The unshakeable strangeness of the 2021 Super Bowl

The sporting event of the year made America weird again for one short evening

Chiefs Buccaneers Super Bowl Football (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

As a culture writer in the US, the Super Bowl is, well, my Super Bowl. The American football game is reliably the most watched television broadcast in the country every year. The most watched television broadcast in the entirety of US history, in fact, was the Super Bowl XLIX, the 2014 game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks.

My own coverage has little to do with the actual sporting event (I leave that to the sports writers). I tend to keep a distracted eye on the score, focusing instead on the hotly tipped film and TV trailers and star-studded ads that air during commercial breaks. I also focus on the half-time show, one of the most high-profile live performances of the year – even more so in Covid times, when live concerts have become a rarity.

This year, like any other year, I set up my work station in front of the television, ready to capture it all. I was so focused on the cultural news, in fact, that for most of the game I was only dimly aware that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (newly bolstered by Tom Brady’s presence) were likely leading against the Kansas City Chiefs. It wasn’t until the second half of the game that I confirmed that fact for good.

Super Bowl LV was an exercise in strangeness. For many months, it was unclear which form the event would take after a year of the pandemic, or whether there would be one at all. But the NFL went ahead in the end, with a limited stadium audience. In order to avoid having empty bleachers, though, the league partly filled the Raymond James Stadium with cardboard cutouts of spectators. The cutouts had the intended effect, meaning the stadium did, in fact, look quite full on camera – causing me to do a double-take when I first tuned in.

The film and TV trailers were unusually scarce, owing to the fact that the entertainment industry has slowed down considerably as a result of the pandemic. (Me, I’m just flabbergasted – and thankful – we’re getting new shows and films at all.) The commercials, on the other hand, seemed as plentiful as ever, even though some usual sponsors had pulled out. My personal favourite was the one in which Gwen Stefani pretended to be looking for someone “completely country, uncultured, and threatened by a strong, confident woman”, only to be set up by Adam Levine on a date with her real-life partner Blake Shelton.

And then there was the halftime show. The Weeknd gave a brilliant performance, complete with an army of bandaged dancers (an aesthetic The Weeknd has played with lately, saying it’s a statement on celebrity – it also means they are exceptionally well-outfitted for a Covid-safe number) taking over the whole field. The resulting tableau was arresting, thrilling, and impeccably choreographed. After months of plain weirdness, it felt great to be given a chance to dip our toes back into fun weirdness.

For a few hours, the Super Bowl – and The Weeknd – made America weird again. I’m still not convinced it was a good idea to have a Super Bowl at all during Covid, but if we were going to have one, then this one was the best possible version. There was even a streaker! As they say, nature is healing.

Yours,

Clémence Michallon

US culture reporter