The Influence Of "Bring It On" Movies On Children's Cheerleading

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision -January 17, 2024

Part I provides a definition of  "Bring It On" style cheers". The purpose of Part I is to document in part the cultural impact of "Bring It On" cheerleader movies specifically with regard to their inclusion of African American originated cheers and their use of modified forms of African American cheer performance styles.

Click http://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-african-american-sources-of-bring.html The African American Sources Of Bring It On (2000 & 2006) Movies Cheers. Part II provides text (words) and video examples of two cheers from the 2000 movie  Bring It On, the first movie in this cheerleader series. The title of those cheers are "U. G. L. Y.", "Brr It's Cold In Here", and one cheer from the third "Bring It On" movie "Bring It On: All Or Nothing" - "Introduce Yourself.

That post also focuses on "Shabooya Roll Call", another very popular cheer from Bring It On: All Or Nothing". In addition, Part II provides information and examples of those cheers' African American sources, as well as video clips from the Bring It On All Or Nothing movie.

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DISCLAIMER
These posts aren't meant to be an endorsement or a promotion of the Bring It On series of movies. On the contrary, I have serious concerns about those movies' reliance on stereotypical depictions of African Americans and Latinas. I also have concerns about those movies' stereotypical references to gays, and those movies' use of profanity.

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EDITOR'S NOTE ABOUT ADDING COMMENTS ON THIS BLOG
because of the large number of spam comments that I received on those blogs, with considerable regret, I have disabled the comment feature on cocojams2 blogs (and on my other blogs except for https://pancocojams.blogspot.com,

Comments for those blogs can be sent to my email address azizip17 dot com at yahoo dot com for possible inclusion in a specific post on those blogs.

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GENERAL OVERVIEW

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bring_It_On_(film) 

"Bring It On is a 2000 American teen cheerleading comedy film directed by Peyton Reed and written by Jessica Bendinger. The film stars Kirsten Dunst, Eliza Dushku, Jesse Bradford, and Gabrielle Union. It was the first of the Bring It On film series and was followed by five direct-to-video sequels, none of which contain any of the original cast members: Bring It On Again (2004), which shared producers with the original, Bring It On: All or Nothing (2006), Bring It On: In It to Win It (2007), Bring It On: Fight to the Finish (2009), and Bring It On: Worldwide Cheersmack (2017). The plot of the film centers around a team's preparation for and participation in cheerleading competitions.

Bring It On was released in theaters in the North America on August 25, 2000. Bring It On earned a worldwide gross of approximately $90 million. Since its release, the film has become a cult classic.[2]

-snip-
The first movie in that series, produced in 2000, is often highly acclaimed in the teenage cheerleader movie genre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bring_It_On_(film). And, according to a 2008 Wall Street Journal article that is cited in "Bring It On"'s Wikipedia page, "Outside of the United States, American-style cheerleading is sometimes referred to as Bring It On-style cheerleading."...

Cocojams2 Editor's Note:
 "Bring It On" style cheers are either exact versions of or modified versions of certain African American cheers, rhymes, or chants or are patterned after those African American originated cheers, rhymes, or chants.

Furthermore, the hip shaking, stomping movements that often accompany the performance of "Bring It On" style cheers are attempts to duplicate, or exaggerate or otherwise modify the performance styles of those American originated cheers, rhymes, or chants.

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THE TEXTUAL CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF "BRING IT ON" STYLE CHEERS
"Bring It On" style cheers have one or both of the following textual characteristics:
1. "Mainstream" cheerleader cheers focus on the athletic game itself, and/or on the athletic team playing the game that the cheerleader squad is connected with. "Mainstream" cheerleader cheers also have the purpose of helping to raise the spirit (enthusiasm) of  the fans of the athletic team that the cheerleader squad is connected with. This is often done by leading the fans in chanting uncomplicated cheers or chants. In contrast, "Bring it on" style cheers often have bagging words that focus on the cheerleading squad itself 

2. "Bring it on" cheers often have words that are confrontational and diss (insult) the other cheerleading squad
  

3. "Bring it on" cheers are chanted using a group/consecutive soloist call & response structure: The group voice is usually heard first, and a soloist responds. At the conclusion of this pattern, the cheer begins from the beginning with a new soloist. This pattern continues until every one in the group has one turn as the soloist.

A small number of "Bring it on" cheers Such as "Introduce Yourself" have what I refer to as a "command, refusal, command, compliance" textual pattern or an adapted version of that pattern.

"Command, refusal, command, compliance"  [crcc] is my term for foot stomping cheers in which the group commands (or demands) that the soloist do something and the soloist initially refuses to do that thing.  Mainstream examples of these types of cheers usually are adapted forms of this pattern. In those adapted forms the group asks the soloist to do something and the soloist immediately complies (agrees to do what is asked of her.)

A person who immediately complies with a demand or a request conveys a different tone for those cheers and an entirely different cultural message than a person who initially refuses to do what is demanded or requested. I believe that these are crucial differences.

In "traditional" foot stomping cheer examples of these cheers, the soloist's initial refusal to comply with the group's command is part of the "tough" street girl persona.  A "tough girl" does what she wants to do when she wants to do it. Nobody can tell her what to do and when to do it.  The fact that the girl initially refuses to do what is demanded of her demonstrates or suggests that the girls (and their community) place a high value on being independent and not (immediately) acceding to orders (or expectations) that others have for them.

In the context of those cheers, the soloist's response of "No way" means that "I'm not going to show you how to do that dance right now just because you ask me to."  The "no way" response doesn't mean "I don't know how to do what you want me to do". In alternative (later) forms of this textual pattern, the soloist initially refuses to do what is commanded of her, but then says "I'll try" and does the commanded action (or doesn't say anything but just does that action).

In another (perhaps even later) alternative form of these types of  these textual patterns, (such as in "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train'/"Peanut Butter In A Cup" cheers), the soloist initially refuses to do what is commanded of her, and then explains why she can't do it (i.e. "My back is aching, my bra [or skirt, or belt] is too tight...". 

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THE PERFORMANCE STYLE OF "BRING IT ON" STYLE CHEERS
"Bring It On" style cheers have one or both of the following performance elements
1. Cheers are performed with hip shaking and/or foot stomps.

 2. Cheers may also include gestures and body movement from African American culture such as "talk to the hand", leaning in a confrontational manner toward the opposing cheerleader squad, and gritting (purposely exhibiting a mean, menacing facial expression).

Text examples of these cheers are showcased in Part II of this cocojams2 series.

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THE GENERAL TONE OF "BRING IT ON" STYLE CHEERS
The expected tone for mainstream cheerleaders is to be peppy (full of energy) and always smiling. In contrast, "Bring It On" style cheers are confrontational and cheerleaders rarely smile when they are performing those types of cheers. Instead, Bring It On" cheerleaders often "grit on" their competitor's cheerleader squad - meaning they exhibit "a grit face" (a sullen, mean expression). Another difference between "Bring It On" style cheers and mainstream cheerleader cheers is that "Bring It On" style cheers often diss (insult) the opposing athletic team or the opposing team's cheerleaders.

Furthermore, while the focus of mainstream cheerleaders is the game being played (i.e. their school's athletes), their school, and their fans, the focus of many Bring It On style cheers are the cheerleaders themselves. The braggadocio and confrontational words and body movements that accompany those cheers are characteristic of many Black music genres such as Blues and Hip-Hop. And that is to be expected since "Bring It On style cheers" is just another name for (sometimes modified) African American children's foot stomping cheers.

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MORE COMMENTS ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE OF "BRING IT ON" STYLE CHEERS
"Foot stomping cheers" are often called "stomp cheers". These types of cheers originated among African American in the 1970s and are very closely related to the performance art of "steppin'". "Steppin" originated among historically Black (African American) Greek lettered fraternities and sororities and became more performed and more widely known in the 1970s.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-foot-stomping-movement.html for a pancocojams post on foot stomping cheers and http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-black-greek-letter.html for a pancocojams post on steppin'.

Furthermore, the "Bring It On" style of cheerleading is also related to the African American originated form of cheerleading that is known as "Stomp and Shake". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/overview-of-stomp-shake-cheerleading.htmlfor a pancocojams post on "stomp and shake cheerleading". "Pancocojams" is another cultural blog that I curate.

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This concludes Part I of this two part cocojams2 series.

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