Abstract
From little league to the major leagues, from Friday night football to the Super Bowl, from Negro League baseball to NBA hip hop, from the assimilation of immigrants to the manufacture of idealized masculinity, sporting culture has made a substantial impression upon everyday American society. Throughout the history of the cinema, this impact has been mediated by and through the production of well over a thousand sports films. Moving from the earliest silent shorts of Thomas Edison to the studio pictures of Martin Scorsese, and finally to the contemporary productions of Ryan Coogler, the American sports film genre has long been a popular site of Hollywood production. It has continually presented spectacular athletic bodies through which these films flex their ideological muscles and create the narrative foundation of the Athletic American Dream. As the 20th century came to a close, non-white and non-masculine images and influences became more visibly apparent in the sports film genre. And yet, these multiracial and multi-gendered embodiments of the Athletic American Dream were still wrapped in the uniforms of capitalism. As the sports film moves into the 21st century, however, the genre begins to reflect and represent a more politically engaged American athlete in tension with the corporate culture that oversees the media production of sporting images. This Paper explores the conflict between the powerful myth of the Athletic American Dream and the politicized reality of a divided America as played out on the contested playing fields of the sports film genre.
Presenters
Andrew MillerAssociate Professor, Director of Sports Communication and Media Graduate Program, Communication Studies, Sacred Heart University, Connecticut, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Sporting Cultures and Identities
KEYWORDS
Cultures, Diversity, History
Digital Media
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