Patricia Abbott (pattinase): Megan on Swedish TV Explaining Cheerleading

Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Megan on Swedish TV Explaining Cheerleading

http://www.svtplay.se/video/568879/del-6-av-12-kobra-om-cheerleading

It will be in English after a few moments.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...: Very cool, Patti! Thanks for sharing!; 7:43 AM
Al Tucher said...: This brings two of my fetishes together. Cheerleaders and all things Swedish!

Seriously, I love to listen to people speaking Swedish. Between English and German, which I speak, I even understand some of it.

On top of that, it's a great interview of a great noir author.; 12:18 PM
Anders E said...: Here's a quick translation of the Swedish speaker comments. First, the intro (00:50-01:30):

There are certain American phenomena that you just can not avoid, no matter how much you would like to. Cheerleading is probably a good example of that - this pep squad standing on the sidelines, shouting, dancing, waving their arms. The cheerleader is the object of admiration, jealousy and jokes...but she is hardly someone who is given serious consideration.
That is why we became interested when one of the foremost authors in America - the Queen of Noir as she is known - Megan Abbott chose to write a novel in a cheerleader setting and to do so entirely without irony.

(more to come); 2:05 PM
Anders E said...: 02:35-02:55

"Dare Me" is a novel about seemingly innocent cheerleaders and their dark sides.
Megan Abbott did not initially know much about cheerleading, she was more interested in it as a phenomena. She started interviewing cheerleaders but thought the answers she got were only clichés. Nothing sounded like locker room talk.; 2:09 PM
Anders E said...: 03:40-03:50

The cheerleader never seizes to function as a metaphor for the teenage girl. She is the beautiful one, the successful, the desireable.

04:10-04:20

However, we have a need to play around with our cultural icons as always. And that is what gives us...the fallen cheerleader.

05:00-05:05

In recent times we have also seen the modern, more radical, type.

05:25-05:28

When Megan herself grew up she was far from the cheerleader world.

07:05-07:20

It was likely the violent part of cheerleading that most attracted her as a crime writer. It is a physically incredibly demanding and injury prone sport. There is often also a violent psychological struggle to become the best.

09:00-09:20

Teenage boys - their dreams and their struggle with inner demons - is something we often can see dramatized. "Friday Night Lights" for instance, made brilliant drama from life on a football team, where players, parents and coaches were taken seriously. Megan Abbott has never seen anything like it about women's sports. Characters are then most often transformed into stereotypes.; 2:18 PM
George said...: Loved the interview! Megan handled herself well. She sure takes after you and Phil, Patti!; 2:19 PM
Anders E said...: Al Tucher: It could be the prosody that attracts you. It's very, very important in the Scandinavian languages, which is probably why they are perceived by outsiders as "sing-song-y". It's known to be one of the toughest aspects to learn for immigrants.; 4:08 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4:49 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Anders-She loved your translation. Thanks so much for doing it for us. Was wondering what that charming man was saying.
Thanks, guys.; 4:56 PM
Anders E said...: It was a fun exercise doing the translation. I pride myself in my Swedish skills and I think of myself as pretty good in English, but damn - it was sometimes hard to handle the nuances. And I should have used "fierce" rather than "violent".

It seems Megan and Kristofer really hit it off, hmm?... Such a cute couple, hmmm...; 5:12 PM
Anders E said...: I can't stress enough how odd it is that Megan is the lead-in to the entire programme - she's not even translated into Swedish! Yet she is referred to as "one of the foremost authors in America". Could it be she has sold considerably on import?; 5:28 PM
Jack Bates said...: Really cool, Patty. And I did enjoy the book. I've watched those plot lines repeat several times for the last 26 years in the classroom and on the field- thankfully without those results! Really rang true.; 7:02 PM
pattinase (abbott) said...: Thanks, Jack! haven't run into you lately!; 8:38 PM