"SOTY and some thoughts of race" no thanks.
I'm sure a bunch of people arrived at the same joke, but I created a "NOT MY SOTY" meme with a very deep sense of irony, more about the reaction from people flipping their lids over who gets a magazine trophy than any vague accusations of racism. If anything, there's a class element at play, but we have no vocabulary for a conversation about class in America so I won't even bother with that. But obviously, the people who were upset, were upset that the other black guy didn't win, so you know, it's not really particularly racist.
I thought the inclusion of that meme was an interesting choice by Pappalardo. I've also seen that image of facebook rednecks with the same "NOT MY SOTY" caption on twitter and IG stories, so the joke was repeated out of context. I understood the image in its original context to have meant, like you said, skaters who were upset by the choice due to the relatively new formula for SOTY, or old heads that are just pissed and care too much. The meme is also in the article, but doesn't seem like there's any explanation as for why its included. Usually when an image is in a piece of writing the author takes a paragraph or two to explain why the image is there.
some thoughts on the article:
The Griner/Bout swap should have had more context to relate to the article. I'm not familiar with this topic, and it would have helped the author's case to provide more context. Some of the claims had me asking "why, who". Same as the Iranian Hostage Crisis. I guess Pappalardo cut out some explanation in favor of brevity since this is about SOTY, but since he's writing with skaters (largely young and uneducated) as an audience that's sort of more reason to include background. The author is making assumptions and neglecting the audience therefore weakening their argument.
I understand the Art comparison in this way. Consider the artwork Kritios boy.This work of art was known for introducing contrapposto, a relaxed natural way of standing that isn't stiff and rigid. Similar statues previously had a rigid style, meaning they stood up straight and stiff. There are numerous examples that lead up to Kritios boy, but Kritios boy was innovative. It's like skating. There is the canon of tricks (illegal/legal). Skaters and skate consumers are connoisseurs( knowledge of what makes a good skater/video). There is a collective agreed upon taste (similar to artists working within the parameters of taste determined by time and location of production/consumption). Skateboarders skate and dress within reason according to this frame of collective understanding, and this performance allows a skater to assimilate into skate media/culture. If one doesn't conform to this taste they're a kook (richie jackson. pirate pants and circus tricks. in reality clothing and trick selection is superficial and meaningless without context or precedence, but within context and the shared frame of understanding it becomes ridiculous and kook shit but it can still be considered the act of skateboarding). Tl;dr art is understood through a shared lens of looking that has been created and understood through repetition. small changes can make a large impact like someone doing a kick flip but down 30 stairs instead of 20 that change this frame of understanding.
I guess the kids versus art students comparison was used to illustrate connoisseurship. of course students have knowledge of precedence, but I think the point he's making is that art, or in this case skateboarding, is as good as the grounds from which it arises? Why does the author not care about awards? They don't really say.
The main argument seems to be addressing accusations that Tyshawn is lazy, which is fair to consider race due to the stereotype that black people are lazy and don't know what they're doing so they need white guidance to do things "correctly". Colonizer ass mentality that extends to indigenous people in America, or anyone with melanin. reading comments here I feel like some of y'all would be the type to deny that micro aggressions exist or understand racism to be only overt actions and comments instead of institutionalized, subconscious, and learned behavior.
as pointed out though, the inclusion of the weck opinion sort of falls flat due to weck vouching for another black man although weck isn't above making racist/sexist comments and has a history of saying dumbass stuff for attention. also who gives a fuck what weck has to say, but I guess a lot of people do since he has a following unfortunately.
some quick thoughts with coffee this morning. i agree about the untapped market for educated skaters. that mostly skateboarding podcast with the Smithsonian employee was pretty good. Although she didn't skate, hearing her talk about skateboarding through a museum perspective was interesting. She also knew some terminology and seemed to know her shit lol cool she was stoked on Gonz too
Topic: THE RACE TO SOTY & SOME THOUGHTS ON RACE by Anthony Pappalardo (Read 11425 times)