MovieChat Forums > Bring It On (2000) Discussion > Why do Americans have cheerleaders?

Why do Americans have cheerleaders?


Question speaks for itself.

No other country has them and I think this film went straight to DVD in most countries outside of the USA.

Just wondering if most Americans think cheerleading is necessary and AFAIK most people outside the USA think it's pointless and don't get it.

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Because we're stupid and shallow like this piece of bitch movie.


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It's just a fun thing to do. I was a cheerleader growing up and honestly, we hated cheering at the football games. It's wasn't about that. If we could, we would've skipped the games altogether.

The competitions are a lot of fun. You work really hard all year and then get to compete against a bunch of different cheerleading squads.

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Just out of curiosity did any guys do cheerleading at your school?

Or did anyone think it was sexist?

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I thought it was shallow and pointless....i hope that answers your question.


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Meh don't know honestly. I was friends with a few cheerleaders and they were nice. But I guess girls and guys do it because of the sport. My senior year of high school we had a male cheerleader and he cheered up until he graduated.

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Is it really a "sport" though?

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Define sport and then compare it to the training, skills, and performance that cheerleaders do. I say yes it it. You have to be in top shape to perform and compete well. You have to practice. Cheering is not easy. If it was, everyone would and could do it.

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Guys USED to around 1920s-30s, at colleges...

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Because it gives the mean girls in High School something to do to feel superior to others like the jocks but without having to be actual athletes?

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Not going to an American High School, I have no insight and my cousins couldn't help as they were sent to private school which didn't have them. I never got cheerleading and I'm not trying to be rude but any Americans I've met don't get it either!

It's constantly being portrayed as a "mean girl" thing though. I'm just surprised that's it's still in so many schools so far into the 21st century.

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That's because cheerleaders are mean...and fat!


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That's because cheerleaders are mean...and fat!


mmmmmmmmmmmm.....someone has issues.

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damn right! i lost too many friends from getting hurt by cheerleaders. i myself got hurt and soon, my heart will completley break. till then, i will fight the good fight!


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by Posh_babe » Fri Jun 14 2013 21:55:50
IMDb member since May 2007
Not going to an American High School, I have no insight and my cousins couldn't help as they were sent to private school which didn't have them. I never got cheerleading and I'm not trying to be rude but any Americans I've met don't get it either!

It's constantly being portrayed as a "mean girl" thing though. I'm just surprised that's it's still in so many schools so far into the 21st century.

I've only ever known one "mean" and "snobbish" cheerleader, and she wasn't all that attractive, was somewhat overweight, had braces, but for some reason was considered marginally "cute" by some of the males at school, and came from a fairly wealthy family. She didn't like nor was impressed with my person for whatever reason, and I could have cared less.

The rest of the cheerleaders were nice girls. That's a male perspective. Maybe other girls (non-cheerleaders) see them as being liked more by the males in the school than themselves, and have a kind of resentment.

It seems like a lot of girls don't like one another in the first place, and so I'm sure that's a factor.

The "mean cheerleader" is not a Hollywood invention, and based on a real stereotype, but it is overly used by film makers. When I was growing up I found most cheerleaders to be like Torrence in terms of attitude; very positive, and rarely did I come across that was like "Big Red", or what's her name from that "Mean Girls" movie.

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I did cheerleading for 9yrs and a lot of ppl didn't even know until my senior year. It depends on where you cheer is where the difficulty level kicks in. It can be easy then you can do the harder cheering (which I did) Sadly cheerleading is looked at as snobby and for popularity and I wasn't even close to either. It was just in like every other sport.

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Let me preface this by saying that I grew up less than 20 miles From San Francisco, CA. At my middle school, high school, and university we had cheerleaders, spiritleaders, danceleaders, and songleaders. Their purpose is to promote school spirit during games and school pep rallies, and serve as ambassadors for the school. I know this sounds cheesy, but administrations have to try something to combat the typical anomie of the average high school. As in this movie my high school football team sucked and the only reason anyone went to the games was for the cheer squad (well, and underage drinking), the basketball team was better, but still the halftime show was a big draw. Both my schools competed and they did alright.

For the record, we had male cheerleaders in high school and university. Not all cheerleaders are cliquey bitches, though some definitely were.

Technically cheerleading is not a recognized sport under Title IV (which, amongst other things, defines whether a learning institution receiving federal financial assistance provides equal opportunities for women in sports programs) primarily because there are no consistent rules for moves, etc... in routines even though there is heavy use of athletic abilities and also because competition is inconsistent (i.e., some schools just cheer games and spirit rallies and do not participate in direct inter-school competition).

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Both my high school and my college had really bad cheerleaders.

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Let me preface this by saying that I grew up less than 20 miles From San Francisco, CA. At my middle school, high school, and university we had cheerleaders, spiritleaders, danceleaders, and songleaders. Their purpose is to promote school spirit during games and school pep rallies, and serve as ambassadors for the school. I know this sounds cheesy, but administrations have to try something to combat the typical anomie of the average high school. As in this movie my high school football team sucked and the only reason anyone went to the games was for the cheer squad (well, and underage drinking), the basketball team was better, but still the halftime show was a big draw. Both my schools competed and they did alright.


Did they hold seances and commune with the dead?




For the record, we had male cheerleaders in high school and university. Not all cheerleaders are cliquey bitches, though some definitely were.

Technically cheerleading is not a recognized sport under Title IV (which, amongst other things, defines whether a learning institution receiving federal financial assistance provides equal opportunities for women in sports programs) primarily because there are no consistent rules for moves, etc... in routines even though there is heavy use of athletic abilities and also because competition is inconsistent (i.e., some schools just cheer games and spirit rallies and do not participate in direct inter-school competition).


Yes I've heard of Title IV. Equal number of sports scholarships to male and female athletes.

There was a court case at Quinnipiac University. The college wanted to take away the volleyball scholarships and give to them to a cheerleading team? The volleyball team sued and won. If they hadn't won, would that mean the girls (and boys) playing volleyball would be expelled if they couldn't afford to pay fees?

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Did they hold seances and commune with the dead?


It would have been so much more interesting if they had!

Yes I've heard of Title IV. Equal number of sports scholarships to male and female athletes.

There was a court case at Quinnipiac University. The college wanted to take away the volleyball scholarships and give to them to a cheerleading team? The volleyball team sued and won. If they hadn't won, would that mean the girls (and boys) playing volleyball would be expelled if they couldn't afford to pay fees?


You and I both mean Title IX (I clearly wasn't paying attention when I wrote my original comment. Perhaps cheerleading movies rot the brain?). My apologies as I wasn't sure where you are from, so didn't want to assume you knew.

As for Quinnipiac, I don't know why they thought they could count cheerleaders when there are no unified collegiate competition standards and school have been warned for almost 30 years that cheerleading would not count as athletics for Title IX purposes. They didn't want to give the scholarship money to the cheerleading squad, the squad was self funded, they wanted to use it to support other men's athletic programs. It was only the women's team that was to be disbanded.

I don't think the jerks in administration would have "expelled" the women's volleyball team members who couldn't afford their fees without the scholarship money, they would have simply fallen off out of enrollment through attrition the same way as any other student that can't afford fees does... That said, I don't know what actually happened to those students since the court case took so long; I didn't really follow the story.

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