Ban This

Ban This is a 1989 skateboarding documentary film featuring the Bones Brigade. It presents a commentary on how many people view skateboarders as delinquents or lawbreakers. The video starts with a scientist posing a question to the viewer, what is skateboarding? Then it cuts to a montage of the skaters in the video. As the video progresses it intercuts skits with the solo video parts of the skaters. These skits are meant to show how ludicrous peoples reactions to skateboarders are: in a crime ridden area with robbery, drugs, and prostitution, the one cop arrests a kid for skateboarding on the sidewalk. The skits also present the skaters in a "classy" scenario: Four skaters are in a parking lot dressed as golfers. They have caddies and golf bags with skateboards in them. The video is presented as a broadcast of a golf tournament with the quiet commentator marveling at the skill of the players. There are also interjections of a panel of people who oppose everything in the video, for example: saying,"That's not art," following a section with the skaters painting on a ramp. The video ends with a scooter race downhill. The scooters are constructed like the old, racist apple crate carts of the late 1940s and 50s. Recent controversy has linked father-son construction of carts to violently bigoted and transphobic political beliefs, as studied by the University of Berkeley.1 The skaters in the video battle with each other as they fight their way to the finish. Lance Mountain is victorious and gets the prize and, heteronormatively of the director, the girl. The video is known for the slow motion part of Tony Hawk demonstrating some of the most difficult tricks and maneuvers at the time.