A BRIEF ETHNOGRAPHY ON THE ESPY AWARDS AFTER-PARTY AT THE SUPPERCLUB, HOLLYWOOD
People-watching can be an interesting form of entertainment. I frequently go to events at clubs to unwind, so I figured what if I went to an event, put my ethnographer lens on, do some extensive observations and analysis while having fun? What better way to explore pop culture than evaluating the sports world’s biggest and most glamorous awards ceremony, the ESPY Awards after-party, one of the events that took part in the festivities last July 13 at the Supperclub, one of Hollywood’s premiere nightclubs.
The “Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly” award recognizes the best athletes in every sport across the United States. This major event was celebrity-studded --- a huge number of talented athletes were in attendance along with the most gorgeous people in the country, who all proceeded to party at the Supperclub after the ceremony. That being said, I will first begin with my observations and then explain my analysis in relation to pop culture. It was a Wednesday night so normally Hollywood would not be as packed, but it was pretty busy that night. Located along hectic Hollywood Boulevard, Supperclub was easy to find but looking for parking was terrible since I did not want to pay twenty bucks for parking (Hollywood’s usual overpriced fee for parking), I looked for street parking instead which took me a good twenty-thirty minutes to find one a block away from the club. The club’s main entrance resembles that of a theatre, with a huge white steel board, and instead of movie times --- which is how it would normally look in the theatres, a list of artists or bands scheduled to perform were posted on it. Right in front of the venue, you see a long line of club goers --- men and women, mostly in their twenties and thirties, waiting or trying to get in and there was an abundance of security. There was a red carpet outside the club to make way for the athletes and celebrities’ grand entrances. Since there was a special event that night, it was really hard to get in unless you were a pro athlete, on the guestlist, or V.I.P. I came with two of my girlfriends, so the bouncer just let us in --- it is always easier for the ladies to get into clubs in Los Angeles. When we got in, the club was not even at capacity which was what they were telling people at the door. Right when you walk into the club is a bar, there is a bigger bar by the dance floor. Supperclub is your multi-purpose venue for all kinds of events: concerts, theatre, parties, it is also a restaurant and your glamorous Hollywood weekend nightclub. The place has a very modern, chic feel surrounded with white curtains, the VIP areas on opposite sides were filled with white couches and decorated with white fluffy pillows. The dance floor was right in the middle of the club, and right above the very middle of the dance floor was a little opening on the ceiling where an aerial dancer descends at least every hour. Up at the very front was a huge screen where sports montages were shown all night. Dressed to the nines in their designer suits, NBA and some NFL players towered over the crowd, most of them were in the private V.I.P. sections and a few athletes had an entire posse of security with them like Amare Stoudemire, who plays for the New York Knicks. Guests were busy drinking, interacting with one another and busting their moves on the dance floor. It was such a lively, vibrant, happy atmosphere filled with beautiful people.
The event itself is sports-related, and sports is very much accessible in American culture. Held in a club located in the heart of Hollywood, sports legends, all-star athletes, musicians, reality show stars, actual television and movie stars all in attendance --- this definitely screams popular culture! This is an example of culture from above (Barker, 56). Marx introduces the idea of "culture as class power". It is expressive of social relations of class power. He explains that "the profit motive and class relations directly determine the form and meaning of cultural products (56)." In this particular scenario, the club scene --- way clubs are structured in general --- you get in line and pay for cover unless you are on the guest list or have V.I.P status. There is a hierarchy. The club staff, the people at the front door to be exact, have the power to decide who gets the okay to get in or not and as just mentioned above, this usually benefits the women. If a whole group of ladies arrive, they would not have a problem getting in, and if the ladies outnumber the guys in a group, this usually works in their favor. A friend who promotes for clubs such as Supperclub, Roxbury, Trousdale to name a few, just recently told me that almost always, when he invites people to these clubs, he always has to remind everyone “no fat girls, only good-looking people”. This is horrible. This is so sad yet it is the reality for most high-end clubs in Hollywood. What gives anyone the right to discriminate --- people who just want to have fun on the weekends --- based on physical appearance? This relates back to Susan Bordo’s argument mentioned in “The Politics of Culture” that culture dominates women’s lives (1026), imposing body ideals which is received differently --- most women get too self-conscious resulting in eating disorders, plastic and cosmetic surgery while others simply do not care about what society thinks about them. Simone de Beauvoir’s “The Second Sex” discusses how women are looked at as sexual beings, women as the “Other” (de Beauvoir, 3). But what should concern us is that a lot of women are living up to this identity! Bordo's argument, as mentioned above, relates to Foucault’s focus on power and the idea of the panopticon is another theory that relates well to pop culture (Barker, 92). From a celebrity’s perspective, being constantly visible under the public eye, observed and under surveillance by the media, their fans and their fellow celebrities make their bodies continually subjects of discourse and criticism. For normal, everyday people in the club setting such as at Supperclub, different social patterns and social cues --- which are results of social relations and taken from the media, are observed as well.
Public events such as the ESPY Awards after-party are perfect examples of settings that depict popular culture. We are surrounded by forms of pop culture everywhere we go, exposed to different forms of new media, advertising and social interactions. It is now up to us as consumers of media to succumb to its influences or resist the power media has over our society.
Barker, Chris. (2008). Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc.
De Beauvoir, Simone (1949). The Second Sex. London: Vintage Classics.
Rivkin, Julie & Ryan, Michael (1998). Literary Theory: An Anthology. Malden, Blackwell Publishing.
http://espn.go.com/espys/#!/moments/video=6768243/
http://www.supperclub.com/html/experience/philosophy/
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