Sports Film Research Articles

Time and timelessness in sport film

The visibility, immediacy and spectacle of sport make it more cinematic than many other cultural practices. Sport's quotidian and mythic qualities are particularly amenable to dramatic adaptation, with sport film crucially dealing with the relationship between the domain of sport and the greater world of which it is a part. Sport film, freed from the demands of the ‘live’ sporting moment, has the freedom to play with time and space in elastic ways. This essay examines two recent sport films, La Gran Final (2006) and Zidane, Un Portrait du 21e Siècle (2006), which in their different ways exemplify sport film's temporal reflexivity. The first (and less intensively treated) is a film that affirms the importance of ‘liveness’ to sport – the need for time to overcome space. The second is a very different text that demonstrates what sport film can do with time – how, instead of reproducing the urgency of the ‘live’ moment, it can de-familiarize it, challenge it, and make it strange without entirely becoming disconnected from the conventionally climactic point of the sport contest. In the process, it is hoped that the complex interplay of time and timelessness in sport film will be apprehended. These films both reflect and reflect upon contemporary media sport culture in a manner extending beyond the self-imposed limitations of the currently dominant media sport form – live and loud televised sport. It is concluded that sport film is simultaneously anchored to chronological time while constantly stretching to free itself of temporal constraint in pursuit of the production of myth.

In praise of an ‘invisible genre’? An ambivalent look at the fictional sports feature film

The main intention of this essay is to examine the fictional sports feature film and to outline contentious points of debate in an area that might be referred to as an ‘invisible genre’. Furthermore, via my focus upon selected areas concerning the sports film, questions are raised relating to the complex matter of film genre. I begin firstly by locating historically the sports film in the USA and UK. A brief ‘track record’ of European and global national cinemas is also sketched. Secondly, I move towards a definition of the sports film, a task that still remains elusive. Thirdly, I examine a perceived reluctance for the sports film to be recognized as a ‘genre’ in its own right. I do this to fuel a discussion about whether the lack of any clear identification of the sports film, as a genre, has in some way actually clouded critical and academic appreciation and audience reception. To achieve these objectives I examine in detail two sports films, namely Coach Carter and Purely Belter. Both films effectively emphasize social and individual issues such as class, gender and nationalism as they are mediated through sport.1 In the analysis I highlight a significant ‘difference’ in approach to sports films in the USA and UK, especially in terms of the use of technology, demands put upon the actors and production values. Hence, the attention paid to the UK film, Purely Belter, appears limited when compared to that of US-made Coach Carter.

Goal! and the global sports film

The 2005 film Goal! exemplifies what the Hollywood sports film does best: it offers an emotionally engaging, utopian story of a talented athlete whose hard work and determination make possible the overcoming of social disadvantage to achieve stardom. Goal! also follows the pattern for most sports films by offsetting the overly simplistic formula for such success by to some degree realistically portraying the business of professional football – as well as its protagonist Santiago Munez's experience of immigration – that make up the world in which the story takes place. Goal! exemplifies the increased influence of globalization on commercial sports and movies. Its globalized appeal may have helped with football fans who understand the game as an international sport, but it may have also limited its access to viewers in the USA where globalization represents a threat to the cultural exceptionalism that the most popular American sports have long helped to define.

Winning and losing respect: narratives of identity in sport films

This essay examines sport films in terms of respect, identity and individualism. It suggests that a common narrative structure in films featuring sport based stories involves the winning, or sometimes losing, of respect. Success in narrative terms is not so much associated with sporting victory as in winning the respect of others. Through these narrative structures, issues of identity are explored. In particular, the narratives trace the ways in which characters respond to challenges by changing. In this sense these films are rooted in an ideology of competitive individualism which is a distinct product of capitalism as it developed in the United States of America. So while women, Jews, Afro-Americans and British Asian girls all find fulfilment through the narrative journey of these films, it tends to be within the terms of the competitive individualist ideology. Only where the concept of respect and its association with sport performance is challenged or questioned do sport films tend to raise more profound questions about the individual in society.

Remasculinizing American white guys in/through new millennium American sport films

In this essay I analyse the cultural politics of the white masculinities constructed in new millennium American sport films. Specifically, I situate the production and consumption of these films in a historical conjuncture marked by an alleged crisis of masculinity for American men and the revitalization of a new conservatism in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11 2001. Produced within this social milieu, several new millennium American sport films offer narratives featuring white everymen experiencing various crises where sport provides a masculinizing solution to their anxieties (at least momentarily). Thus, I illuminate four representational strategies common in a number of these films in order to read new millennium sport films as key cultural sites disseminating and popularizing a set of conservative ideologies and logics about gender, race and class, whose effect, if not intent, is the re-centring of white masculinity in post-9/11 American culture and, by extension, refortifying white male privilege in American society.

‘It's in the game’: sport fans, film and digital gaming

This essay compares the relative successes of sport-related films and sport-related digital games. Where sport-related films are relatively infrequent and even more rarely successful when compared with other genres of film, sport-related games are a popular and successful genre of digital gaming. In order to understand this discrepancy, and in particular, sport fans' relationship with both film and games, this essays draws on the concept of ‘narrative’ and, specifically, Ricoeur's ‘narrative identity’. Specifically, this essay suggests that sport teams/clubs are to some degree polysemic texts, which allow supporters to construct their own individual narratives around them. However, it is suggested that sport-related films, which tend to offer only limited narratives, are unlikely to fit with fans' own narrative identities, whereas digital games, with their more fluid narratives, are more easily located within fans' relationships and narratives with the teams/clubs they support.

From mice to men: Miracle, mythology and the ‘Magic Kingdom’

Within this essay we address sport film as particularly lustrous, affective and sensuous mediums onto which various socio-political trajectories become mapped and within which popular forms of culture are appropriated. Focusing on the 2004 Disney release of Miracle, we propose that the film is an emplotment of the past – a sanitized reconfiguration of history – that can best be understood through reference to the geo-political realities of the present: one in which the spectres of the Cold War are being rolled out in multiple popular cultural forms as part of the United States response to the events of September 11 2001. We argue the events of the 1980 Winter Olympic Games US ice hockey semi-final victory by the US over the USSR were detached from their historical moorings in the soft/ideological battles of the Cold War. Instead, as part of the commercially bastardized, insipid, yet seductively effervescent filmic popular, this ‘great moment in sport history’ re-emerged in our present, or more accurately, was narrated or retold, as a ‘sanctioned’ sporting discourse that mobilizes the affective orientation of popular-commodity-signs in the substantiation and appropriation of US corporo-political needs through a myopic expression of American jingoism, militarism and geo-political domination.

Rethinking Genre Theory

Rethinking Genre Theory Film Genre: and Beyond, by Barry Langford, Edinburgh University Press, 2005. Barry Langford correctly contends that while has become an increasingly contested concept in scholarship, the film continues to dominate much of Hollywood's annual output. To add to his point, at the time of this review, the top-grossing films in the United States include two horror films, a sports film, an action/adventure film, a historical drama, two teen films- one a musical and another a college comedy-and, finally, an animated children's film. While genre theory has traditionally focused on the formation of such Classical categories as the Western, the gangster, the romantic comedy, the horror, and the combat film, the need for a redefined understanding of genre-one which accounts for the post-Classical emergence of the notoriously difficult to define science-fiction and blockbuster action that make up the bulk of multiplex fare every summer- is more necessary than ever. Langford's Film Genre successfully addresses this growing need by working through the question of how the academic and industrial concept of genre emerges, and convincingly promoting an evolutionary model that focuses on genre formation as a process rather than as constant and internally consistent. Instead of decrying the post-Classical impulse toward genre blending and bending as a threat to traditional notions of genre theory, Langford effectively demonstrates that these impulses have been a key feature of genre since the beginning of narrative film. Langford carefully balances his critique of the constantly evolving generic categories between two audiences. On one hand, he pitches his discussion toward students who might be coming to an understanding of genre for the first time, and on the other, he successfully navigates the various and sometimes competing assertions of genre scholars. More specifically, Film Genre extends and revises the expert's sense of genre by pointing to the prescient need to reformulate rigid conceptions of genre films as being only systematic, routinized, and internally consistent productions intended for mass audiences. Langford divides his book into three major sections. First, he traces the emergence of four Classical genres-the Western, the musical, the war/combat film, and the gangster film-and provides significant examples of how scholarship and the industry have shaped the ways in which audiences have come to understand the key signifiers of each. The second section focuses on what he refers to as transition genres of the horror and science-fiction film, clarifying how each contributes to the destabilization of the categories described in the first section. Finally, the third section explores contemporary post-Classical genres like noir, the action blockbuster, and other complex forms like documentary, the Holocaust film, and pornography in order to demonstrate how the mutability of generic form has been a constant and consistent feature of narrative film. Each chapter, moreover, includes a discussion that goes beyond Hollywood to explore how other national cinemas have treated the specific genres under consideration. Lastly, each chapter provides a case-study of a specific analyzed within the matrix of scholarly approaches employed by the author throughout the book, which makes Film Genre especially useful for students. Langford's approach to Film Genre allows him to successfully achieve the important goals of extending the pioneering work of genre theorists like Thomas Schatz, Rick Altman, and Steve Neale, and providing an accessible explanation of Hollywood's historical relationship with the genre film. Langford's flexible definition of genre depends heavily on reinvestigating the significance of melodrama to narrative film. Identifying what he refers to as the melodramatic modalities of genres, Langford's theory helps to clarify why genre films often fail to fully satisfy the rules of their form. …

The Dramaturgy of Action and Involvement in Sports Film

Nothing could be without its opposite that was bound up with it. … Each was what the other had not chosen to be, the cast-off self, what he thought he hated but perhaps in reality loved. (Patricia ...

You Throw Like a Girl: Sport and Misogyny on the Silver Screen

Introduction Sport has traditionally been accepted as a male domain. Incorrect beliefs in and about the histories of games and sport, and their inherent invisibility of girls and women as participants, have built a foundation of myths upon which the contemporary culture of sport and the construction of masculinity have been built. ' As is true in many versions of history, women are absent from inclusion unless an individual woman or group of women was recognized as being exceptionally outstanding. The same is true for the history of sport. The invisibility of girls and women's games and events, not to mention many events held for women and men together in certain periods of history for certain classes of people, leads one to believe that only the Amazons, Annie Oakley, Mildred Babe Dirdrickson Zaharias, or the Edmonton Grads had any skills in physical activity or sporting prowess.2 This is as untrue as any history that relegates women and their involvement in various societies and cultures to footnotes or invisibility. Most contemporary North American references to girls and women in sport began in the late 1800's. Common sense understanding and acceptance of the involvement of women in spoit since this time is based, to a great extent, on myth and misunderstanding.3 For the most part, 'facts' about women and sport are delimited to stories about and health cautions around physical activity for white, middle and/or upper class, heterosexual women. The sporting practices of poor and/or working class women, certain groups of immigrant, non-white, Aboriginal, and lesbian women are invisible in the mainstream historical records, newspapers, newsreels, and collective memories of most North Americans. The participation rates of girls and women in sports and other physical activities skyrocketed in the 20th century. Women surpassed record setting performances by men in only a few years. Women participate in activities such as rugby, boxing, mountain climbing, tae kwan do, and hockey as well as in traditional gender appropriate activities for females such as gymnastics, swimming, tennis, and figure skating. Although there is growing acceptance across North America for girls and women to engage in all of these activities, there is still an underlying tone that they really do not belong in the male realm of sport. The abilities of women athletes are constantly compared to those of men. The femininity and sexuality of women athletes are often called into question and the value of women athletes-both financial and personal-is based more on heterosexy femininity than on athletic excellence. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how language directed toward male athletes in sport genre films may have contributed to the traditional and collective beliefs about girls and women and their involvement in and relation to sport today. Has the practice of motivating men through language that demeans women in myriad, twentieth-century 'Hollywood' motion pictures about men and their sporting practices, perpetuated and reinforced the second class status of girls and women as athletes? Setting the Scene There are two primary fin de side factors that can be critically analyzed to construct the contemporary foundation upon which many beliefs and practices about girls and women's participation in sport and physical activity can be based: the social and economic conditions that led to the first wave of feminist activism in North America and the movement to rekindle the spirit of sport and manhood through the 'rebirth' of the Olympic Games. These factors likely contribute to the basis for the belief system about women and the role of women in the sport films used in this analysis. A third factor, relative to the purpose of this paper, the role of misogynistic language in feature films about men's sport, was the actual development of the first 'motion' pictures. This technology was also developed at the end of the nineteenth century and will be briefly discussed. …

"Down on the floor and give me ten sit-ups": British Sports Feature Film

Introduction ONE could be excused for thinking that the British sports feature film is, when compared to those produced in Hollywood, something of a new, fledgling genre especially given the rather scant focus and attention afforded to it by academics, critics and audiences alike. This is underpinned when comparison to other genres, such as the romantic-comedy or British gangster movie, is made given that these genres have enjoyed something of a renaissance over the last few years. Perhaps Drew Hyland was correct when he wrote, 'there seems to be a long standing prejudice that however popular a phenomenon sport may be, however widely its influence may permeate our culture, it is simply not serious enough to be a legitimate subject of intellectual inquiry' (1990). In an attempt to redress the imbalance a little, the principal aims of this essay are to examine and discuss the British fictional sports feature film1 through its historical development and then offer some discursive points as to what is intrinsically 'British' about these films.2 One of the points for discussion that I will bring to the fore and that I will expand upon is whether the sports film, especially the British sport film, constitutes a specific genre such as the Western or Gangster. Or is it something of a 'subgenre' of melodrama or a 'movement' rather like that associated with film noir.3 This essay will address a number of points. I will map out a brief history of the sports film per se and then trace a history focusing upon those films I have identified as being British. The criteria I have chosen for this task are, in some cases, the nationality of the director or the nationality of the main actors or in what country the film was produced. By doing this I hope to highlight some of the issues that are pertaining to, and open to, debate when relating to the British sports film. I will investigate some of these issues by textual analysis of an independent British film that has sport as central to its narrative drive, namely, The Girl with Brains in her Feet (1997, Roberto Bangura).4 However, my approach to the fictional sports film, let alone the British sports film, is in itself rather pragmatic. I would argue that despite what I would consider some outstanding sports movies being produced and exhibited, there are many that richly deserve their obscurity and lack of audience and critical interest. Hence within the canon of film studies and criticism those films that could be identified as sports films are perhaps not regarded as drawing the same intellectual gravitas as other well established genre films. This opens up what is for me an interesting discussion into the appreciation and critical acclaim afforded to a film such as Raging Bull (1980, Martin Scorsese). Central to my discussion here is this question: is this a film acclaimed as a 'sports film,' therefore placing it within a specific genre establishing certain conventions or is it acclaimed as a film by one of the most prolific of those acclaimed as an 'auteur'? In other words, because Martin Scorsese directed this film, it merits critical attention and elevates it above a typical and 'ordinary' genre movie. One could be forgiven for assuming therefore that the integration of sport and film should be a match made in 'movie making' heaven. Sport has courted controversy, notoriety and a special place in the hearts and minds of people living in western society. Sport tends to affect or has affected almost every individual in some way or the other, particularly in the western world, at some stage of their lives. As T. Miller and G. Laurence suggest, 'sport is probably the most universal aspect of popular culture...it crosses languages and countries to captivate spectators and participants as both professional and a pastime...passions are invoked that go beyond most other experiences' (2001, introduction). The fantastic appeal that sport conjures can influence social and individual behaviour in a way that is unique. …

The Editor's Reflections and Reports

We of Film & History have been busy since the last issue of the journal and here are some of the highlights of the past few months. This is the second issue of Film & History to complete our focus on Sports in Film. The topic has brought to our pages some impressive scholarship and quite a few readers worldwide who would not otherwise have taken an interest in our publication. Over the last six months, we have heard from new readers in Norway, Finland, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the Australasia. Film seems attracted to the athletic contest, whether it be by individuals against the limitations of time and space or the efforts of teams working toward a common goal. A geographer of sport, John Rooney, once observed to me that "sport is the best thing human beings do." It is not clear to me that I understand all of the implications of my friend's comment, but it has the ring of truth. Not only is sport important and beautiful, it says a lot about who we are and whom we aspire to become. Sports films capture clear, clean moments of human aspiration and success/defeat. An early classic, Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia (1938), interpreted the beauty and sublimity of the human form in motion. A very recent production, Cinderella Man (Dir. Ron Howard, 2005), conveys archetypal messages about human aspiration. Such important cinematic statements are the natural subjects of our journal since these messages inevitably reflect basic values and attitudes of both the time interpreted and the time in which the film is produced. Click for larger view Figure 1 The Dolce Center Click for larger view Figure 2 Publications from the "War in Film, TV, and History" Conference We are completing a proceedings CD-ROM from our War in Film conference (Dallas, 2004) that will include video, audio, and articles from the conference and from other sources along lines established by previous CD-ROM publications. (See page 4.) As many of you know, Steve Brown of Oklahoma State U was our videographer for as many events as he could attend; the technical quality of the resulting tapes has been beyond our expectations. We have put the results on this CD-ROM; for those interested in the quality of the video, see the Lawrence Suid presentation on our web site. As a result, everyone who had an article accepted for the program and who participated in the meeting has had an opportunity to publish with Film & History in some way. John E. O'Connor and Peter Rollins have selected a balanced set of articles for a book publication. Our experience with papers from the presidency conference (two anthologies) and then from the conference on the West has shown that the work of our scholars is of interest to both academic and general audiences. Those who, for a variety of reasons, do not fit into the book will been given the opportunity to appear on the next CD-ROM Annual—after screening by the peer reviewers. Finally, selected papers will be published in Y2006 as 36.1-2 of the journal. In all of these publications, we will share our insights with the world. By the time this issue of Film & History has been distributed, all prospective participants in the various projects should have heard from us; if we left you out, please let us know. The exact title of the most recent CD-ROM is Proceedings of the Film and History League Conference on War, Film, Television, and History. Anyone interested in the use of electronic media will be fascinated by what we have been able to place on this platform. Categories for included scholarly papers are listed below: Aesthetics of War Consequences and Legacies of War Hollywood, Capra, Hitchcock, and Kubrick World War II Medieval Films The Family, Women, and Nursing on Film and TV Literature/Film Papers Papers in other... collapse You are not currently authenticated. If you would like to authenticate using a different subscribed institution or have your own login and password to Project MUSE Authenticate

Shadow Riders of the Subterranean Circuit: A Descriptive Account of Black Rodeo in the Texas Gulf Coast Region

The Journal of American CultureVolume 27, Issue 2 p. 190-198 Shadow Riders of the Subterranean Circuit: A Descriptive Account of Black Rodeo in the Texas Gulf Coast Region Demetrius W. Pearson, Demetrius W. PearsonSearch for more papers by this author Demetrius W. Pearson, Demetrius W. PearsonSearch for more papers by this author First published: 11 May 2004 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1537-4726.2004.00129.xCitations: 2 Demetrius W. Pearson, EdD, is associate professor and associate department chair in the department of health and human performance at the University of Houston. His research interests are early and contemporary sport and the depiction and characterization of sport. To date, he has written several articles on North American rodeo and American sport films. The author would like to express thanks to all of the individuals who participated in the study, as well as the Program to Enhance External Research (PEER) and the African American Studies Program (AAS) at the University of Houston for their financial support. All correspondence pertaining to this study should be addressed to Demetrius W. Pearson, EdD, Department of Health and Human Performance, Houston, TX 77204. Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume27, Issue2June 2004Pages 190-198 RelatedInformation

Contesting identities: sports in American film

Since the earliest days of the silent era, American filmmakers have been drawn to the visual spectacle of sports and their compelling narratives of conflict, triumph, and individual achievement. In Contesting Identities, Aaron Baker examines how these cinematic representations of sports and athletes have evolved over time - from The Pinch Hitter and Buster Keaton's College to White Men Can't Jump, Jerry Maguire, and Girlfight. He focuses on how identities have been constructed and transcended in American society since the early twentieth century. Whether depicting team or individual sports, these films return to that most American of themes, the master narrative of self-reliance. Baker shows that even as sports films tackle socially constructed identities like class, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender, they ultimately underscore transcendence of these identities through self-reliance.Looking at films from almost every sporting genre - with a particular focus on movies about boxing, baseball, basketball, and football - Contesting Identities maps the complex cultural landscape depicted in American sports films and the ways in which stories about 'subaltern' groups winning acceptance by the mainstream majority can serve to reinforce the values of that majority. In addition to discussing the genre's recurring dramatic tropes, from the populist prizefighter to the hot-headed rebel to the 'manly' female athlete, Baker also looks at the social and cinematic impacts of real-life sports figures from Jackie Robinson and Babe Didrikson Zaharias to Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan.'A must-read for cinephiles and sports fans alike, Contesting Identites is a knock-out. Aaron Baker cogently combines previous work on identities, sports, and media and moves discussion to new levels. His analysis of how race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class are represented in feature sports films are consistently thought-provoking and intriguing' - Chris Holmlund, author of Impossible Bodies: Femininity and Masculinity at the Movies.

Playing in the Bush League: The Rookie and the Baseball Presidency

Most viewers of The Rookie will think of it in the terms in which it was reviewed: as a feel-good, Disney, G-rated family movie recounting the true story of pitcher Jim Morris making the Major Leagues at age thirty-five after a ten-year absence from baseball caused by a bad arm. When Morris challenged his lackluster Texas high school players to follow their dreams and do their best, he inspired them to win 16 games after three seasons in which they had won only 1 game each year. In return they demanded that he pursue his dream of pitching in the big leagues because they saw that he could still throw heat at the ripe old age of thirty- five. He somewhat reluctantly accepted this challenge and succeeded, becoming a middle-aged rookie relief pitcher for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 1999. (1) That the biographical story in a nutshell, but The Rookie also an effective, significant film on the generic and mythopolitical levels. Roger Ebert did not like the movie because it is ... relentlessly cobbled together out of older movies, making it unoriginal and plodding. (2) On the contrary, The Rookie's evocation of other sports films constitutes a strength, not a derivative weakness. The director John Lee Hancock's skillful echoes of past sports films and the inherent allusive aspects of Morris's biography as an archetypal comeback story broaden the themes and enhance its audience appeal. Field of Dreams (1989) a major influence on the scenes dealing with the hardscrabble diamond at the high school in Big Lake, Texas, where Morris taught science and coached the baseball team. Baseball takes a decided backseat to football at the school, and this disparity graphically illustrated by the ash-heap baseball field, where grass will not grow until a folk remedy leads to a blossoming of the field and the growth and fulfillment of the team and Morris's dreams. (3) Further, Jimmy's imperfect relationship with his aloof military dad, whom as an adult he still calls Sir, recalls the troubled father-son relationship in the Costner film. The reconciliation between Morris and his father after Jimmy's first appearance in the big leagues parallels the conciliatory catch between Ray and his father on the Iowa field of dreams. Morris hands the ball he used to strike out Royce Clayton to his father, who goes off tossing the ball into the air and catching it the way young Jimmy did. Sports Illustrated pointed out that this scene inaccurate since in reality Morris gave the ball to his son Hunter. But it not so much an inaccuracy as an adaptation of Morris's biography to echo the Field of Dreams context. (4) TRANSFORMATION Morris's transformation from a high school science teacher to a Major League pitcher recalls the classic baseball comedy It Happens Every Spring (1947), which stars Ray Milland as the bespectacled college science teacher and baseball fan who accidentally discovers a substance that repels wood and uses it to transform himself into King Kelly, pitcher extraordinaire who leads the St. Louis Cardinals to the World Series title. Milland's magical transformation paralleled in The Rookie by Jim's miraculous recovery from his arm problems to emerge as a pitcher who can bring it at 98 mph. Another parallel magical transformation movie Rookie of the Year (1993), in which, as the result of an accident to his arm, the adolescent phenom able to pitch in the big leagues. The Rookie also evokes a number of baseball films in which the character either fails to make the big leagues or succeeds in doing so late in life, or makes a comeback after a major injury. Pastime (1991) the sad tale of an aging Minor League pitcher who self-destructs in his hopeless quest for even a cup of coffee in the majors. Damn Yankees (1958) concerns an old man who sells his soul for the restoration of his youth and a successful season in the majors. In The Natural (1984), Roy Hobbs, after being shot by a mystery woman, returns to the Major Leagues a grizzled veteran and wins the big game with a dazzling home run. …

Sport Films

Sport films depict sociocultural issues in American society and serve as a purveyor of values, mores, and customs. This study examines and analyzes American sport films over time (1930-1995). Emphases were placed on various trends, including sports depicted in films and their shifts over time, film content and theme, social and cultural relevance, and technological impacts. Archival research and content analysis were employed for 590 films. The major findings were (a) major shifts in the number of sport films and the proportion of particular sports among all sport forms during the 66-year period; (b) numerous shifts in the content, especially with respect to physical contact in contrast with non–physical contact sports; (c) the fewest number of sport films for the 1960s contrasted with any decade; and (d) a shift in the frequencies of sport films by their associations with socioeconomic sports.

The Emergence of a Modern Youth Culture: The Swedish 1930s

This study traces the emergence of a modern youth culture in the 1930s in Sweden, thus challenging the view that it was born in the 1950s. Sweden, at that time, was a society at the crossroads; all over culture and society, modernity opposed what was given. The new youth culture is traced through a study offive popular cultural forms-boys' literature, particularly aviation books, girls' literature, sport, and national and US film, with a special focus on music-looking particularly for its patterning in what is called the boundary and intensity dimensions. Thus, it is possible to demonstrate rich cultural resources for a modern youth culture. However, balancing this against still existing socioeconomic restrictions makes the picture more ambiguous. What is found is not a generalized modern youth culture, but its emergence, resonating in interesting ways with the new Folkhem (the People's Home).

The Depiction and Characterization of Women in Sport Film

Female involvement and accomplishments within sport have reached unprecedented levels. This has been due, in part, to the passing and enforcement of Title IX. Yet, few films have embraced female achievement in sport as indicated through their depiction as heroines (ìsheroesî). The author analyzed the salient similarities and differences between the depiction of women in sport theme feature films (sport films) before and after Title IX. Emphasis was placed on the aggregate number of sport films, type and content, and perceived social and cultural significance of female depictions. Content analysis and archival research methodologies were employed. These included the systematic examination and coding of all identified American sport films highlighting heroines from 1930-1999 (N = 41), as well as the analysis of critical reviews of the sport films which were unavailable for viewing. Based upon results there has been a notable increase in the depiction of women as heroines in sport films after Title IX. However, like their predecessors, women’s athletic prowess was trivialized in many of the films by their comedic themes and attentions to heterosexual attractiveness. These findings, as well as others, raise intriguing questions regarding the messages communicated through sport films.

IF YOU FILM IT, WILL THEY COME?

Sports is an important subject for film, offering opportunities for the screen exploration and representation of action, drama, character, and so on. This article pursues the question of what the domain of sports offers to film, and which features of sports are selected and highlighted by it. There is a brief examination of the concept of film genre and of whether a sports film genre can be said to exist. Particular attention is given to how the dominant mythologies of sports shape its filmic treatment and how they are related to issues of power and social reproduction (mainly through a preliminary discussion of the “post-American” baseball film). It is thereby hoped to initiate greater dialogue about the relationships between sports, film, culture, social structure, and ideology.

Nostalgia for the Masculine: Onward to the Past in the Sports Films of the Eighties

Le sport est souvent au cœur des films narratifs hollywoodiens des années quatre-vingts. Les films de sport de l’époque suivent deux récits dominants: la re-création de la petite ville américaine typique, et la ré-écriture d’histoires personnelles et sociales. La théorie post-moderne propose que l’échec du present et redressé par une représentation romantique et nostalgique du passé. Cett notion se retrouve dans ces films. A une époque ou il est de plus en plus difficile de tenir des rôles masculins traditionnels, les films de sport trahissent une certaine nostalgie pour le passé héroique, pour la stabilité des identités sexuelles et pour l’hégémonie masculine de la société patriarcale.