Recent cultural references to fencing

[BugabooX]

The TV advertisement for the next (crappy) life competition drama series, "The Family," included a brief scene of the cast clad in white and waving fencing blades.

Separate thread: Problematic portrayal of fencing as an elitist, upper-class activity.

This thread's intentions: Other recent fencing references in the mass media? We've discussed the latest James Bond movie here already. About a month or so ago, the Gilmore Girls TV series included a fencing scene. And then there was a really nice article in some airline industry magazine (I forget which).

Anyone?

[Catal]

Fencing was an elitist activity for many years. You didn't see baseball camps limiting their membership only to academy students who could afford it. Who's gonna pay for a few hundred dollars in equipment, and few hundred dollars every few months in membership fees during the early 1900's (inflation accounted for)... oh, I know- rich people. That's what we get for 107 years of snobbery. Good for baseball and football, they took the time to weave themselves into the American fabric. Fencers... bah.


Oh, uh forgot to mention recent TV references. On a Soap Opera a couple days ago, I believe it was Days of Our Lives... a show about rich people who ***** all the time and get possessed by demons (Marlena.) Don't ask me how I know Marlena got possessed by a demon... She did, that's all that matters.

[JEC]

Originally posted by BugabooX
And then there was a really nice article in some airline industry magazine (I forget which).
Anyone?

Delta airlines magazine

[Artisan]

And theres a commercial I've seen run a few times for an investment banking / mutual fund product; Two fencers bouting in an atmospheric castle-like interior. Quite the upper crust image.

[PeterGustafsson]

Hi!

I went to the big annual book sales today, and saw a book with a young boy wearing too large fencing whites and holding a french-grip foil. The title was "Min son fäktas mot världen" (My son is fencing against the world) by Björn Ranelid, one of Sweden´s most acclaimed authors. However, it turned out that "fencing" was only used in the "fighting" sense of the world - no sword-play in the text.

Have a nice time!

Peter Gustafsson
------
Today´s fridge-door philosophy:
Many things are better crunchy, but floors are not among those.

[MikeHarm]

Fencing was on the radio recently. The Scott and Casey on 97.1 fm in detroit did close to an hour and a half worth of mocking fencing and talking about how it wasn't a sport yesterday and making fun of some guy from Michigan who did a demonstration of it at a high school. They didn't seem to understand anything about it, and kept talking about how the guy demonstrated techniques such as 'the foible' with a cheesy fake english accent, and how in real sports you can get hurt worse than getting a welt, and how gay fencing looked. I had half a mind to call in and tell them what a foible was, but decided against it figuring it might look bad at work shouting into a cellphone.

[Strydus]

http://www.delta-sky.com/editorial/1...c/bodypltc.htm

If anyone is interested...

[135711]

that's a nice article it's cute. i don't think anyone needs to be concerned about a sport 'looking gay'. it's the stupid pants, which are a little like ballet pants which the men hate, its the stretch pants, they all feel weird in them. i used to dance at the Limelight in 1975, with my gay boyfriends, one was a cheesy englishman, but that was a long time ago.

maybe we need another poll, to redesign the pants, i also feel that security guards are wearing the wrong pants, and should be wearing stretch fabric.

i don't understand peter one bit.

[a517dogg]

the pants are fine. better than baseball pants.

[Catal]

I never had a problem with the pants, but it seems most of the reference to the "gayness" of the sport comes from the relaxed hand position one would take with classical fencing. I see instructors who use that scorpion's raised tail rear-hand technique- and, they look foppish. It doesn't matter if it's male or female, it just doesn't look good. If it were a fist, I think the reaction on the part of outsiders would be different. Everyone I know who's never seen the sport, adopts that hand position. That part is at least known to people, and it needs to change- they need to see the newer, aggressive stance of modern fencing.

[Morra[PrFC]]

I personally like the look of knickers, and knee-length baseball pants. Those long baseball pants that go down to the ankles look a little odd, though.

[MikeHarm]

While we all thought of the rear hand as a raised scorpions tail I'm sure.. the callers and host of the show said it looked like we were doing the bit from 'I'm a little teapot, here is my handle and here is my spout'. I have to admit, the classical fencing form does kinda look like the teapot deal.

The webpage for the station is www.971fm.com if anyone feels like trying to convince them we're actually a sport btw. I think its usually a losing battle arguing with hecklers though.

[Catal]

I've got an epee we can stick through their fat heads... that'll change their mind.

[Fencing Mom]

Hi,
The Nickelodeon Channel, Nick TOO, does not run commercials, but runs very well-produced spots on what teens and preteens are thinking, saying, and doing. They run one with a young African American boy talking about why he likes to fence (sabre). He speaks very intelligently about skill, speed, competition, tactics, discerning what your opponent will do, etc. The video shows him fencing, in slo mo, but nevertheless, it is real fencing. He says his name at the end, but not where he's from. Since I'm not keyed in to (Y-14?) Men's Sabre, I didn't recognize his name. It is by far the most intelligent and realistic fencing I've ever seen on TV.

[135711]

I've never associated fencing with a life-style, i have always seen it as another sport. I don't see the significance of a raised hand, it's a counter balance, i don't see a problem with this.

What a fencing mom would worry about, are not gay men, but child molesters.

There are many men who worry needlessly about the stigma of beinging involved in a sport that involves children. They want women around so they don't get too close to the kids. It's to avoid being stigmatized, as women have long been the childcaretakers.

Psychologists have long supported the position that gay men are not the same as child molesters. There is always a chance that sociopaths could be attracted to a venue, but there's not much we can do about it. That is the branch of science most are interested in learning about, including me, which is why i began another major in psychology. Re-socialization is the current therapy.

Topic is very complex but worth talking about.

[Catal]

I don't see the significance of a raised hand, it's a counter balance, i don't see a problem with this.

A fencer understands the significance, but others outside the sport do not. Outsiders see that style and go, "Hmm, he looks gay." And, while they understand a fencer isn't gay, it doesn't help the sport.

[BugabooX]

I made my dog wear my fencing mask once. He looked funny. My wife laughed and shot milk out her nose.
Which reminds me of a cow joke I heard once...

People! Have you no focus?! Is it impossible to stick on topic for more than six messages at a time?

Oh, nevermind.

[DJ Apostrophe]

hey ... focus... that reminds me... last weekend i was running a competition and we were using an LCD projector to display the results in real time, it was pretty cool... but a pain to focus <sic>
-w

[135711]

you're all very young, learn to take things in stride, don't worry about other people's perceptions, some people are just not emotionally stable, whatever their orientations are, a person can have normal perceptions or abnormal perceptions; and then they interpret their perceptions to fit into categories that have been set into their minds from infancy.

If you are A
A : an arm raised
B sees: an arm raised by someone gay
C sees: an arm raised by someone fencing
D sees: B seeing A raising an arm to fence

then it turns into a big blob of people who are defending their orientations, plus a blob of people who are attempting to show A that he must be gay because his arm is raised; and another group of people who are trying to alert group b, that a raised arm doesn't mean much, except in fencing it means a counterbalance.

The entire sport has changed because of an arm raised! I can't believe it!

[Catal]

That's entertainment. Football and baseball changed in order to fit people's perceptions of what a sport should be. As long as fencing remains in the dark ages of sports, it will never be accepted. You're not debating with me, you're debating with everyone who ever laughed at fencer, then sat down to watch a football game.

I don't like it anymore than you, I presume. But, those are sad facts, and if people want fencing to become popular, it will need to adjust to the populace.