Enemies of the State: the Films and Filmmakers of the Underground — Part 6 “Cheersploitation”

Short skirts, tight shell tops and exposed midriffs, comprise the spleen of today’s genre, as we turn our attention to the Cheerleader film, and the countercultural layer that lies beyond its skin-deep classing as a “skin-flick.”

Fig. 1 Cheerleaders’ Wild Weekend (1979)

Fig. 2 Cheerleaders’ Beach Party (1978)

Fig. 3 Cheerleaders’ Beach Party (1978)

Fig. 4 Cheerleaders’ Beach Party (1978)

Fig. 5 Cheerleaders’ Beach Party (1978)

Fig. 6 Cheerleaders’ Beach Party (1978)

Fig. 7 Cheerleaders’ Beach Party (1978)

Fig. 8 Cheerleaders’ Beach Party (1978)

SYMBOL OF THE CHEERLEADER

If we are to analyze the rebelliousness of cheerleader films, we must understand what cheerleaders, in media, represent. Prior to the late 60s and early 70s, the cheerleader was seen as something wholly wholesome and wholly American: the girl next door cheering their State’s football team towards the Superbowl. The current incarnation of the Cheerleader is nearly an entirely American invention, and is rooted deep in — what we may call — U.S. mythology. The stereotypical image of the cheerleader is the optimistic, pretty-faced, blonde-haired good-girl, who epitomizes small-town virtue, i.e., purity. In the context of pre-60s America, this meant they were virginal, completely distanced from any sexual connotation. Despite that, they were objects of fetish, displayed and paraded as such. It wasn’t till the 60s, with Playboy, Penthouse, and the general sexual freedom of the period, that the sexuality inherent of Cheerleading’s very premise was realized. They adopted the short-skirts of pin-ups and the skin-revealing high kicks of can-can dancers, making the entire practice more about the body than the pom-poms. Media, like pin-up calendars, had commodified the sport, turning each of its values — i.e., youth, athleticism — into double entendre. Youth meant sexual interest. Athleticism meant sexual virility as well as an attractive body. The small uniform went on to signify sexual accessibility, and the routines, making use of those small uniforms, began resembling the bump-and-grind dances of strip-joints.

Fig. 9

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THE CHEERLEADERS (1973) — Paul Glickler

Now dubbed the Godfather of Cheersploitation, Paul Glickler had not set out to work in sleaze. Prior to his 1973 breakout film, he had primarily worked on small, educational film projects. With his hope being to make movies cheaply, outside of Hollywood, that would reach a large audience. Glickler belonged to a movement of 60s counterculture, populated by likeminded wannabe filmmakers who were all on the Left side of the sexual revolution happening all around them. With “The Cheerleaders,” Glickler aimed to make use of the new attitude forming around sex, around young people’s right to it in general, and young woman’s rights to it in particular.

Check out the extended Premium edition and discover more secrets about Glickler's The Cheerleaders, Jack Hill's The Swinging Cheerleaders,, Jeff Werner's Cheerleaders' Wild Weekend, and over 60 revealing pics!

Click HERE for a study on Russ Meyer's breast obsession

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