The Legend of Billie Jean

The Legend of Billie Jean is a teenager’s fantasy. Well, maybe an ‘80s-era teenager; there’s a good chance that kids nowadays will roll their eyes at some of what happens in this movie, much like I myself did as I was watching it today. I’m not saying this 1985 film is totally worthless. In fact, there were things about it that I really liked. But for the most part, The Legend of Billie Jean is pretty damn silly. Billie Jean Davy (Helen Slater) and her younger brother Binx (Christian Slater) live with their mother (Mona Lee Fultz) in a trailer park in Corpus Christi, Texas. They are harassed on a daily basis by Hubie (Barry Tubb) and his pals, who go so far as to steal Binx’s beloved moped and vandalize it. In a fit of rage, Binx runs off to get his revenge, causing a concerned Billie Jean to head straight to the police. Though sympathetic, Det. Ringwald (Peter Coyote) says there’s not much he can do at this point, and tells Billie Jean to go home and wait for her brother. But when Binx returns battered and bloody,…

Track 2 (“Baby Be Mine”): This song starts with percussion and synthesizer sound effects. The lyrics begin at 0:20. I noticed that the percussion highlighted the second and fourth beats of the measure. The song was a legato sounding pop song that sounded like some of the songs on the top 40 radio stations. Background singers entered at about 0:58; they shocked me because I did not expect something like that in this song. About that time there was an interesting hollow sound that I enjoyed. I was…

Album Review. Likes: The Great Forever, Shoulda' Known Better, Night, Gon' B Alright Dislikes: Burn It Up! Overall: Back to the strong suit of lyrical social consciousness; musically, it lost my attention 11 years ago, Janet Jackson endured a ridiculous backlash and blacklisting after her breast was accidentally shown during her Superbowl halftime performance. The incident nearly, if not actually, ruined her current album, Damita Jo's, chances of getting the acknowledgement it deserved. Over…

traditionally have been banned from participating in contact sports. Contact sports arouse violence, which was an emotion only men were privileged to experience. Women needed to be protected from such unladylike emotions and this allowed benevolent sexism to prohibit women from the world of sports. If a woman were to play an aggressive sport, it could challenge the idea of masculinity. It could also begin to defy gender roles, which was a conversation many individuals were not prepared to have.…

Battle of the Sexes” between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King was an iconic re-enactment of one of the world’s oldest conflicts in history: the battle of man verses woman, played out on a simple green and white painted concrete court. Yet the spectacle surrounding the match was anything but simple; hosted in the futuristic Astrodome with a crowd of 30,492 present, this match became the most watched tennis match in the US. This landmark match was televised to over 90 million people around the…

tennis champion Billie Jean King took on Men’s tennis champion Bobby Riggs in Houston, Texas in a winner take all $100,000 tennis match. The match was nationally televised and was named the “Battle of the Sexes”. King would defeat Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, and become the first women to defeat a man in any sport. After the match, it is reported that Riggs “was devastated and isolated himself in his hotel room for four hours.” The match had an estimated 90 million viewers worldwide, 50 million just…

Tennis-“The Omaha Special” Former grand slam champion Billie Jean King was once quoted that, “Tennis taught me so many lessons in life. One of the things it has taught me is that every ball that comes to me, I have to make a decision. I have to accept responsibility for the consequences every time I hit the ball.” Similar to a competitive tennis match, life is full of calculated yet complicated choices. Every decision that one makes has a consequence. Whether this consequence is examined within…

He claimed he could beat any of them. He was the stereotypical male superior minded person at the time. He said “women belong in the bedroom and kitchen, in that order.” Also stating they play 25 percent as a good as men. And that’s how much they should get paid. After Bobby beat Margaret Court. Billie Jean King finally accepted his request to play her after few times. The winner would get 100,000 a win takes all match On September 20, 1973 in the astrodome in Houston in front of 30,492 fans.…

Presumption of Being Heard from Concerted Cultivation In Outliers, Gladwell presents the concepts of concerted cultivation and the presumption of being heard, which allowed Billie Jean King to have more confidence going into her success as an athlete and leader in the feminist movement. Concerted cultivation leads to presumption of being heard because it is this sense of entitlement that leads children to voice their opinions. Gladwell claims, “Concerted cultivation has enormous advantages. The…

An essential message to take from When Billie Beat Bobby, a 2001 comedy drama film, is to not let anybody define you. This film focuses on the historic 1973 “Battle of the Sexes”, although relatively cheesily, and the struggles that Billie Jean King--the protagonist--undergoes as a young child and even when she is and adult and challenged by the “male chauvinist pig” Bobby Riggs, the antagonist. This message is asserted by Billie Jean King herself by her quote “Don’t let anybody define you.…