Abstract
The author analyses the 2009 documentary film Bigger, Stronger, Faster, which investigates the nature of American pop culture and sports. Writing from the perspective of cultural anthropology and sociology, he considers how ideas about the body and physicality are programmed by popular media culture and famous sports figures and celebrities, who are treated as models of masculinity and mass media heroes. He also raises the issue of the influence of illegal pharmaceutical doping on contemporary American sports. All these subjects serve to describe the form and functioning of America’s contemporary collective identity and the connection between the authorities, television, sports entertainment, and politics. The United States described in the documentary is a real and existing utopia, which Americans and other people have dreamt and still dream about, and which everyone believes in—not only the recipients of popular media culture and sports entertainment.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
