When someone is seen riding a skateboard they are automatically thought of as being a “bad ass” or the “cool kid”. This shows that in our culture we associate an object or an activity with a stereotype. Also the evolution that skateboarding has gone through shows America’s devotion to sport and the tactics industry uses to make money off of a new hobby.
Skateboarding has been a part of pop-culture since the 1950’s where it was simply an experimental sport for young children, so how then has the stereotype of the reckless no fear skater come about? As skateboards began advancing so did the skaters. For example as stated before in the 1950’s skateboards were very crude homemade toy for kids, people would take an old piece of wood that they had at home and nail outdoor roller skate wheels to it. The problem was that these makeshift skateboards had steel wheels which would make the skater fall right off the board if any bump or rock was hit. But the motivation to keep skating and the fact that many more people were beginning to pick up the hobby made the need for an improved kind of skateboard.
In the 1960’s people were beginning to figure out that if you took indoor roller skate wheels and put them on a shaped board you would get more control. With this new style of board skaters were able to move around easier which now gave them the interest to cruise down hills. One may notice also that this was the time where the skateboard moved from being a child’s toy to being more of a past time for teenagers. Once again though this skateboard was not good enough it needed to be improved.
The 1970’s began the freestyle movement which radically changed the picture that a skater evoked in people’s minds. With the invention of the urethane wheel (a softer wheel with more control) skaters were becoming gustier, skating bowls and doing launches. This is also the time when skateboarding was being recognized as a sport and means to make money. Because of this you can see that skateboards became more intricate design and performance wise. Also the boarders of this time were developing their own style having really long hair and wearing sweatbands. One last thing that one may notice about the 1970’s is the fact that this was the last time that children and female skaters were really seen as equal competitors to the rest of the population. This is because the caliber of the tricks they were doing was difficult but not too dangerous so it was safe for everyone to skate together but the 1980’s changed this.
With the closing of many skate parks skaters where forced to the streets, this is where the scary “bad ass” skateboarder stereotype came into play. Without the bowls and wavy concrete parks skaters and skateboard companies had to come up with a way to keep skating alive so they began street skating and the “skate and destroy” movement. This was the time when the stereotype of a skater was a dropout kid that smoked, vandalized, and had really strange haircuts. With this you can see that the boards themselves changed they became wider so there was more stability in landing jumps and grinds. Skateboarders at this time were seen as a nuisance, scary, and unapproachable, which they totally ran with.
Finally in the 1990’s, which is the modern style that we currently skate in, both forms of vert and street skating were widely accepted. Tricks were becoming more complicated and the shape of the skateboard thinned out giving it pop on both sides. The ideal skateboarder of the early 90’s was the kind of stoner kid who would just chill and skate every day. As you can see skateboards and skateboarding has changed so much over the years. The most interesting though is what is thought of the skaters and the fact that a piece of wood and some wheels can define a person. Also through this evolution one is able to see that American industries latch onto these “new age movements” in any hobby and improve performance and appeal in order to sell a product.
