Geekness and Super Bowl 2020
Yes my
geeks I am going to be talking about sports, in a way at least. First I want to
say that there are sports geeks out there. These are the people that can spout
out player stats like a Trekkie can about the different ships. People can be a
geek of anything and I support geeks in all forms. This time though I’m going
to talk a little about when these things mix together in our culture.
One of
the big things about the Super Bowl is the commercials. This year there were a
few that used actors that have built their careers at least in part in what
people would consider the geek sphere. One of these actors is Chris Evans,
Captain America himself. The question is why am I talking about this commercial?
In this commercial all the actors pick up a very heavy ‘Boston’ sounding accent.
First off this is very stereotypical and not all people from Boston have that
think of an accent. Both Chris Evens and John Krasinski come from Boston, but
their accents do not seem that pronounced when they are doing interviews. This
means that both picked up this strong accent on purpose. To me it was a little
disappointing that Chris Evens would do something this stereotyping. To me this
has tarnished his career a little. Another commercial that has people saying it
was the best of the lot was Rocket Mortgage’s featuring Jason Momoa. Jason
Momoa is known for his portrayal of Aquaman, Game of Thrones, and has even been
a werewolf. While listening to the radio this morning I heard everyone talking
about how funny it was. I don’t understand this. He is physically ripping off
parts of his body. To me this was not only gross but a bit horrifying. I
understand that they were trying to break body image stereotypes in some weird
way, but that was more than weird. They could have made it better if they would
have had him pull off his clothes and have PJs on. There is another commercial
out there where when a woman gets home she takes off her bra to get comfortable
in her home and throws it aside. They could have done something like this, but
I think they just took it too far. I like gross and horror, but not when I’m
watching football. Both Momoa and Evens have established careers and did not
have to resort to pun focused commercials.
Then
there was the halftime show. I am not going to talk about the performance, but
as a person that finds tech/theater interesting, the special effects caught my
attention. I think it used some form of LED technology, and how they programed
it was amazing. I even found a time-lapse video of how they put it together (the link to it can be found below).
The time where it caught my attention the most was where it looked like it collapsed
exposing a pit with cascading waterfalls. I just love how technology can be
used to create beauty.
Another
technology part to the Super Bowl was the big deal that it would be 5G. Did
this make a difference to people watching the game….I don’t think so. I’m not
sure exactly how they applied it, but to me the game just seemed the same.
There was no changes with picture quality which is what the viewers at home
care about. This could have helped fans in the stand if they were trying to use
their networks but this would not matter to people not in the stadium. I think
that this was made into a bigger deal then it actually was. 5G is great, but
don’t make a big deal of it to the whole country unless it is going to impact
their viewing experience of a specific event.
So
overall what made the Super Bowl ‘geeky’? There were popular actors in lack
luster commercials and tech integrated into the halftime show. It just goes to
show that you can find geek anywhere.
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