I missed the half-time Super Bowl entertainment when Janet Jackson suffered from a wardrobe malfunction. But I didn't miss this year's Super Bowl. While the half-time performance by Tom Petty was mild, and quite frankly, boring if you are not a Petty fan, I noted that towards the end of the broadcast the commercials became sexually suggestive.
The two commercials that seemed to me to be less than family friendly were the man with the jumper cables hooked up to his nipples and the scantly clad woman in the Victoria Secrets advertisement suggesting that the post-game time would be even better than the game itself.
Maybe I'm too sensitive and cynical. Now, there was a lot of controversy regarding whether or not the exposure of Janet's breast was a mistake or planned. Regardless, we do know that the exposing of a man's nipples with jumper cables attached to them as well as the scantly clad woman in the Victoria Secrets commercials were not only planned, but condoned by the network.
For the most part, a man exposing his breasts and nipples is not deemed sexual in our culture. But, I still don't want to explain to a five year old sitting beside me who asks, "what is he doing?" For even a five year old knows that there is something out of the ordinary being portrayed on the screen.
Likewise, any prepubescent boy could have processed the suggestive and not so subliminal message emanating from the provocative and scantly clad model in the Victoria Secrets commercial. I suppose violence and sex are permissible during the Super Bowl provided the sex is not cloaked in Blackness. Alright, we know it is completely acceptable for the violence to be Black, we only have to look at who the players are.
I turned to another middle-aged woman beside me and said, "This is not family friendly." She agreed. I think that after I post this blog, I'm going to contact the network and complain.
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About Me
- M.L. Simms
- I began keeping my first journal when I was ten years old. I journal every day in a black leather bound book, and I've decided to post some of my journal entries on my blog.
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3 comments:
Jumber cables on a man's nipples sounds like S&M behavior, which should not be on national TV, or anywhere else I can see. I agree that you should contact the network and complain. What happened with Janet is nothing compaired to this. However, if this man also had breasts, you will find it difficult explaining that to me, let alone a five year old. But let's be honest. This game/sport is so violent and senseless that no human being who can see well should be allowed to watch it, no matter what the age. (Double vision, blurred vision, etc, might not be so harmful, but that is just my guess.) There ought to be a law against watching the game/sport, in my opinion.
jflavente,
I agree with you. I rarely watch sports, particularly football. I recognize how violent it is. A part of me compromises because I'm trying to be more sociable. But I'd much rather read a book or listen to a lecture on a podcast than spend any of my time watching such violence. As of this day forward, I've sworn off watching such violence.
I grew up watching football, so its difficult to simply ignore it all together. It is the one true religious event in Ann Arbor that is multicultural and without discrimination in its exploits. And what an easy icebreaker when someone is staring at you on the bus....
I didn't watch the game though, so I missed all of this half-time excitement. (sounds scary)
I understand people's dislike.....I mean the whole set-up: the gladiator arena, the ownership of bodies, as well as the unethical names....
Still, violence has so permeated our culture that football seems cartoonish compared to what people are doing at parties and in their homes to loved ones, listening to in their cars, and watching on the internet.
It has poured out into American streets. Just a little alcohol and the tamest event turns into a free-for-all.
I've done alot of travelling and North American cities are unique in the ever present threat of violence.....just can sprout up anywhere like flares beneath hot coals.
Football is a reflection...of corporate competition that feeds block to block mentalities of the disenfranchised...a prism within a prison.
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