is dangerous all around just like any other sport it doesnt matter what level your on. No matter what cheerleaders will see themselves being satirized in everything but we have to learn to not take offense to it.
ReplyDeleteThis was not aimed at West. I know how hard your team works an hard the coaches push you. You guys are just as dedicated as allstar, but I know some schools aren't. West has a great team with high standards and I completely respect every single girl on JV and Varsity, sorry if any offense was taken.!
ReplyDeleteYour blog is very colorful. And I like your URL title...clever. We done have all star cheer leading at our small high school in Iowa..but we do have normal cheer leading.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kinsey, the bright colors are great and your title is funny. I have never been a cheerleader but even at our small school, cheerleaders are stereotyped and deal with a lot of satire. We don't take cheerleading to any extreme here, I mean we barely do stunts, but the girls still work hard. I totally agree that no cheerleader deserves to deal the satire that is associated with it. Are you a cheerleader or why did you pick that as your topic...just curious? Anyway loved the colors and links!
ReplyDeleteYes I am an allstar cheerleader, and have been for 13 years, but I do not cheer at my school.
DeleteI love that you have personalized your blog by added quite a bit of color to it! That definitely gets the readers attention right away and keeps it throughout reading the post. I agree that cheerleaders are like a magnet for satire. I have personally never been a cheerleader but at our school it seems like some of the girls are just out there to wear the uniform, not to cheer on the team. There is no reason a cheerleader should have to deal with all the stereotypes of being a ditzy high school cheerleader. You did a good job adding links to explain what Allstar Cheerleading is for those of us that didn't know.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree with your post. I am both a football and basketball cheerleader at our school, and we get accused of stealing people's things from the girl's locker room. In fact, last year we weren't even allowed to change in the locker room because of it. I thought that was really pathetic, because we found out who did it during football season, and they wouldn't let us during basketball either. I know how frustrating it is, also, when you're trying to get a crowd riled up and people don't respond, because they basically think it's unnecessary to have you there. "The cheers are boring, you guys aren't loud enough, there's no point in it, cheerleading isn't a sport". I've heard all these things and obviously it is over exaggerated, and there is juxtaposition and irony behind it too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the comments guys! I'm glad you liked the post and the blog! :)
ReplyDelete