August 16, 2024 • 40 mins
The 2000 coming-of-age rom-com Bring It On delivered memorable cheerleading routines, songs that can't be forgotten and iconic lines. SMNTY breaks out our spirit fingers and chats about cheerleading, athleticism, high school, and some problematic messaging.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Sandy and Samantha and welcome to Steffan.
I never told your prediction if I heard you.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And today for Tom in this movie Friday, we are
going to jump into a Sam's classic. Guess I'm titling
my own uh one. We've been talking about so with
all of the talks of competition, but the fact that
the Olympics has ended and the Paralympics I was about
to start, We're going to jump into bring it on
(00:39):
for this movie this month. And yes it's competitive. If
you've ever been in the world of cheerleading, which I have,
we were not good. I will say that, like I
would never place in any competitions ever. I barely could
get off the ground. My strengths were dancing, being loud,
and able to pick people up. I did injure my
back a lot because I've tossed a lot of people.
(01:00):
I was a base as they would call it, and
not a flyer. So I think by the time I left,
I went to a chiropractor in a very stressful job,
finished college, you know, went through a very stressful job,
went to a chiropractor. They're like, you're back, what happened?
And I was like yeah, They're like, do you do sports?
What did you do? And I was like, I did cheerleading.
He was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I'm guessing you were
(01:22):
the base because the way you are like, yeah, okay,
so it's leg like I got some injuries and if
you watch the competitive level, it's intense.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yes, yes, it is very intense.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I didn't want to ask you about your cheerleading experience
because I never did it.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yeah, so I was watching this like is this what it's.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Like because we are from a small town. I am
from a small town. We did not have male cheerleaders
at the time, and it was, even though in the movie,
is very looked down on. Also even more so when
you're in a small town and cheerleader, not a big
athletics as it could be. And of course the debate
(02:06):
still goes back to whether cheerleading is a sport. All
those conversations happen. What's funny is our my quarterback at
the time. Again, our football team was not good when
I was there. Apparently there was a better one later on,
but we were not we were good. But he went
on to become a cheerleader at UGA or University of
(02:28):
Georgia because Obviously he didn't make it as a football player,
but because of the intensity and the level of like
challenge and sportsmanship, he went into that instead and I
think he did pretty well until he left. But whatever.
But all that to say is, yes, it's intense. If
you're truly like doing it for competition levels, you can
(02:49):
get scholarships. Sometimes not a lot of it hasn't gotten international.
I don't know if you've been watching my TikTok, has
all of a sudden gotten like cheerleaders from South Korea,
which legitimately you see them putting on makeup or doing
something completely like they're so removed from whatever game it is,
(03:10):
and then all of a sudden they have a music
and they do like two step moves that are so
like trivial that you're like, what what is? It's quite funny.
And then you have things like the Texas cheerleaders. The
Cowboys were really really big and they did some big
performances and they had to go through the ringer to
audition and they get paid nothing, nothing. So it's kind
(03:33):
of like a whole thing. But all those controversies aside,
all those opinions aside, we're talking about bringing on which
I actually did a pretty good job in representing I
think like the depth of athleticism that needs to be involved.
I don't love their cheer routines. And this is when
I graduated high school, y'all, because I was like, this
is not this is not what this sounds like. That
(03:57):
is so goofy, and like like we had to sound
we have the person who had the deepest, loudest voice
was able to carry the squad. So that was the
difference that I'm like, Okay, they kind of do mock
the whole cheerleading portion a little bit too much, although
I think when the Clovers did it, they did a
better job in representing what it sounded like and like
(04:19):
what it should be sounding like. Personal opinion maybe, but anyway, Yes,
So we are talking about the original release of Bring
It On, which was in two thousand. It came out
in two thousand. We had this whole debate because apparently, yeah,
we're just bringing all my era of movie which are
now classics. So yes, twenty four years ago, and it
(04:40):
has had several sequels in additions to the series, all
apparently direct to video. I didn't know that. I was like, no,
that that kind of makes sense, and you'll see some
big names in there if you look for them. I
believe again, in total about six of them. I didn't
realize there that many. I thought there was Manbe too,
(05:01):
with a musical that was actually co written by Lynn Miranda,
so he was a part of this whole thing. So hey, hey,
I've never seen it. I've never heard clips of it.
So if you have, let us know. I want to
know about this. How did they translate this? Is it
like you know, stomp like? I would imagine it's something
along those lines, but who knows. So the movie was
(05:23):
directed by Peyton Read and written by Jessica Bendinger, who
also wrote an episode of Sex and the City. I
love this little trivias. She recently actually like asked for
the twentyth anniversary, wrote a book about it as well,
so she went on a little tour. I'm not sure
what's in that book, but something about along the lines
of like, after a certain amount of time, you can
release a script and that's your property, all these things.
(05:46):
So she decided to take the extra step and make
it a book, and I believe it's fairly successful, and I,
again I have not read it, So if you have,
let me know what's about. I have no idea. If
it's just the plot, I don't know. If it's like
a making of who knows. I guess I could research that.
I didn't go that far anyway, So let's jump into
the plot. I feel like we probably should put this caveat.
(06:08):
It is a two thousand movie, did not age really well.
There's a lot of parts you're like, what theF So
go ahead and put that in there. It is one
of those teenage comedies that were like highbrow, lowbrew both
I think all in one. And of course you have
Kirsten Dunce, who was the Queen at that point in time.
(06:30):
She was making some big movies, including like Virgin Suicides
and all of that, so you know we know who
Kirsten Dune is. So jumping into plot again, we have
an opener heard around the world probably what was so funny?
Annie is like, right as we were talking about we're
going to do this, I saw La called Touristas, who
(06:51):
is a podcast on our network, doing the entire your
chair number of the opener for UH for this movie,
And I was like what. Because they were talking about
the fact that it influenced so many people and once
you start hearing it, you can't stop in the middle
of it. So apparently again the role call introducing the
(07:12):
cheer squad of the Ranchocarne Toros so it was led
by a newly made captain, Torrens Shipman, played again by
Kirsten Duns. The Toros cheerleading squad has been the national
champion for six consecutive years and the pride of their school. Literally,
the joke is they come to see the cheer squad,
not the football team, who are the worst. With some
(07:33):
big goals in Dreams and her boyfriend who by the way,
just left for college and her friends Torrence, as eager
to prove herself as the new leader. Unfortunately, being a
bit too eager, her practice leads to the injury of
one of her squad members, which leaves an opening that
needs to be filled immediately. We are soon introduced to
a transfer student, Missy Patone, played by Eliza Dushku, who
(07:56):
is not really interested in cheerleading, but more so in gymnasia,
but because the school does not offer that as an option,
she has opted for cheerleading squad. After an intense audition,
she makes it on a trial basis. Here we insert
typical homophobic rant due to her being quote unquote different
because you know, prep school versus everything else. With Missy
(08:19):
being the newbie, the squad goes on with their their practices,
which angers Missy, who walks out only to be chased
by Torrents, causing a small conflict here that leads to
a road trip to East Compton to see the Clovers
do their routine. Here we discover that all the original
that'son quotes materials the Toros have been using are actually
(08:40):
stolen from East Compton Clovers, and as they leave, they
are confronted by the Clovers, led by Isis played by
Gabrielle Union, who is accompanied by the hip hop group
Black and if you know what I'm talking about you
if you know from Alana, if you know like you
love TLC and Black came through as they are kind
of like their protege. I believe Left Eye was the
(09:02):
one that formed this group, which is really unfortunate because
the rapper and the one with the most attitude in
the movie also died later on in Tragic Accident. There's
so many things of like, oh, that's so sad. But anyway,
all that to say, we do get to see them.
They do a great job. They have a great song,
bring it All to Me, Oh Baby, bring it all
(09:25):
to Me anyway, and all of that. So if you know,
you know. And during this confrontation, we learned that the
former leader, big Red, had been coming to watch record
and steal all of their materials, which Torrens knew nothing
about at the time. Also, we find out that at
the previous cheer camp, Torrance had dropped the spirit stick,
and this is legitimate. There's a spirit stick. I went
(09:46):
to cheer camp. We had spirits sticks. I don't remember
if we won one. I think we did. I think
we all got one anyway, which is very bad luck.
And she thinks all this misfortunes are due to that
bad luck. So that's something that's in the back of
her head. But moving on, we also meet Missy's brother,
Cliff played by Jesse Bradford swim fan. I think people
(10:07):
know that movie if you're from my era. Moving on,
who also is a bit different and is obviously very
interested in Torren's and she's not sad about that. She's
not sad about that. In fact, she does some flirting
on her own or as the other cheerleaders called it
cheer sex jeers. I I am during the cheers again,
(10:29):
that's not a thing anyway. But with all of that
and some really awkward sexual assault that turns into a
joke that I'm like, what the is happening to prove
that not all male cheerleaders are gay, I guess. Anyway,
we have a bit of a cheer off as a
few of the clovers come through and though they had
(10:51):
gone originally gone against Torrens's suggestion about changing up the routine,
since they found out they were all stolen. After another vote,
they all decide to change the routine. And also we
found here that he's cheating because you know, you see
the girl in the bed whatever. Again, with the advice
from Aaron, Torrence decides to bring in a professional Sparky Pilastrie.
(11:11):
Also cue sexy sexist car wash fundraisers scene here. Soon
after some fat shaming and chaming of looks, Sparky teaches
the meaning of spirit fingers. These aren't spirit fingers, these
any are spirit fingers. She welcome and yes, I actually
did have to do those as well. Still, probably one
(11:32):
of the best lines, which is they learned this new
routine and they take that to the regionals, but oh
Sparky has been busy and turns out has been selling
the same routine to different cheered squads, which is illegal
against the rules, but fortunately for the Toros, they by
default get to go to the Nationals. After a grow
(11:54):
up glow up scene because she doesn't change her looks
but her attitude for Torrence, she who now has some backbone,
dumps her boyfriend in a very dramatic way and uses
the influences around her cue a montage of like backdated
old moves they decided to research as some karate moves
(12:14):
here are swing dancing, and they come through with a
new routine. Of course, it also includes a song from
Cliff which he had made a mixtape for her of
his original songs there You Go. At the same time,
the Clovers have also made it to Nationals and is
looking to get funded to go and having some troubles.
There's a scene in which Torrance finds out. So Torrence
(12:37):
decides to give them the money, which is all of
the other conversation, and you know, Isa's calls her out
saying this is guilt money because y'all know you are
in the wrong and you know towards is like, no, no, no,
it's just that we want to compete again the best
against the best, and you're the best. Blah blah blah.
All that to say they turned that down. But in
the end, the Clovers are able to get some sponsorship
(12:58):
from a celebrity or an on air personality who is
I think supposed to be like an Oprah to sponsor
their trips. So yeah, they get to go. Soon we
have the face off between the two, both showing some
strong routines, but in the end, the Clovers are able
to take the championship home with the Toros in second place. Also, yes,
Cliff and Torrens get together. End of story, And yes
(13:22):
we do have you know, Gabrielle's age bring it to Torrens.
So there you go. That is the artistry of bringing
on the original Annie. What did you think of this
(13:45):
classic movie?
Speaker 3 (13:49):
I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
It was definitely for some reason, I thought I understood
what it would be and it was not what I
thought it was going to be.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I need to know what you thought it was going
to be.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
I thought, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I think because there's been so many sequels that I
did know about the sequels, and I also there's just
been a lot of talk about it because people love
it over the years. I just it was not quite
what I thought it was gonna be. I can't explain it,
but I did the songs I remember, especially my older
(14:27):
brother's name is Mickey, so you can imagine how that song.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Our household. But no, I liked it.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
I thought it was fun and I liked that they
got second place at the end. I enjoyed that. I
thought it was a It was really enjoyable, and it
didn't go where I thought it was going to go
in a good way.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
In a good way. Did you think that the Toros
would end up winning?
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, because I feel like if usually that's what happened.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, correct, Yes, yes, I think there's a lot of
conversation about, you know, is this a film that is
very problematic? How did they do well? Did they do
well and bring in black voices? Did they do well
in representing what it looked like? And I think they
did into a certain degree. I think in itself the
two thousands had a lot of privilege in there that
(15:26):
they really thought this type of attitude was okay. We
do have again, the toxic masculinity of the football players,
just going after the cheerleaders, specifically the male cheerleaders, and
one of them did, I think, allude to the fact
that he was gay. He seemed to have found his
match at the cheer competition, while the other was like
trying too hard to prove that he is straight. Also problematic.
(15:53):
But yeah, so I guess these are not necessarily themes
as much as like the environment. I don't know what
we're talking about, kind of talking about like high school,
and I know it can be a theme in that
there's so much when it comes to high school. And
a lot of these films that were successful at the
time were based on teenage life. A lot of these shows,
(16:14):
I guess they still are. I'm thinking about it, but
I guess I just don't pay attention as much. But
during that time, you know, classics like Bringing On were
making big hits. We've talked about ten Things I Hate
about You were making big hits at that time, really
bringing in like ideal of high school culture and how
real or unreal it is. We looked at things like
(16:37):
Wintree Hill, Dawson's Creek, all of those had that similar names. Buffy,
the Vampires, layer. It's the coming of age before college,
which I think is really really interesting because when they
hit college, it doesn't get the shows aren't successful. Yeah,
you think about it, Saved by the Bell, same thing.
They try to take it to college. It wasn't that
successful anyway. I don't know, Wow, that's on in my head.
(16:59):
But at high school, we have senior year, which is
the climactic year for every young person because a lot
of decisions.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Have to be made.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
It can make or break you. There's so many things
in the end that you're so overwhelmed by, whether it's
trying to get out of the house or wanting to
stay in the house, or figuring it out if you
have the money to get out of the house, what
you can do, how long you can go, who to trust,
who to go with, all of these things. So you
have all of that, but it's also the year that
you're the top. And this is kind of that level
(17:30):
of conversation to be at the top. What is your
senior year?
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Like I got the worst case of senior itis, and
I would never have believed I would have.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
I was a very.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Honors club like, I was very alays, you know, but
I got the worst case of senioritis, and I would
sit in my car in the parking lot and just
imagine and driving away and never coming back. And it
was bizarre, Like I don't know where it came from.
(18:06):
I think I just knew things were coming to an end,
that was gonna have to make these decisions. I didn't
feel because when you're a freshman, I remember feeling like
seniors are so cool. Yeah, I didn't feel that way.
I felt tired and like, just don't look at me.
(18:28):
This is so depressing. I mean, yeah, I was tired,
all right. I didn't I wanted it to be over,
but I also didn't know what else to do.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Right, I think for me, like I had big dreams
with big colleges, but realizing that my family didn't make
money like that, so I couldn't go to private colleges,
so working to get little scholarships here and there, knowing
that I was at the top. I wasn't the worst.
I think I was on the top twenty, but I
was just like not gonna get all of the good
good stuff, Like I was able to get Hope, which
(18:59):
my decade around my time with the Hope A scholarship
was just coming out and it was still had money.
And for those of you who don't know, in the
State of Georgia, Hope Scholarship is a grant for students
with a certain GPAH to get to go to college
and it usually covers most of the tuition for a
state in Georgia. In the State of Georgia, yeah, for
(19:20):
the state college in Georgia, And it started in nineteen
ninety three, and it was a huge, big deal. It
helps so many people, obviously, to get to college. It
has changed because so many people were able to get
that that they did not have enough money, which is
kind of odd because we sure have millions and millions
and millions and millions and dollars being spent in lottery
but whatever, and lots of money for the roadwork. To
be fair any it needs help. But all that to
(19:47):
say so, these were opportunities, and so for me it
was a lot of like looking at this and trying
to see what was realistic or really really really wanted
to be higher, like I'm all about that reputation. I
guess like I still probably have that feeling to look good.
And so going to a state college and not a
community college was important to me, which is really really
(20:08):
odd as like looking back, like an educations and educations
and education, like no one cares really unless you're doing
something real affluent in jobs. I was a social worker.
No one gave it as long as I had a
degree like then it didn't even have to be a
social work degree close close to you have any humanities great,
go for that anyway. But for some reason during that time,
(20:30):
I really needed to do this. I needed to be
like a part of the workforce. I had that whole
doing half the day where I went to work because
making money was important. My parents, as much as they
could provide for me, they couldn't provide everything for me.
I had to pay my own car. I had to
pay like all these things was all me going to college.
I was gonna pay for everything everything, like they weren't
(20:52):
covering anything. So I had to do make sure that
it was all that. But still really excited about leaving.
But I feel like senior year was all about establishing
the groundworks to leave, and so that had like the
clubs and going to work and saving up money and
doing these things, even though I didn't do a good
job of saving money in the end. But senior year
(21:13):
is a whole big deal, and so I think that's
why a lot of these movies focus on that. Obviously,
for Torrens, she was going to be captain, so it
was a big, big deal of a national champion. Again,
you can get good money in some of these things,
and if you go to school where they have chearing squads,
that will fund you. Big deal, a big deal. I
think it turns out that a lot of the smaller
(21:34):
schools do have better cheering squads. From what I gather,
I know a lot of like the smaller schools, not
the big big schools, but like accredited smaller schools do.
But well for band too, for band people who wont
due scholarship any you know about that life.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
That was not the case for us, but I believe
it's true. We had thirty members in our band, including
the color guard. And I will say once that made
me laugh in this is when they're coming up with
their routine one year in band. We did that because
(22:08):
normally you can like purchase a just it's basically like
a spreadsheet kind of thing, mutually complicated, but yeah, there's
x's and it shows you how to move and.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Anyway you can purchase that. But for some reason.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
My freshman year, one of the seniors designed it and
it was a mess. It was a mess. There was
one part where I believe we had to go thirty
yards and ten steps, so you're taking like the biggest
steps you've ever taken. Yeah, and there were brooms on
the field because it was a fantasia based so people
(22:43):
were tripping on the broom.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Was disastrous.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
And then he accidentally bought the music rights the band
music rights for can you Feel the Love Tonight? Fine song,
but when you're at like a football halftime show, all
of a sudden, we're playing like this slow.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
It's amazing. I will say for our school, I think
we probably were revolved. We didn't, but we should have
around our band because they were good. They did make
it to finals, and they did make it to Nationals,
and they did make it to like Ireland, like they
went there to do perform. They're invited to perform there.
So my niece shout out. She was a drum major
(23:24):
or I guess the field conductor, the lead of her
senior year, so she was the big deal and they
were intense. They came out they started practicing in like
July preseason and heat and kept going, so she was
vest I will say that. And they were good. Like
I said, they traveled. I know a lot of people
who Mississippi Jackson College pays a lot of money for
(23:47):
band members, so I think they're one of the higher
ranking ones. And it's not like a major major player
when it comes to like football or basketball, I'm gonna
yelled at but any of those things. But that was
a big deal. H So even though so much like
this movie, football would be what you think of when
you think of in high school sports, I think of
especially when you were thinking like Friday night lights or
(24:10):
in the South or any of these things. It was
a big deal. Our basketball team was okay. No one
really cared no offense, baseball, no one really cared, and
I think we had a pretty good baseball team. Softball team.
No one really cared, tennis, no one really cared cross country,
no one really cared. Football. They still paid attention to
even though we weren't that good, but they wanted to
(24:31):
be good, so they started to bring more people on.
But our band was always on it. So I feel
like that should have been the in there a movie.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Yes, yeah, yes, kind of like drumline.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Drum line that college that's a college version.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I thought, yes, but there's plenty because I've always thought
after yeah, band camp is the drama.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
The drama, there's a lot of drama. Yes, there is.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
My sister was in color guard, so she would tell
me things only all our hoes, I will say.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Our marching band in our defense was really we like
did go to competitions, and we did win sometimes, but
we were so tiny that that first year, the freshman
year was it.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
That was a mess.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
We never had someone do a student to the choreography again.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Never well, I mean we kind of talked about all
of these things, and of course, like friendships and frenemies,
I found out had frenemies. It's hard. Like the whole
uh like social setup of the cheer crew with the
two Whitney and Courtney.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Yeah who I.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Mean girls, but they loved each other and their sister
like I'll give them back.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Their sister there quite young really for doing this stay
basically when they're holding these tryouts, Courtney and Whitney, who
were on the other side of Torrents, who are always
of like trying to get power over the squad, like
it's definitely going.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
To be Jordan, who is Courtney's one of their younger sisters.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Yeah, and then Jordan comes out and she just looks
so young and she's just not that into it.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Yeah, but they want her to be in it, really
really really, yes, they but yeah, that was really funny.
But they have the friends. Obviously, Missy and Torrance became
very close friends. They had both I believe Hunter and
Nathan who were good friends, and they were like kind
of cheered them on. It was lovely to see boyfriend
(26:34):
drama as we saw him cheating immediately. I love the
fact that she was like giving him the you know,
the back, the back withou how he had treated her
very very condescendingly. But then the girl dumps them. She's like,
you're chere a cheerleader. Such a weird thing. But anyway,
(26:56):
but then we have obviously the competition for being the
captain and again Whitney and Courtney trying to vibe for
that and trying to take that role back, the fact
that Big Red came in very unhappy and didn't seem
she did anything wrong and her mistake was appointing towards
the leadership. She was very unhappy with that. Then we've
(27:25):
got the obviously cheerleading in general, the cheerleading is a sport.
We already kind of have this conversation. Did you ever
watch Cheer on Netflix, which is now marred and ruined
because of all of the accusations that came after the fact.
One dude was unfortunately he was like the underdog and
everybody loved him. And then it turns out that he
had been messaging young kids. And not only that, I
(27:49):
think he actually met up with a couple I can't remember.
He would a trial and it.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Was not good. Well, no, I did not see that.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Yeah, But anyway, but if you had watched that, I
have like a lot of reservations when it comes to
like watching things competitions like that. This specifically based in
Texas and based in like very rigid ideology, but it
was it was inspiring to see like the levels that
were trying to go to get to these points to
be able to cheer, to be able to be a
(28:18):
part of the sport. It is it's pretty rigorous if
they take it seriously on what you have to do
and how like morality is all of that that. Unfortunately,
morality can coincide with Christianity and a lot of these places,
so you know, but they didn't seem like because it
was obvious, and they did talk about the fact that
the LGBTQ community was a big part of this as well,
(28:39):
like not only yes, it's for both, but like it
has to be welcoming to the entirety of the marginalized
community or you're going to be missing a big chunk
of good competitors. So all of that it's interesting to watch,
and again the still conversation about whether or not it's
a sport. I was thinking about this, especially with the
Olympics because breaking just happened. There's a lot of controversy
(29:05):
within there, and I think we are going to talk
about it. We do want to talk about it. But
then wh I'm talking about gymnastics, and there's a lot
of controversy right now happening with a lot of the
things that happened. But I wondered if they could do
something like cheerleading, and I know that's not internationals, especially
to this competitive level, but making it into like a
team gymnastics sport, I think that would be interesting.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
I mean, like you said, Missy when she showed up,
that's what she was why she was auditioning for cheerleading
was she was a gymnast in this school didn't have gymnastics.
And then they're like, do all of these jumps and
tucks and whatever, and she just does them. Yeah, which
I was always impressed by when I would see people
(29:52):
do cheerleading, even in my high school. They would do
those like flips and like, wow, you just know how
to do okay.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
And I was in gymnastics.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Yeah, I did not know how to do those, and
I could knock get off the ground. So my little
dumpling legs stayed on those dumplings side. My jumps, even
though I'm flexible, I could not get off the ground
to do the jumps. My toe touches were sad. I
ended up in a squat like I would land in
a squat, Like why, but I mean I touched my toes.
(30:25):
But there's that. There were my favorite. They are the easiest.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
I have no idea what I'll show you one day.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
No I won't because but yeah, like that competition conversation,
who was involved, Whether it is emasculating, but if you
watch the level of skill that you have to do,
and it is a lot of dangerous things, a lot
of people get so hurt again, Like it hurt my
back and neck for a long long time because of
the amount of like people which my back, like I
(30:54):
would toss around. I tossed a lot of people around.
But that is that level of conversation. How how is
it a spored like when you see and it can't
it can be enjoyable because the whole idea is like
cheering people on and cheering the team on all these
things and then it being mocked. Uh and then you
see you again. I'm gonna have to send you this
video any of the Korean cheerleaders again being very baffled.
(31:18):
They there's almost like a countdown about how many moves
there were. They're like, oh, they have three different moves.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Okay, cool, like.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
But Korea doesn't really I don't know what their version
of cheer like this is. If this is their true
version of cheerleading. It's an interesting take.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Yes I haven't seen it, but that does sound interesting.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
I'm gonna send you a video. Okay, I'm gonna send
you a video. And then, of course we can't go
off on this without talking about the racism that's not
really addressed, that's implied obviously, like you have the Clovers,
who are very diverse, and I saw that, like the
it wasn't just like an all black team or all
black and Latino team. It was a very diverse team
(32:02):
that had white people, Latina people, Asian people, and black
people in that mix. While you have the one Asian
person with the rest of the white people of the
Toros who have the funding, who drive the large jeeps,
who live in like the Posh area, and there's not
really conversation in that. We know that Clovers have never
(32:23):
gone to the Nationals, not because they couldn't make it,
but because they couldn't afford it, like they and then
their school did not see that as a benefit either.
They did not highlight even though they knew they were
one of the best in the cruise and when they watched,
they watched, But the school itself did not help fund
the trips, which is a conversation in itself, and we
(32:44):
see that a lot, like I think that's that whole
level when it comes to regions, in schools and districts
and the way they draw lines and who goes where
and who can afford what is very very very apparent. Again,
this is a two thousand film. Which does not address that.
It kind of implies that and you see it, but
(33:04):
then you move on and like the real world, like, yeah,
the best team should win in the in this case scenario,
the best team did win. However, is that the reality?
The fact that they were defaulted in immediately into the
Nationals because it had won the year before is odd
to me. I don't know if that's an actual rule.
So if those who have are part of this world
know this, tell me, or if that was just for
(33:25):
the plot line, Like that just seemed odd.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yeah, yeah, and I did see, like I saw. One
thing I noticed is that the touro's there, the letters
it's almost spills out rich Oh really yeah on their
cheering outfit it's.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
R oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Yeah yeah, And I did.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
I read a lot about it in terms of, you know,
the whole thing is kind of kickstarted by this largely
white team has been stealing routines largely non white team
right to win and get this reputation all of this time,
and then having those moments around yes, Torren's trying to
(34:09):
pay for them to go because she feels guilty and
wants to make it right, and then being like no,
we're good we don't need to just a lot of
like you said, it's not ever directly addressed, but it
is nice. It's there, right, it's definitely there underlying.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Well, I mean, we can talk about that because we've
seen this in content creation. We've talked about when it
comes to like the dance routines. We've talked about this,
especially with music, like when we talk about K pop
specifically because I'm in that world, but we talk about
like who they are stealing from, and then the definition
of cultural appropriation versus appreciation, and that's rare, and then
outright stealing Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, like they're at the
(34:51):
forefront of making so much money from stealing from other
other creators, and oftentimes it is marginalized people that they're
stealing from. And then they and I know that both
of them are people of color technically, but they're white
passing and have been able to kind of just bypass
(35:12):
all of that conversation until it's good for them, which
is that other conversation that we often talk about and
it's not addressed enough. But yeah, in this one specifically,
we're talking about I don't feel like there was any
there wasn't. There was no like justice serve, there was
no like retribution, There was no payback for the stealing,
(35:35):
the years and years and years of stealing. We kind
of see Red as a villain and she is, don't
get me wrong, and Aaron, but the rest of the
crew being okay with it for so long and still
don't care until they get called out. It's kind of like,
oh and then no one ever actually acknowledges it again,
I'll fix yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
But at first, like I was confused at first because
I thought like, oh, this Pulaski Polastri guy has been
doing this for years, and so I thought it was
like him and that he finally just got caught, like
he was stealing or whatever and teaching all these other people,
(36:22):
and then it was read. But yeah, I mean, yeah,
that's that is a huge conversation and continues to be
one of who's getting the credit for these ideas, who's
getting the awards, who's getting the money all those things?
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Well, and also so in the world of competitive cheerleading,
from what I remember, it's just like gymnastics trying to
create new moves in order to show like new advancement
or new tricks. And being able to show like these
skills that are different. Things like the liberty, which is
when you stand up with one knee up with someone
(37:00):
holding your one foot, like was really new. But they
have those rules where if you're underneath and pushing someone
up from below they're directly above you, that's actually illegal
because if they fall, they will break your neck. So
you have to have fee them in front of you.
So all these different rules and because of some of
these dangerous moves, they have to be really really creative
(37:21):
and what they do a lot of the basket tosses,
turns and flips up in the air that was in
the last twenty years, Like honestly, like the flips and
turns were newer, and it showed a lot of like
athleticism and strength that was new from just doing a cartwheel,
you know, so that they were trying a lot of
new stuff and with that being able to be that
creative and create your own routine on like the taking
(37:45):
a pyramid where people were just on their knees to
an actual like standing like bactuck up into a pyramid
was brand new for the longest time, and so creating
these things, you know, kind of like the fact that
Simone Biles has a move named after her now, but
she created this is a big deal. So having the
being the first ones to do this is such a
(38:05):
big thing and a maker within like cheerleading more. I
guess uh that it is. It is upsetting to see,
like on a serious note, upsetting to see this and like,
I'm sure it happens often. I'm sure it happens often.
You know. There's a lot of times when I remember
we would see something that a competitor did or the
(38:28):
other team dated. We're like, ooh, we like that. We're
going to take that, you know what I'm saying. Sharing
is one thing and learning is one thing, but to
steal and take credit for it again. This is that
conversation and the fact that they never really acknowledged it,
even Torrance never publicly really acknowledged it. They're just like, oh,
how bad didn't know m And literally was like, oh
(38:52):
I didn't know. And I says like, well, now you
do fix it. I kind of don't, but there you go.
And that is bring it on all of this political spectrum.
I'm not really sure what the rest of them films
were like. So Hayden Pantier Solange Noles Bring It All
(39:12):
or Nothing two thousand and six, it did not rate well.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Now I went on this rabbit hole yesterday and I
feel like none of them, none of the other ones
did well.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Hey, but that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
There was a new one in two thousand and nine,
Fight to the Finish, and this one had Christina Milion,
So that's a whole different conversation. I love that they
bring in some R and B accent to this. Anyway,
there you go. So if y'all have seen these other movies,
let us know, does it go down this theme route
Arthur Routines.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
Has good Yeah, let us know.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
And if you've been involved in cheerleading, if you have
any thoughts about any of this, please let us know.
You can email us a step nee mom stuff atiheartmedia
dot com. You can find us on Twitter at Mom's
of Podcasts or in instacrament TikTok at stuff w never
told you We're on YouTube. We have a teat public store,
and we have a book you can get wherever you
get your book. Thanks is always to our super producer Christina,
(40:11):
executive producer My and your contributor Joey. Thank you and
thanks to you for listening stuff on Never Told You
Is Prediction by heart Idio. For more podcasts from my
heart Radio, you can check out the iHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hey, this is Sandy and Samantha and welcome to Steffan.
I never told your prediction if I heard you.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
And today for Tom in this movie Friday, we are
going to jump into a Sam's classic. Guess I'm titling
my own uh one. We've been talking about so with
all of the talks of competition, but the fact that
the Olympics has ended and the Paralympics I was about
to start, We're going to jump into bring it on
(00:39):
for this movie this month. And yes it's competitive. If
you've ever been in the world of cheerleading, which I have,
we were not good. I will say that, like I
would never place in any competitions ever. I barely could
get off the ground. My strengths were dancing, being loud,
and able to pick people up. I did injure my
back a lot because I've tossed a lot of people.
(01:00):
I was a base as they would call it, and
not a flyer. So I think by the time I left,
I went to a chiropractor in a very stressful job,
finished college, you know, went through a very stressful job,
went to a chiropractor. They're like, you're back, what happened?
And I was like yeah, They're like, do you do sports?
What did you do? And I was like, I did cheerleading.
He was like, oh, yeah, yeah, I'm guessing you were
(01:22):
the base because the way you are like, yeah, okay,
so it's leg like I got some injuries and if
you watch the competitive level, it's intense.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yes, yes, it is very intense.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I didn't want to ask you about your cheerleading experience
because I never did it.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yeah, so I was watching this like is this what it's.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Like because we are from a small town. I am
from a small town. We did not have male cheerleaders
at the time, and it was, even though in the movie,
is very looked down on. Also even more so when
you're in a small town and cheerleader, not a big
athletics as it could be. And of course the debate
(02:06):
still goes back to whether cheerleading is a sport. All
those conversations happen. What's funny is our my quarterback at
the time. Again, our football team was not good when
I was there. Apparently there was a better one later on,
but we were not we were good. But he went
on to become a cheerleader at UGA or University of
(02:28):
Georgia because Obviously he didn't make it as a football player,
but because of the intensity and the level of like
challenge and sportsmanship, he went into that instead and I
think he did pretty well until he left. But whatever.
But all that to say is, yes, it's intense. If
you're truly like doing it for competition levels, you can
(02:49):
get scholarships. Sometimes not a lot of it hasn't gotten international.
I don't know if you've been watching my TikTok, has
all of a sudden gotten like cheerleaders from South Korea,
which legitimately you see them putting on makeup or doing
something completely like they're so removed from whatever game it is,
(03:10):
and then all of a sudden they have a music
and they do like two step moves that are so
like trivial that you're like, what what is? It's quite funny.
And then you have things like the Texas cheerleaders. The
Cowboys were really really big and they did some big
performances and they had to go through the ringer to
audition and they get paid nothing, nothing. So it's kind
(03:33):
of like a whole thing. But all those controversies aside,
all those opinions aside, we're talking about bringing on which
I actually did a pretty good job in representing I
think like the depth of athleticism that needs to be involved.
I don't love their cheer routines. And this is when
I graduated high school, y'all, because I was like, this
is not this is not what this sounds like. That
(03:57):
is so goofy, and like like we had to sound
we have the person who had the deepest, loudest voice
was able to carry the squad. So that was the
difference that I'm like, Okay, they kind of do mock
the whole cheerleading portion a little bit too much, although
I think when the Clovers did it, they did a
better job in representing what it sounded like and like
(04:19):
what it should be sounding like. Personal opinion maybe, but anyway, Yes,
So we are talking about the original release of Bring
It On, which was in two thousand. It came out
in two thousand. We had this whole debate because apparently, yeah,
we're just bringing all my era of movie which are
now classics. So yes, twenty four years ago, and it
(04:40):
has had several sequels in additions to the series, all
apparently direct to video. I didn't know that. I was like, no,
that that kind of makes sense, and you'll see some
big names in there if you look for them. I
believe again, in total about six of them. I didn't
realize there that many. I thought there was Manbe too,
(05:01):
with a musical that was actually co written by Lynn Miranda,
so he was a part of this whole thing. So hey, hey,
I've never seen it. I've never heard clips of it.
So if you have, let us know. I want to
know about this. How did they translate this? Is it
like you know, stomp like? I would imagine it's something
along those lines, but who knows. So the movie was
(05:23):
directed by Peyton Read and written by Jessica Bendinger, who
also wrote an episode of Sex and the City. I
love this little trivias. She recently actually like asked for
the twentyth anniversary, wrote a book about it as well,
so she went on a little tour. I'm not sure
what's in that book, but something about along the lines
of like, after a certain amount of time, you can
release a script and that's your property, all these things.
(05:46):
So she decided to take the extra step and make
it a book, and I believe it's fairly successful, and I,
again I have not read it, So if you have,
let me know what's about. I have no idea. If
it's just the plot, I don't know. If it's like
a making of who knows. I guess I could research that.
I didn't go that far anyway, So let's jump into
the plot. I feel like we probably should put this caveat.
(06:08):
It is a two thousand movie, did not age really well.
There's a lot of parts you're like, what theF So
go ahead and put that in there. It is one
of those teenage comedies that were like highbrow, lowbrew both
I think all in one. And of course you have
Kirsten Dunce, who was the Queen at that point in time.
(06:30):
She was making some big movies, including like Virgin Suicides
and all of that, so you know we know who
Kirsten Dune is. So jumping into plot again, we have
an opener heard around the world probably what was so funny?
Annie is like, right as we were talking about we're
going to do this, I saw La called Touristas, who
(06:51):
is a podcast on our network, doing the entire your
chair number of the opener for UH for this movie,
And I was like what. Because they were talking about
the fact that it influenced so many people and once
you start hearing it, you can't stop in the middle
of it. So apparently again the role call introducing the
(07:12):
cheer squad of the Ranchocarne Toros so it was led
by a newly made captain, Torrens Shipman, played again by
Kirsten Duns. The Toros cheerleading squad has been the national
champion for six consecutive years and the pride of their school. Literally,
the joke is they come to see the cheer squad,
not the football team, who are the worst. With some
(07:33):
big goals in Dreams and her boyfriend who by the way,
just left for college and her friends Torrence, as eager
to prove herself as the new leader. Unfortunately, being a
bit too eager, her practice leads to the injury of
one of her squad members, which leaves an opening that
needs to be filled immediately. We are soon introduced to
a transfer student, Missy Patone, played by Eliza Dushku, who
(07:56):
is not really interested in cheerleading, but more so in gymnasia,
but because the school does not offer that as an option,
she has opted for cheerleading squad. After an intense audition,
she makes it on a trial basis. Here we insert
typical homophobic rant due to her being quote unquote different
because you know, prep school versus everything else. With Missy
(08:19):
being the newbie, the squad goes on with their their practices,
which angers Missy, who walks out only to be chased
by Torrents, causing a small conflict here that leads to
a road trip to East Compton to see the Clovers
do their routine. Here we discover that all the original
that'son quotes materials the Toros have been using are actually
(08:40):
stolen from East Compton Clovers, and as they leave, they
are confronted by the Clovers, led by Isis played by
Gabrielle Union, who is accompanied by the hip hop group
Black and if you know what I'm talking about you
if you know from Alana, if you know like you
love TLC and Black came through as they are kind
of like their protege. I believe Left Eye was the
(09:02):
one that formed this group, which is really unfortunate because
the rapper and the one with the most attitude in
the movie also died later on in Tragic Accident. There's
so many things of like, oh, that's so sad. But anyway,
all that to say, we do get to see them.
They do a great job. They have a great song,
bring it All to Me, Oh Baby, bring it all
(09:25):
to Me anyway, and all of that. So if you know,
you know. And during this confrontation, we learned that the
former leader, big Red, had been coming to watch record
and steal all of their materials, which Torrens knew nothing
about at the time. Also, we find out that at
the previous cheer camp, Torrance had dropped the spirit stick,
and this is legitimate. There's a spirit stick. I went
(09:46):
to cheer camp. We had spirits sticks. I don't remember
if we won one. I think we did. I think
we all got one anyway, which is very bad luck.
And she thinks all this misfortunes are due to that
bad luck. So that's something that's in the back of
her head. But moving on, we also meet Missy's brother,
Cliff played by Jesse Bradford swim fan. I think people
(10:07):
know that movie if you're from my era. Moving on,
who also is a bit different and is obviously very
interested in Torren's and she's not sad about that. She's
not sad about that. In fact, she does some flirting
on her own or as the other cheerleaders called it
cheer sex jeers. I I am during the cheers again,
(10:29):
that's not a thing anyway. But with all of that
and some really awkward sexual assault that turns into a
joke that I'm like, what the is happening to prove
that not all male cheerleaders are gay, I guess. Anyway,
we have a bit of a cheer off as a
few of the clovers come through and though they had
(10:51):
gone originally gone against Torrens's suggestion about changing up the routine,
since they found out they were all stolen. After another vote,
they all decide to change the routine. And also we
found here that he's cheating because you know, you see
the girl in the bed whatever. Again, with the advice
from Aaron, Torrence decides to bring in a professional Sparky Pilastrie.
(11:11):
Also cue sexy sexist car wash fundraisers scene here. Soon
after some fat shaming and chaming of looks, Sparky teaches
the meaning of spirit fingers. These aren't spirit fingers, these
any are spirit fingers. She welcome and yes, I actually
did have to do those as well. Still, probably one
(11:32):
of the best lines, which is they learned this new
routine and they take that to the regionals, but oh
Sparky has been busy and turns out has been selling
the same routine to different cheered squads, which is illegal
against the rules, but fortunately for the Toros, they by
default get to go to the Nationals. After a grow
(11:54):
up glow up scene because she doesn't change her looks
but her attitude for Torrence, she who now has some backbone,
dumps her boyfriend in a very dramatic way and uses
the influences around her cue a montage of like backdated
old moves they decided to research as some karate moves
(12:14):
here are swing dancing, and they come through with a
new routine. Of course, it also includes a song from
Cliff which he had made a mixtape for her of
his original songs there You Go. At the same time,
the Clovers have also made it to Nationals and is
looking to get funded to go and having some troubles.
There's a scene in which Torrance finds out. So Torrence
(12:37):
decides to give them the money, which is all of
the other conversation, and you know, Isa's calls her out
saying this is guilt money because y'all know you are
in the wrong and you know towards is like, no, no, no,
it's just that we want to compete again the best
against the best, and you're the best. Blah blah blah.
All that to say they turned that down. But in
the end, the Clovers are able to get some sponsorship
(12:58):
from a celebrity or an on air personality who is
I think supposed to be like an Oprah to sponsor
their trips. So yeah, they get to go. Soon we
have the face off between the two, both showing some
strong routines, but in the end, the Clovers are able
to take the championship home with the Toros in second place. Also, yes,
Cliff and Torrens get together. End of story, And yes
(13:22):
we do have you know, Gabrielle's age bring it to Torrens.
So there you go. That is the artistry of bringing
on the original Annie. What did you think of this
(13:45):
classic movie?
Speaker 3 (13:49):
I really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
It was definitely for some reason, I thought I understood
what it would be and it was not what I
thought it was going to be.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I need to know what you thought it was going
to be.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
I thought, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
I think because there's been so many sequels that I
did know about the sequels, and I also there's just
been a lot of talk about it because people love
it over the years. I just it was not quite
what I thought it was gonna be. I can't explain it,
but I did the songs I remember, especially my older
(14:27):
brother's name is Mickey, so you can imagine how that song.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Our household. But no, I liked it.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
I thought it was fun and I liked that they
got second place at the end. I enjoyed that. I
thought it was a It was really enjoyable, and it
didn't go where I thought it was going to go
in a good way.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
In a good way. Did you think that the Toros
would end up winning?
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yeah, because I feel like if usually that's what happened.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, correct, Yes, yes, I think there's a lot of
conversation about, you know, is this a film that is
very problematic? How did they do well? Did they do
well and bring in black voices? Did they do well
in representing what it looked like? And I think they
did into a certain degree. I think in itself the
two thousands had a lot of privilege in there that
(15:26):
they really thought this type of attitude was okay. We
do have again, the toxic masculinity of the football players,
just going after the cheerleaders, specifically the male cheerleaders, and
one of them did, I think, allude to the fact
that he was gay. He seemed to have found his
match at the cheer competition, while the other was like
trying too hard to prove that he is straight. Also problematic.
(15:53):
But yeah, so I guess these are not necessarily themes
as much as like the environment. I don't know what
we're talking about, kind of talking about like high school,
and I know it can be a theme in that
there's so much when it comes to high school. And
a lot of these films that were successful at the
time were based on teenage life. A lot of these shows,
(16:14):
I guess they still are. I'm thinking about it, but
I guess I just don't pay attention as much. But
during that time, you know, classics like Bringing On were
making big hits. We've talked about ten Things I Hate
about You were making big hits at that time, really
bringing in like ideal of high school culture and how
real or unreal it is. We looked at things like
(16:37):
Wintree Hill, Dawson's Creek, all of those had that similar names. Buffy,
the Vampires, layer. It's the coming of age before college,
which I think is really really interesting because when they
hit college, it doesn't get the shows aren't successful. Yeah,
you think about it, Saved by the Bell, same thing.
They try to take it to college. It wasn't that
successful anyway. I don't know, Wow, that's on in my head.
(16:59):
But at high school, we have senior year, which is
the climactic year for every young person because a lot
of decisions.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Have to be made.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
It can make or break you. There's so many things
in the end that you're so overwhelmed by, whether it's
trying to get out of the house or wanting to
stay in the house, or figuring it out if you
have the money to get out of the house, what
you can do, how long you can go, who to trust,
who to go with, all of these things. So you
have all of that, but it's also the year that
you're the top. And this is kind of that level
(17:30):
of conversation to be at the top. What is your
senior year?
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Like I got the worst case of senior itis, and
I would never have believed I would have.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
I was a very.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Honors club like, I was very alays, you know, but
I got the worst case of senioritis, and I would
sit in my car in the parking lot and just
imagine and driving away and never coming back. And it
was bizarre, Like I don't know where it came from.
(18:06):
I think I just knew things were coming to an end,
that was gonna have to make these decisions. I didn't
feel because when you're a freshman, I remember feeling like
seniors are so cool. Yeah, I didn't feel that way.
I felt tired and like, just don't look at me.
(18:28):
This is so depressing. I mean, yeah, I was tired,
all right. I didn't I wanted it to be over,
but I also didn't know what else to do.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Right, I think for me, like I had big dreams
with big colleges, but realizing that my family didn't make
money like that, so I couldn't go to private colleges,
so working to get little scholarships here and there, knowing
that I was at the top. I wasn't the worst.
I think I was on the top twenty, but I
was just like not gonna get all of the good
good stuff, Like I was able to get Hope, which
(18:59):
my decade around my time with the Hope A scholarship
was just coming out and it was still had money.
And for those of you who don't know, in the
State of Georgia, Hope Scholarship is a grant for students
with a certain GPAH to get to go to college
and it usually covers most of the tuition for a
state in Georgia. In the State of Georgia, yeah, for
(19:20):
the state college in Georgia, And it started in nineteen
ninety three, and it was a huge, big deal. It
helps so many people, obviously, to get to college. It
has changed because so many people were able to get
that that they did not have enough money, which is
kind of odd because we sure have millions and millions
and millions and millions and dollars being spent in lottery
but whatever, and lots of money for the roadwork. To
be fair any it needs help. But all that to
(19:47):
say so, these were opportunities, and so for me it
was a lot of like looking at this and trying
to see what was realistic or really really really wanted
to be higher, like I'm all about that reputation. I
guess like I still probably have that feeling to look good.
And so going to a state college and not a
community college was important to me, which is really really
(20:08):
odd as like looking back, like an educations and educations
and education, like no one cares really unless you're doing
something real affluent in jobs. I was a social worker.
No one gave it as long as I had a
degree like then it didn't even have to be a
social work degree close close to you have any humanities great,
go for that anyway. But for some reason during that time,
(20:30):
I really needed to do this. I needed to be
like a part of the workforce. I had that whole
doing half the day where I went to work because
making money was important. My parents, as much as they
could provide for me, they couldn't provide everything for me.
I had to pay my own car. I had to
pay like all these things was all me going to college.
I was gonna pay for everything everything, like they weren't
(20:52):
covering anything. So I had to do make sure that
it was all that. But still really excited about leaving.
But I feel like senior year was all about establishing
the groundworks to leave, and so that had like the
clubs and going to work and saving up money and
doing these things, even though I didn't do a good
job of saving money in the end. But senior year
(21:13):
is a whole big deal, and so I think that's
why a lot of these movies focus on that. Obviously,
for Torrens, she was going to be captain, so it
was a big, big deal of a national champion. Again,
you can get good money in some of these things,
and if you go to school where they have chearing squads,
that will fund you. Big deal, a big deal. I
think it turns out that a lot of the smaller
(21:34):
schools do have better cheering squads. From what I gather,
I know a lot of like the smaller schools, not
the big big schools, but like accredited smaller schools do.
But well for band too, for band people who wont
due scholarship any you know about that life.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
That was not the case for us, but I believe
it's true. We had thirty members in our band, including
the color guard. And I will say once that made
me laugh in this is when they're coming up with
their routine one year in band. We did that because
(22:08):
normally you can like purchase a just it's basically like
a spreadsheet kind of thing, mutually complicated, but yeah, there's
x's and it shows you how to move and.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Anyway you can purchase that. But for some reason.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
My freshman year, one of the seniors designed it and
it was a mess. It was a mess. There was
one part where I believe we had to go thirty
yards and ten steps, so you're taking like the biggest
steps you've ever taken. Yeah, and there were brooms on
the field because it was a fantasia based so people
(22:43):
were tripping on the broom.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Was disastrous.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
And then he accidentally bought the music rights the band
music rights for can you Feel the Love Tonight? Fine song,
but when you're at like a football halftime show, all
of a sudden, we're playing like this slow.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
It's amazing. I will say for our school, I think
we probably were revolved. We didn't, but we should have
around our band because they were good. They did make
it to finals, and they did make it to Nationals,
and they did make it to like Ireland, like they
went there to do perform. They're invited to perform there.
So my niece shout out. She was a drum major
(23:24):
or I guess the field conductor, the lead of her
senior year, so she was the big deal and they
were intense. They came out they started practicing in like
July preseason and heat and kept going, so she was
vest I will say that. And they were good. Like
I said, they traveled. I know a lot of people
who Mississippi Jackson College pays a lot of money for
(23:47):
band members, so I think they're one of the higher
ranking ones. And it's not like a major major player
when it comes to like football or basketball, I'm gonna
yelled at but any of those things. But that was
a big deal. H So even though so much like
this movie, football would be what you think of when
you think of in high school sports, I think of
especially when you were thinking like Friday night lights or
(24:10):
in the South or any of these things. It was
a big deal. Our basketball team was okay. No one
really cared no offense, baseball, no one really cared, and
I think we had a pretty good baseball team. Softball team.
No one really cared, tennis, no one really cared cross country,
no one really cared. Football. They still paid attention to
even though we weren't that good, but they wanted to
(24:31):
be good, so they started to bring more people on.
But our band was always on it. So I feel
like that should have been the in there a movie.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Yes, yeah, yes, kind of like drumline.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Drum line that college that's a college version.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I thought, yes, but there's plenty because I've always thought
after yeah, band camp is the drama.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
The drama, there's a lot of drama. Yes, there is.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
My sister was in color guard, so she would tell
me things only all our hoes, I will say.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Our marching band in our defense was really we like
did go to competitions, and we did win sometimes, but
we were so tiny that that first year, the freshman
year was it.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
That was a mess.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
We never had someone do a student to the choreography again.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Never well, I mean we kind of talked about all
of these things, and of course, like friendships and frenemies,
I found out had frenemies. It's hard. Like the whole
uh like social setup of the cheer crew with the
two Whitney and Courtney.
Speaker 3 (25:42):
Yeah who I.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Mean girls, but they loved each other and their sister
like I'll give them back.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Their sister there quite young really for doing this stay
basically when they're holding these tryouts, Courtney and Whitney, who
were on the other side of Torrents, who are always
of like trying to get power over the squad, like
it's definitely going.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
To be Jordan, who is Courtney's one of their younger sisters.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Yeah, and then Jordan comes out and she just looks
so young and she's just not that into it.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Yeah, but they want her to be in it, really
really really, yes, they but yeah, that was really funny.
But they have the friends. Obviously, Missy and Torrance became
very close friends. They had both I believe Hunter and
Nathan who were good friends, and they were like kind
of cheered them on. It was lovely to see boyfriend
(26:34):
drama as we saw him cheating immediately. I love the
fact that she was like giving him the you know,
the back, the back withou how he had treated her
very very condescendingly. But then the girl dumps them. She's like,
you're chere a cheerleader. Such a weird thing. But anyway,
(26:56):
but then we have obviously the competition for being the
captain and again Whitney and Courtney trying to vibe for
that and trying to take that role back, the fact
that Big Red came in very unhappy and didn't seem
she did anything wrong and her mistake was appointing towards
the leadership. She was very unhappy with that. Then we've
(27:25):
got the obviously cheerleading in general, the cheerleading is a sport.
We already kind of have this conversation. Did you ever
watch Cheer on Netflix, which is now marred and ruined
because of all of the accusations that came after the fact.
One dude was unfortunately he was like the underdog and
everybody loved him. And then it turns out that he
had been messaging young kids. And not only that, I
(27:49):
think he actually met up with a couple I can't remember.
He would a trial and it.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
Was not good. Well, no, I did not see that.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Yeah, But anyway, but if you had watched that, I
have like a lot of reservations when it comes to
like watching things competitions like that. This specifically based in
Texas and based in like very rigid ideology, but it
was it was inspiring to see like the levels that
were trying to go to get to these points to
be able to cheer, to be able to be a
(28:18):
part of the sport. It is it's pretty rigorous if
they take it seriously on what you have to do
and how like morality is all of that that. Unfortunately,
morality can coincide with Christianity and a lot of these places,
so you know, but they didn't seem like because it
was obvious, and they did talk about the fact that
the LGBTQ community was a big part of this as well,
(28:39):
like not only yes, it's for both, but like it
has to be welcoming to the entirety of the marginalized
community or you're going to be missing a big chunk
of good competitors. So all of that it's interesting to watch,
and again the still conversation about whether or not it's
a sport. I was thinking about this, especially with the
Olympics because breaking just happened. There's a lot of controversy
(29:05):
within there, and I think we are going to talk
about it. We do want to talk about it. But
then wh I'm talking about gymnastics, and there's a lot
of controversy right now happening with a lot of the
things that happened. But I wondered if they could do
something like cheerleading, and I know that's not internationals, especially
to this competitive level, but making it into like a
team gymnastics sport, I think that would be interesting.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:29):
I mean, like you said, Missy when she showed up,
that's what she was why she was auditioning for cheerleading
was she was a gymnast in this school didn't have gymnastics.
And then they're like, do all of these jumps and
tucks and whatever, and she just does them. Yeah, which
I was always impressed by when I would see people
(29:52):
do cheerleading, even in my high school. They would do
those like flips and like, wow, you just know how
to do okay.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
And I was in gymnastics.
Speaker 2 (30:02):
Yeah, I did not know how to do those, and
I could knock get off the ground. So my little
dumpling legs stayed on those dumplings side. My jumps, even
though I'm flexible, I could not get off the ground
to do the jumps. My toe touches were sad. I
ended up in a squat like I would land in
a squat, Like why, but I mean I touched my toes.
(30:25):
But there's that. There were my favorite. They are the easiest.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
I have no idea what I'll show you one day.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
No I won't because but yeah, like that competition conversation,
who was involved, Whether it is emasculating, but if you
watch the level of skill that you have to do,
and it is a lot of dangerous things, a lot
of people get so hurt again, Like it hurt my
back and neck for a long long time because of
the amount of like people which my back, like I
(30:54):
would toss around. I tossed a lot of people around.
But that is that level of conversation. How how is
it a spored like when you see and it can't
it can be enjoyable because the whole idea is like
cheering people on and cheering the team on all these
things and then it being mocked. Uh and then you
see you again. I'm gonna have to send you this
video any of the Korean cheerleaders again being very baffled.
(31:18):
They there's almost like a countdown about how many moves
there were. They're like, oh, they have three different moves.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Okay, cool, like.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
But Korea doesn't really I don't know what their version
of cheer like this is. If this is their true
version of cheerleading. It's an interesting take.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
Yes I haven't seen it, but that does sound interesting.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
I'm gonna send you a video. Okay, I'm gonna send
you a video. And then, of course we can't go
off on this without talking about the racism that's not
really addressed, that's implied obviously, like you have the Clovers,
who are very diverse, and I saw that, like the
it wasn't just like an all black team or all
black and Latino team. It was a very diverse team
(32:02):
that had white people, Latina people, Asian people, and black
people in that mix. While you have the one Asian
person with the rest of the white people of the
Toros who have the funding, who drive the large jeeps,
who live in like the Posh area, and there's not
really conversation in that. We know that Clovers have never
(32:23):
gone to the Nationals, not because they couldn't make it,
but because they couldn't afford it, like they and then
their school did not see that as a benefit either.
They did not highlight even though they knew they were
one of the best in the cruise and when they watched,
they watched, But the school itself did not help fund
the trips, which is a conversation in itself, and we
(32:44):
see that a lot, like I think that's that whole
level when it comes to regions, in schools and districts
and the way they draw lines and who goes where
and who can afford what is very very very apparent. Again,
this is a two thousand film. Which does not address that.
It kind of implies that and you see it, but
(33:04):
then you move on and like the real world, like, yeah,
the best team should win in the in this case scenario,
the best team did win. However, is that the reality?
The fact that they were defaulted in immediately into the
Nationals because it had won the year before is odd
to me. I don't know if that's an actual rule.
So if those who have are part of this world
know this, tell me, or if that was just for
(33:25):
the plot line, Like that just seemed odd.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yeah, yeah, and I did see, like I saw. One
thing I noticed is that the touro's there, the letters
it's almost spills out rich Oh really yeah on their
cheering outfit it's.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
R oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
Yeah yeah, And I did.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
I read a lot about it in terms of, you know,
the whole thing is kind of kickstarted by this largely
white team has been stealing routines largely non white team
right to win and get this reputation all of this time,
and then having those moments around yes, Torren's trying to
(34:09):
pay for them to go because she feels guilty and
wants to make it right, and then being like no,
we're good we don't need to just a lot of
like you said, it's not ever directly addressed, but it
is nice. It's there, right, it's definitely there underlying.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Well, I mean, we can talk about that because we've
seen this in content creation. We've talked about when it
comes to like the dance routines. We've talked about this,
especially with music, like when we talk about K pop
specifically because I'm in that world, but we talk about
like who they are stealing from, and then the definition
of cultural appropriation versus appreciation, and that's rare, and then
outright stealing Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, like they're at the
(34:51):
forefront of making so much money from stealing from other
other creators, and oftentimes it is marginalized people that they're
stealing from. And then they and I know that both
of them are people of color technically, but they're white
passing and have been able to kind of just bypass
(35:12):
all of that conversation until it's good for them, which
is that other conversation that we often talk about and
it's not addressed enough. But yeah, in this one specifically,
we're talking about I don't feel like there was any
there wasn't. There was no like justice serve, there was
no like retribution, There was no payback for the stealing,
(35:35):
the years and years and years of stealing. We kind
of see Red as a villain and she is, don't
get me wrong, and Aaron, but the rest of the
crew being okay with it for so long and still
don't care until they get called out. It's kind of like,
oh and then no one ever actually acknowledges it again,
I'll fix yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
But at first, like I was confused at first because
I thought like, oh, this Pulaski Polastri guy has been
doing this for years, and so I thought it was
like him and that he finally just got caught, like
he was stealing or whatever and teaching all these other people,
(36:22):
and then it was read. But yeah, I mean, yeah,
that's that is a huge conversation and continues to be
one of who's getting the credit for these ideas, who's
getting the awards, who's getting the money all those things?
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Well, and also so in the world of competitive cheerleading,
from what I remember, it's just like gymnastics trying to
create new moves in order to show like new advancement
or new tricks. And being able to show like these
skills that are different. Things like the liberty, which is
when you stand up with one knee up with someone
(37:00):
holding your one foot, like was really new. But they
have those rules where if you're underneath and pushing someone
up from below they're directly above you, that's actually illegal
because if they fall, they will break your neck. So
you have to have fee them in front of you.
So all these different rules and because of some of
these dangerous moves, they have to be really really creative
(37:21):
and what they do a lot of the basket tosses,
turns and flips up in the air that was in
the last twenty years, Like honestly, like the flips and
turns were newer, and it showed a lot of like
athleticism and strength that was new from just doing a cartwheel,
you know, so that they were trying a lot of
new stuff and with that being able to be that
creative and create your own routine on like the taking
(37:45):
a pyramid where people were just on their knees to
an actual like standing like bactuck up into a pyramid
was brand new for the longest time, and so creating
these things, you know, kind of like the fact that
Simone Biles has a move named after her now, but
she created this is a big deal. So having the
being the first ones to do this is such a
(38:05):
big thing and a maker within like cheerleading more. I
guess uh that it is. It is upsetting to see,
like on a serious note, upsetting to see this and like,
I'm sure it happens often. I'm sure it happens often.
You know. There's a lot of times when I remember
we would see something that a competitor did or the
(38:28):
other team dated. We're like, ooh, we like that. We're
going to take that, you know what I'm saying. Sharing
is one thing and learning is one thing, but to
steal and take credit for it again. This is that
conversation and the fact that they never really acknowledged it,
even Torrance never publicly really acknowledged it. They're just like, oh,
how bad didn't know m And literally was like, oh
(38:52):
I didn't know. And I says like, well, now you
do fix it. I kind of don't, but there you go.
And that is bring it on all of this political spectrum.
I'm not really sure what the rest of them films
were like. So Hayden Pantier Solange Noles Bring It All
(39:12):
or Nothing two thousand and six, it did not rate well.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Now I went on this rabbit hole yesterday and I
feel like none of them, none of the other ones
did well.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Hey, but that's interesting.
Speaker 1 (39:28):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
There was a new one in two thousand and nine,
Fight to the Finish, and this one had Christina Milion,
So that's a whole different conversation. I love that they
bring in some R and B accent to this. Anyway,
there you go. So if y'all have seen these other movies,
let us know, does it go down this theme route
Arthur Routines.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
Has good Yeah, let us know.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
And if you've been involved in cheerleading, if you have
any thoughts about any of this, please let us know.
You can email us a step nee mom stuff atiheartmedia
dot com. You can find us on Twitter at Mom's
of Podcasts or in instacrament TikTok at stuff w never
told you We're on YouTube. We have a teat public store,
and we have a book you can get wherever you
get your book. Thanks is always to our super producer Christina,
(40:11):
executive producer My and your contributor Joey. Thank you and
thanks to you for listening stuff on Never Told You
Is Prediction by heart Idio. For more podcasts from my
heart Radio, you can check out the iHeart Radio app,
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