"A kind of saintly, adorable ET whose sole purpose is to remind us only about tolerance and our prejudices…"
Transformed is a documentary series from WSL Studios, currently into its second season, that tells “stories of surf ambassadors whose lives were transformed through surfing, and who are now transforming their communities through the power of surfing.”
The first series “sparked an emotional response from surf fans and resonated with a broader audience,” said the WSL’s CEO Erik Logan.
It’s a good spin.
The YouTube numbers were terrible, between four thousand and six thousand views an episode, a handful of comments.
The second series, between three thousand and thirteen thousand.
On a medium where Jamie O’Brien gets two-and-a-half million views for riding softboards down a sewer drain’s steep incline, the numbers are catastrophic.
Why the lack of engagement?
These are pretty, well-made films with every emotional button pushed: brave women fighting patriarchies, a legless Colombian, cruel Taliban overlords in Afghanistan and a focus on People of Colour.
Of series two’s four eps, the first three feature,
India’s First Female Surfer,
How Women In Surfing Are Changing the World, with Senegal’s Khadjou Sambe
And, A Surfer From South Central,
All gorgeous stories, break out the tissues etc.
I watch ‘em all over and over, big fan, especially chubby LA guy gets out of gangsta lifestyle via surfing, a real weepy.
Yesterday, this IG post appeared.
Edgy.
I hadn’t noticed, too busy sniffling and jazz-handing, although it did make me wonder,
Is the sentiment of Transformed the same as the media’s canonisation of the Gay Man as Magical Elf, a theory held by superstar eighties author Bret Easton Ellis.
“The sweet and smiley and sexually unthreatening elf with liberal values and a positive attitude is supposed to transform everyone into noble gay-loving protectors… a kind of saintly, adorable ET whose sole purpose is to remind us only about tolerance and our prejudices,” he writes.
Ergo,
Is the WSL festishising people of colour and is it this patronising approach masquerading as progressive values that has its potential audience staying away in droves?
Or not?
Chris Dixon and Frank: please email [email protected] from the address you'd like your BeachGrit login on.
Commented on Disqus? Log out, tap the Disqus button, and your old name and comments come back. The box is ours.
Your comments are still here. Every one of them.
Twelve years of BeachGrit comments came across from Disqus. Connect and we will show you how many are yours. We get your username, nothing else.
Connect Disqus to reveal.
heroin has a more transformative effect than surfing
marketing their virtue signaling
Where is the episode where the kindly male transforms into a selfish, and self obsessed cunt because of FOMO induced by the surf industrial complex? I’m available by the way
Where’s the trans-surfer love?
“if we take the gudang brothers around the world somewhere with lots brown people, the the contrast of their blond hair and white teeth against the black skin of the locals, well be sure to raise awareness of the evil whites”
-wsl
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Try:
Claustrommetaphobia
its all so forced an feels kinda fake. An besides the emotional stories, these people are all kooks..
Go the other way. Wealthy white person turns into drugged out loser. Chris Orr is out there.
There’s waaay too many in that category though
Derek holding down the fort while Chas has all the fun.
The Fox News of Surf Journalism continues to spew shit-stirring headlines. /ignore
Realistically how many schmaltzy feel-good depictions of surfing can ELO present to an empty room before big stiffy ziffy pulls the pin or puts ELO’s head on the chopping block?
Porn has been fetishising people of colour at least since I’ve been old enough to appreciate the fine arts. Viewership numbers on those websites would suggest this ain’t the problem. Not sure though, may have to put in a little more research before I can cum to this conclusion for sure.
Perhaps if it was a BBC production, it might get a little more traction.
Brazzoz have the biggest dicks.
In case anyone’s interested.
The site Brazzers????
I just remember while living there reading an article in O Globo that it was a fact.
Many measurements taken and they were proclaimed best in show.
Pau de queijo
Pacific Islanders, apparently.
Im not gunna argue about it.
i just googled it:
“The title of biggest penises in the world goes to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the average is 7.1in, while North Korea comes bottom of the pile with an average penis size of 3.8in. South America is comfortably the most well-hung continent, with an average of 6.36in.”
Biological explanation is Hybrid Vigor
yoooge
Transformed needs an episode on the lifelong middle aged surfer who develops a nasty case of galeophobia from his poor choices in media.
Had to look that word up
Transwhat?
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki…
See also:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki…
Perhaps re Chas’ cake:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki…
?
Damn, there are many unproductive hours waiting to be unleashed from that wiki
Yer damn tootin’.
Brilliant site.
Several articles to be forged here using that resource.
If I didn’t know any better I would think you’d deliberately planted those links to sabotage my Monday morning.
Knowledge is power my friend. Consider it CPD.
Yes.
Although I’d love to watch an ep about one of the top ten coming out while being interviewed by Joe in the booth
Commentary booth that is.
Yes, but in brown.
I don’t really think it’s that. It’s just …nobody believes these shows.
Oh contraire, Nick. The Coast Film Festival (based in Newport Beach and presented by Luxury Card, a global leader in the premium credit card market) awarded that one episode the “Audience Choice Award”.
Idea! Historical series! “Transformed: Mickey Dora”! Sensitive intelligent kid introduced to surfing by brilliant yet brutal stepfather! Wanders globe trying to assuage pain! Surfing helps, but never quite gets to core of issue!
Like if they had any real story sense or knew anything at all about the sport they bought, “Transformed” would be a truth tell series about the lives of professional surfers who passed through the fire. Imagine “Transformed: Cheyne Horan”.
“Kissed by God” the closest to that?
There’s so many. All from inside the sport they bought. Unlikely triumphs, failures, sourness and sweetness, poverty and wealth, and the silly bastards are missing it all.
So the question is, why are they missing it? Is it cause the decision makers are non-surfers who don’t really know the history and the actual surfers within the org are too afraid to speak up since it’s the only real consistent paycheck in the industry right now?
I would love to know the content strategy behind this stuff. If Elo could SELL me on why this is the best direction and convince me this is actually the most logical way forward, then i’d be cool. Otherwise, color me baffled too, Nick.
Honest, I don’t know. I suspect it is part of the DNA of this group. To them it was Year Zero in 2014, they were going to re-do pro surfing, and history was bunk. Thus all those stories were lost to them from the start. A few of the crew who have worked there have had a shot at bringing it to their attention but it’s never caught on.
Plus: I think they still haven’t quite grasped the fact that they bought the sport, not the culture. The sport part of surfing, the crazy people who’ve been involved with it and what it’s done for them and to them, there’s so much there to play with. Huge amounts of archive footage. And most of them are still alive.
But no, they think they own surfing itself. They think they can tell all these Hallmark-card stories, cookie-cutter style, and make them fit.
yes
I know I’m late to the conversation but, don’t you think it is a bit of a virtue signal. The videos seem to touch on all the buzzword issues. Of which we are all aware of and have had to deal with since….well the beginning of time.
They can make any content they like, that don’t mean we’ll all watch.