Hero Shots: The Hero Myth as a Visual Frame in American Television Coverage of Lance Armstrong

Abstract

A camera technique known among sports broadcasters as a “hero shot” is used to capture the moment the athlete has successfully completed the task that seals or celebrates a victory. However, the “hero shot” and its components have not been examined in a scholarly setting. The current study aims to build a theoretical understanding of the “hero shot” as a visual frame that conveys hero mythology. The authors used the hero mythology literature and Brooklyn College's film department film glossary to determine which distance, angles, content, and means were most often used to capture heroic imagery of former American professional cyclist Lance Armstrong. This was done through a content analysis of 927 individual shots of Armstrong, aired between 1999 and 2010. Results suggest that low-angle and long shots were most commonly used for “hero shots.” However, the prominence of three-shots suggests the importance of other actors in contextualizing the hero.