"Frame Lines": Introduction 3
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I propose that most relationship patterns in the board-riding community are templates on a central theme: age. In the way that board-rider’s order their relationships to other members within the subculture, which undoubtedly reaches from sometimes birth to elderly and passed individuals, age plays a significant role. A twenty-year-old boarder focuses intensely on the abilities, skills, and benefits of being closely connected to people of his very near peer group, no more than a few years different. A forty year old board-riding community member is, in my experience, much more likely to focus on people of his own skill or style level in different age groups who emulate that part of subculture that he most identified with. In this way, the older boarder looks down to the younger boarder as a way to pass on knowledge and see the evolution of the sport and thus recognizes some accountability for transference of traits. There is a reciprocal dynamic then, which young surfers do not want to look up to the older boarders as if they are the glass ceiling so to speak. Youth look at their peers as a way to negotiate the disparate power dynamic. This does not prove the existence of a youth subculture as separate from boarder subculture as a whole because there is strong respect and necessity for the older anchor post members to ground the communities with sense of real authenticity. Not to mention, the youthful members of boarder subcultures so often are emphasized in relation only to themselves or in reference with older heroes, mentors, or parents/relatives. This applies for both females and male members, although there tends to be a focus on Dads and Sons, at least in iterations of this trend that I have noticed in direct participant observation, across the board-sports. There is a certain feeling of perpetuation of culture, the social logic of life stages, the possession of children and the responsibility to other people’s children as well, the communal turning of attention always to the next generation’s gifts and proclivities (not deviance) that is influenced by these age-based relationships and clearly noticeable in niche media even to outsiders. I would argue this even from my position as an insider. In the gathering of ethnographic information, I had to sort through a fair share of non-core participants in order to gain the amount of coverage I was looking for across the people I cam across in board-riding scenes. It was from the non-core that I learned how board-riders differentiate themselves so much, and led to the formation of my argument on age. The Search “It’s where the quality snowboarding is, you know I don’t know if anything epic has been filmed out there but I’ve been out to some mountains in Oregon.” –Cable Smith, 22, Snowboarder/Filmer  
Although there is a cut of the board-riding population that is actively engaged in the pursuit as a “performance sport,” many more people feel committed to its lifestyle, and to that lifestyle because of ideological feelings. As the title of this section suggests, it is something that must be found, not made, and exists in an empirical form: the search. From Sarah Thornton, we find that style (consumer capital) versus consumerism in culture are somewhat more complexly different than simple observation might suggest. Subcultures, especially highly differentiated sport-based ones like board-riding, she would argue, tend to be cohered around participants using certain consumables as markers of having cultural capital. The community however, remains more valuable than the acquisition of goods alone, and can not be bought and sold as such because, she would also argue, authenticity needs a means to be kept sacred. Everything that goes into finding waves, good spots, and best sessions…basically what goes into finding the dream glide is what is contained in the idea of the search for the boarder. Moving towards a new definition of community from the disjointed modern state, boarder subcultures define themselves ideologically by being signaled by things. However, the boarder can rebel against mainstream notions of possession, consumption, and materialism by turning things like trips, adventures, sessions, even weather, social relationships, and personal skills into their own versions of production and need-based consumption. It is something that board-riders seem to do with glee, to be outside of the typical capitalist model they see in boring “skating is a crime bumper-sticker suburb,” a quote from Dave, punk skateboarder extraordinaire. If the entire world is a thrill-seeking playground, then things like mainstream ideals for consumer choices would not apply. Therein lies the reality for many board-riders who see themselves and like to resent themselves as enveloped and protected by their distinct subcultural frameworks. Also, intangible feelings that are the result of time and experience, and not bought and sold goods characterize the search. For example, competition Cory Lopez said, “Success to me in surfing is just pushing your limits, you know like doing what you’re thinking about. Say you’re thinking about doing some crazy knee grab 360 air, that’s like something… that you’re going for. It’s a progression, you know you’re trying to push the limits of what you’re abilities are.” I would argue that is the highest goal for many board-riders who find camaraderie through niche media but are not made or broken by its existence, themes, or production mechanisms. The simple enjoyment of boarding and the earned embodiment are the most prized possessions a boarder could obtain. Part Two: Reel Life One Epic (Symbolic) Trip This part is given primarily to consideration of how certain aspects of niche media content mirror, support, challenge, or else negotiate social lives of boarders. It is divided into two parts, one about the experience of border niche media as it presently exists as entertainment for the subcultures and subdivided to offer a wide appeal. The second part is about being pictured (or referenced in text) and the way of picturing the frame lines that shapes board-riders view of themselves. Like the Panopticon, which is more often that not and never probably staring at its prisoners, the gaze of the niche media for these subcultures works as an influencer of behavior even when there is no camera lens directed at participants. The board-riding history has been ripe with examples of people memorializing meaningful parts of culture with media forms in the comfortable, family like circles of their niche communities. The current state of board-riding has an abundance of people contemporarily immortalized in niche media. Therefore, niche media becomes an expressionistic part of culture by which participants can imagine their image through the structure of stylized framelines created by the amorphous parameters of subculture. Through the consideration of niche media framelines, there can be some cognition of how board-riders idealize their lives and value ideological belief systems. Sessions, Sections, and Xtras Board-riding Aesthetic The imagery born from the aestheticization of thrill-seeking creates shared associations, interests, and sensitivities. Especially, ideas about the sublime, self-transcendence, and personal and bodily feelings are concentrated and represented in the niche media of board-riders. Board-riders’ attempt to capture the moment, and therein lies a big reason why media has grown up alongside board-riding activity. Whether it is Tahoe or a walk-up backyard hill snowboarding destination, most board-riders are content to relate to their environment, not dictate their constraints on the outside world. The board-rider conforms to the environment he is given, and therein lays some authenticity for his stash of cultural capital, a placeslessness. The board-riding aesthetic has created stylization so that skating is punk, snowboarding flashy, surfing is beach sexy, but only in broad stereotypes. The aesthetic also privileges exceptions to the rule--special cases that are not Carnivelesque in their deviance from social norms of representation, but subtle offshoots of the gravitational centers of the sport’s subculture. More true to experience than mass media, niche media captures these vagaries of complex discourse for surfers, skaters, and snowboarders. Much of board-riding niche media glosses over discrepancies and conflicts in favor of a smooth, unified appearance--treatment of situations and challenges in the media are just as glossy as the pages of the magazines. Unlike highly conforming subcultures, the board-riding has a niche media that prides itself on somehow representing all of the boarders out there in some form or way. By mediating conflict that subcultures create by being outside greater culture, media is a powerful tool in creating a master narrative that is extremely valuable to those within the subculture. Many groups of people have seen the development of an aesthetic that describes their way of life, but does not overpower and control that way of living. As a nearly thirty year old surfer/skater, Edward Bleakley, told me, “If you took away all the sponsors, all the photogs (photographers), all the competition glory, I mean there would still be skateboarding and surfing. Yeah, it would be just the same to me. Probably better.”
In tangent to the board-riding aesthetic, there are two main forms that emerge through consideration of niche media content. The first is the tendency to hinge whole photo journals or significant articles on single images. A boarding still photo is considered art unto itself; I have been told, and also seen in the framing of still frames. The second is about the overarching tendency to extend the board-riding aesthetic to non-specific boarder lifestyle practices. In the section on documenting life, I argue that this tendency is important to feed the hunger of participants for a sense of deep community. Still Frames
In any photos’ composition, there are markers and signifiers which can offer information to a knowledgeable board-riding audience. The color of water, the use of photographic variation, the dress of the participant, and on and on captures the feeling of the activity based in webs of significance of all the possible factors pictured. Perhaps deciphering this code is what led my skating informants to tell me about countless viewings of particular skate videos, very complicated schemas about what goes into go skating film/photo style, and almost aggressive assertion of what is the correct “framing,” so to speak of their sport. The concept of cultural geography comes into play in how photos picture a certain scene. The more picturesque and “epic,” a photo is, the more value it contains for the sport, esteem for the boarder pictured, and prestige for the photographer. In a system of worth that is distinctly not related to normal markets, where a picture of a heavy wave at Pipeline caused 8 time World Champion surfer Kelly Slater to say that he would have paid ten-thousand dollars to ride that wave, it is not hard to see how a whole industry has sprung up to perpetuate the most valuable commodity for boarders—images. Since the formation of an image is basically free, if you have the equipment, the formation of images is seen as something pure and above the market and therefore able to uphold honestly in the boarding subcultures. As Tanner Bleakley related to me about board-riding photography when asked to explain it’s grip on its niche audience, “You know, when you are riding your longboard I bet you just picture waves the whole time… that’s what I do. Anyway, you’ve seen people snowboard in pictures enough I’m sure you could just try it and figure it out, you know. It’s all the same idea of power and will balanced out, of you and what you’re riding on. That’s why people like to look at pictures all the time.” Documenting Life
“The whole reason for me to make films was to be part of something bigger than me, so people I loved could watch what I love to do and somehow feel a part of it.” -Cable, 22. Snowboarder, skater, surfer, filmmaker. This section considers the nearly obsessive documentary making of a creative way of life surrounding board-riding. This would encapsulate the lifestyle aspect of the board-sports, even to the point of scenes of eating breakfast before a big day boarding. In the water photography, in motion skate photography, and up on the mountain footage of snowboarding are actively filmed. In many cases, the filmmaker is in just a precarious position as the board-rider and has to be just as skilled of an athlete to capture the action shots. This verisimilitude between how the content of the media is garnered and how one performs the sport is a key point for the authenticity of niche media. Photos, videos, and representations of self and others are evidence of shared participation and the communal sharing of boarding performances. However, not all board-riders are consumed with constantly documenting their experiences or watching the documentaries of others. As Tallulah told me, which echoes a sentiment of many, “I don’t know what to say for it (documentaries) because I don’t watch surf movies, I do it.” Capturing most of all aspects of lifestyle, eating sleeping, hanging out, and doing the sport seems to occupy an important place in the lineup of the media, which is not an overwhelming influence on the whole scene. Surprisingly, boarders are a lot of times documentary-makers themselves, even if they eschew the alleged commercialization found in some ideas about niche media. I spoke personally to two filmmakers, from separate board-sports who admitted that they are significantly less adept at board-riding then they are capturing the efforts of their constituents. To me, this is one way that they can signal their belonging in the subcultures through action sport/action photography and be aligned with the core values through production of niche media, but maybe not be the best skater or snowboarder out there. Not to mention, the consumption of board-riding niche media is the main communication device for members of the scene. As Rick, a retired lifelong board-rider (still riding of course), told me, “I always loved watching the surf movies, when I was a kid because it gave me better ideas for tricks and stuff. I would see something I hadn’t tried before and I could like, do one more trick or something. I always thought if I busted an air or something, like do Gerry Lopez’s style in the movies, then I could get all the girls to like me in the fifth grade.”
Intersections of Folkloric and Lived Experiences 
Board-riding Meta-narratives The surfer meta-narrative extends by corollary to skaters and snowboarders. The meta-narrative form is architecture that defines not only what is expressed about subculture but how. There are time-honored ways of talking about the “dream glide,” as much as relating to the rest of “mainstream” culture, and also styles within the subcultures. To talk about the boarder meta-narratives is in reference to the discourse of the subcultures. The meta-narratives that are contained within the board-riding experience are redefined by evolution over time and perpetuated by patterned ways of forming the stories. Therefore, folk life and lived life is interestingly parallel when considered from an analytical perspective. Board-riders actively engage in trying to create their own best experiences that recreate familiar and exotic sensory interplays. In participant observation with a regular street skating milieu, the fun thing to do seemed to be to “talk up” and “talk down” aspects of other sessions that had already occurred and completely ignore the session at hand. It appeared that the constant recreation of perceptions of previous experiences guided the group to enjoying the experience at hand in a particular way. These were not easy conversations to break into, or even follow, because they relied as if on purpose on certain ways of remembering and retelling past events that I, the author, had not been present for. Other groups of boarders reach out for material to use in story-telling as well. In Charleston, at the local board-sport shop, it is common parlance to throw in mini-anecdotes in almost every discussion of gear. I know this to be true of board-shops in general. It is an important moment to offer personal tidbits that replace the typical store associate and customer relationship with a more ambiguous status differential. The client may be a professional snowboarder being served by a fifteen-year old “resort rat,” where the transmission of information is going from the purchaser to the commander of the materials in question. In this way, the concept that board-riding subculture and subculture in general subverts mainstream power relations that are based on materialism is legitimized. Shops are an important venue for the story-telling of boarders where they can easily link visual stimuli of the equipment or styles to tropes and experiences that hey are experienced in dialoguing about. This perhaps is just as important of a survival skill for a boarder as are the actual sport skill set in that it can garner nearly as much status out of the water, skate park, and snow path. In fact, it is the primary way that boarders mark and are marked for their status in the hierarchy in regular non-boarding life. It is definitely tied up a great deal with self-respect. As one snowboarder/filmmakerer told me, “I feel kind of dorky when I wear all the brands, I mean right now I look like a geek I know, so I usually don’t dress like in the snow brands. But I like it when people recognize that I might not be the best boarder, I mean I’m definitely not, but I love doing it and I like making movies about it with my friends.” He told me he has been boarding since a young age and will continue to do so when he gets older. This particular boarder, among many, located his status in his ability to appeal to my own subcultural knowledge in order to offer him respect as opposed to relying on his outward, superficial appearance. Some of the most fruitful conversations I have had with boarders have come back repeatedly to the same kinds of storytelling that negate outward appearances for what lies beneath. The manner of talking is to form opinions openly that conform with themes in the boarding world: that he/she is a kook, that something is sick/gnarly/epic/sweet, that there is an ideal condition of perfection that is not out of reach, that the way things look do not always match up with intuited beliefs about they way they are, and that people have been riding boards for a long time and that any new thing is a version/progression of an old one. As I write this presently, there is a crew of skateboarders who organically appeared in the circle outside my porch to do kick-flips onto a miniscule curb. As Will told me a few days ago, the direction which skateboarding is moving now is much faster and much more horizontal. Apparently, the big thing used to be to do the biggest drops vertically and land tricks. He told me that he believes that the style is gravitating back to the standards set by surfing, low gravity, semi-standing positioning, and continuous maneuvering. Snowboarding on the other hand, he said, is moving towards the retro ideal in skating—huge drops and solid, exaggerated posture. Whether or not his account can be applied as expert commentary, it is evidence of the other part of the boarding meta-narrative—that all three board-sports are in flux and working off of each other. In conclusion, I offer that the board-riding experience is inexorably tied to representations of it within the subcultural arena, where niche media propagates values, beliefs, and attitudes. Fluid Exchanges of Cultural Capital Niche Media and the Board-riding Community In the television and subsequently digital ages, images have become even more a central part of public life. No longer confined to print materials, images fill the role of many traditional methods of representation based in written texts. The method in which people dissect the massive quantity of images and understand them has not yet caught up with our command of language and interpersonal relations. Learning how these images are influential in our lives is functional in the shaping of our perspectives of culture. Therefore, when boarders venerate the niche media representations of their subcultural lifestyles, the grammar of those media is co-opted by the participants. It is entered into the lexicon of understanding other visual experiences and permeates into discourse, interpersonal relationships, and individualized embodied emotional states. This is perhaps the most significant outcome--when the visual culture of board-riding can enter into the personal realm and shape individuals’ experiences into similar stories that connect people across the boarder subculture. Thanks For Reading… Thank you to all the surfers (of every mode and type), the waves/smooth surfaces/fresh powder, and the creative people who represent their lifestyles. Hopefully, this thesis will continue the work done towards anthropology of the spiritual and expressionistic lives of those who pursue higher values through bodily practice on boards. To all those who commit their energies to riding, sliding, and gliding, it seems that transitions are critical focal point. To keep progressing, board-riders need to know how to connect the dots between maneuvers as well as social worlds. Isaiah, a boarder of all three persuasions, was keen that I note how important the awareness of transitions was to his board-riding lifestyle. It is the subtle consciousness of changes in environment and self that gives board-riding it’s ritualistic and thrill-seeking appeal. As legendary boarding filmmaker Taylor Steele puts it: Travel keeps you young. It does this by simply putting you in situations that make you feel like a child again. Magically lost in a moment of discovery. Beautifully confused. It could be the first time you are awakened at 5:00 a.m. call to prayer from the local mosque on Morrocco’s far Atlantic shore, the first time you feel the weight of the Egyptian sun on your shoulders, the first time you paddle out over the shallow reefs of the Caribbean, or the first time you realize that people living in squalor can achieve happiness just as easily as those living in mansions. These are life’s opportunities to shed the hustle of modernity, to join the moment, and stop sprinting towards some prefabricated goal. Your heart races. Your metabolism shifts into a lower gear. Everything is new again. You’re sipping jetstreams.
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