Week Four Journal -

Week 4 readings – Zac Stein

Reading the excerpts of Gidget, it all felt a little false, I mean I’m sure looking at it in this context 2013 at my age, but I dunno the character of Gidget didn’t feel much like a person and just sounded like a bit of a female caricature. She cares so much about what she looks like, then is also meant to be this strong independent female surfer, but then gets in a big wave and is more than happy to be saved by a bunch of dudes. I guess the portrayal of any woman surfing is an important thing to promote, but the whole damsel in distress thing seemed pretty tame.

Muscle Beach Party was a fun watch, I really enjoyed the cheesy aesthetics and would love to try and recreate it somehow, along with the music by Dick Dale you can get a real sense of the “surfing scene” that was being prominently promoted across America to try and lure a lot of people into the lifestyle. Rather than relying on the very spiritual roots that the originators had been promoting.

I found the Crowley article very I insightful; to the time and enjoy that he didn’t condemn anyone for the direction that the surfing industry took and what the popular notion of the sport and lifestyle was becoming. The Ventures were a highlight to the listening and that twangy sound really kept in line with the kind of direction and appearance that surfing was having at the time. Although after a while a lot of the songs started to share the same tempos and rhythms and started to sound pretty similar.