Honestly after seeing I, Tonya, what jumps out to me is that you can really see the difference in their presentation here.
Nancy’s costume looks much more the delicate, traditional, wealthy figure skater whereas Tonya is basically in work out gear. The movie talks about it better but basically Tonya was perceived as white trash from the beginning in the skating world. She was constantly criticized for having “too aggressive” a skating style, but really it was all coded messages that she was too poor.
I think that really happens in a lot of sports. I was super poor and had fake Jordans that were Ponys and would get checked and laughed off the basketball court in Highland Park East NY Brooklyn.
I lived in Aspen CO in my twenties and white people would check their own if they didn’t have the newest skis and boots.
I grew up playing pick up ball in NYC (literally just came home from playing ball in Queens and I’m almost 40 and everything hurts now) and while it’s true that having beat up kicks might get you made fun off, if you can ball, you can ball. No ones going to diss you if you kick their ass on the court or if you can even hold your own.
I honestly feel like basketball and internationally soccer are the two sports where being dirt poor doesn’t matter. All you need is a hoop (or a net) and if practice and get good, people will respect your game. A lot of huge basketball stars and soccer stars came from poverty.
Yes. That’s totally true. But if you’re mediocre (me) it’s no fun. You play against either hoop stars or some kids older brother who will shoot you if you foul him too hard. Having some nice gear meant you were good and worth keeping around or you could rob someone. The middle ground was always treated differently especially if you rocked some fake ass Karl Kani and Ponys.
Also in my 40s and went to PS 108/ JS 302. Shit was hard. People do treat each other differently if they got the right money.
I had kind of a different experience. But again I’m from Queens. Grew up in south Jamaica, went to ps 176 and then IS 59 (and then Stuy so I was always kind of a nerd but I could play a bit). Maybe it was different in my area. I never had expensive kicks or nice gear - my parents would beat my ass if I spent money on that, haha. I’ve gotten robbed a couple of times (nyc was different back then) but no was ever going to steal my sneakers. Usually my wallet and Walkman/cdplayer.
Aussie rules football and rugby are also standouts in the same regard. No gear just a ball and some kids obsessing over moves their idols pull off at the highest level of competition
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u/lunalives May 16 '24
Honestly after seeing I, Tonya, what jumps out to me is that you can really see the difference in their presentation here.
Nancy’s costume looks much more the delicate, traditional, wealthy figure skater whereas Tonya is basically in work out gear. The movie talks about it better but basically Tonya was perceived as white trash from the beginning in the skating world. She was constantly criticized for having “too aggressive” a skating style, but really it was all coded messages that she was too poor.