Did anyone else hear that “Roller Girl” is one of the most popular costumes this year? I know at least one person whose kid is going as a Roller Girl, and check out this picture some fans submitted to the Santa Cruz Derby Girls’ website. Looks like a school costume parade or something…
I’m not sure how I feel about this: if it promotes the burlesque, cartoonish, costumey aspect of the sport, or if it just shows how popular and mainstream the sport is becoming. After all, there are plenty of Tim Lincecum and Brian Wilson costumes this year and no one would accuse baseball of being illegitimate just because a couple of its players became a popular Halloween costume. After all, the Santa Cruz Derby Girls wear sports jerseys anyway. Still, I think it’s a subject worth discussing: Roller Girl as a Halloween costume.
I guess it just never occurred to me for it to be a costume. My first instinct was to be offended. Let me explain, … I recently went to an 80’s party, and I decided that instead of wearing neon day-glo colors, leg warmers and crimping my hair, I would pay homage to what I think was the coolest part of the 80’s and go punk rock style. Now, while I do like the Ramones and OpIvy and have been known to don a CBGB shirt, I felt a little ridiculous putting on excessive temporary tattoos. I was afraid to attend my real punk rocker friend’s party later in the week in the same costume, lest I be viewed by her friends as a poser, or worse- like I was making fun of punk rock. So imagine my reaction when I saw this photo on a H.S. friends facebook page and I messaged her enthusiastically saying, “OMG! I had no idea you were a roller girl! You skate with Sac City? That’s awesome!”
…and SHE said… “No! But that was the most fun Halloween costume ever! I won first prize that night!” As you can imagine I felt a little deflated. Like, “Oh, …you like roller derby enough to dress up as it for Halloween, but not enough to be an actual roller girl” was how I felt. But then I got over it. You see, I like to talk about roller derby and recruit people, but if people aren’t interested people aren’t interested. When I am shot down by someone who does not want to skate I just say, “Hey, we need fans too.” So instead, like my homage to punk rock, I choose to believe my friend was merely paying tribute to how bad ass roller derby is. And for that, thank you! She does look pretty darn good, doesn’t she?
And apparently the Bleeding Heartland Roller Girls out of Bloomington Indiana made their own zombie Halloween movie, premiering tonight- on Halloween! Check out their official movie website here, and view the trailer below:
Hey, it’s no Whip It, (actually- it looks downright god awful to me), but maybe it’s worth a shot. If anyone wants to send me a review, (or a free copy of the film) I’d be more than happy to receive those. You can also read an interview with some of the makers of the film here.
Have a safe Halloween everybody. Don’t drive drunk!
The young lady on the right in the above picture, is actually wearing my jersey. She went as me, Lulu Lockjaw, for Halloween. I think that's pretty sweet that she thinks I am cool enough to be me for Halloween. Halloween is the one day of the year that people get to dress up as something they aren't. I see it as a homage to us derby girls!
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