Critical Investigation

“There are heroes and villains, disappointments and triumphs, winners and losers, victory and defeat” .
An investigation into whether the media's seemingly 'heroic' portrayal of sports people during the Olympics and other sports seems to offer a more unified and utopic notion of global cohesion. Or is it just constructed imagery?

Athletes at major sporting events have been represented in diverse ways; the factors considered in the title quote maybe the deciding factor of how each sports person will be portrayed. Victory is a crucial element when the ‘heroic’ portrayal is created as it is a way of reinforcing their capabilities. However, questions can be posed as to why sports people, in particular at the major sporting events themselves, are depicted as archetypal heroes. An explanation for this is the idea of them representing a nation, and therefore the audience enforces and projects their own expectations on them and narcissistically identifies with them. This is similar to the expectations of superheroes, such as Superman. More recently, in sports such as football, “Television gave extra prominence to top clubs and made celebrities out of their players” . The media have enabled sports people to be perceived as superior and to gain additional popularity through converging media institutions and technology. Hence, the mainstream, dominant media are responsible for developing sports people into renowned individuals and above everyday society. For instance, “Bobby Moore lifting the World Cup in 1966” may not have been as significant as contemporary sporting events as it was not broadcast on other platforms in addition to television. Therefore, the media’s role is ever more powerful in connoting the ideologies of heroism in sport. An explanation being the saturation coverage of massively promoted, heavily sponsored events. That are essential in encouraging western consumers to purchase more.

When developing a 'heroic' portrayal of sports people, a fundamental stage is the narrative. To “produce sporting narratives that can emphasise drama, spectacle and significance” is essential when transforming a mere sports person into a sports ‘hero’. A text which underlines the importance of this is 'Miracle' (2004). The film is about a failing US hockey team, which under a new coach defies the odds and wins gold at the 1980 Olympics. “The movie did a good job showing how seemingly impossible it seemed for the young American team to beat the best team in the world who had been playing together for 10 years” . This is not an unusual narrative as it allows audiences to sympathise with the hockey players during their time of struggle, and they are able to then see them flourish and triumph. This is significant as the hockey players have to be portrayed as likeable characters in order to gain popularity from the audience and thus supporting them in the end. If this does not occur then the unity between the hockey players and the audience is lost. Furthermore the text has been distributed by Walt Disney, who are renowned for the creation of Disneyland; their aim is for people “to feel like they’re in another world” . This links to the idea of utopia as it attempts to promote a place of perfection. Values such as this are embedded in to the text and are confirmed when the team emerges victorious. However, this raises the point that it may be constructed and ideological imagery, due to the narrative being too idealistic.

Contemporary sporting media texts may also provide a view on post-colonialism. A recent example of this would be ‘Invictus’ (2010) which demonstrated the social, political and cultural differences between white and black people in the 1990s. Although another view would be that sport enabled these differences to be less significant. This has happened in reality, for example: “In a way to unify his people, Mandela used the country's love for Rugby to connect the whites and the blacks” . Therefore it could be argued that sport has brought people together and can lead to peace and global cooperalism as the text shows how rugby can nullify these cultural differences.

Global cohesion is seen through major sporting events taking place, but particularly the opening ceremonies, which also echoes global cohesion by celebrating the history of such events. For example the opening ceremonies of the Olympics held in Beijing, 2008, and Athens, 2004, connote society being unified. This is expressed through a mass amount of colour and people who dress the same to represent their nation. By doing this the ceremonies enforce cohesion through pride and chauvinistic patriotism. Nonetheless, this may prove that there is a lack of global cohesion as society has become more into nationalism. Sporting events support this view as people tend to focus more on their own country. However this maybe due to how institutions present sport to the people as they may construct it in a nationalistic way. An example that represents this is the BBC’s coverage of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the main stories concerned the British achievements of Cathy Freeman and Michael Johnson in the women’s and men’s 400 meters. “Patriotism and nationalism are close allies” . It can be argued that the Olympics have a strong link with nationality as the medal winner’s nationality holds high importance and clear relevance. The playing of the gold-winner’s national anthem and the waving of their flag means national pride is a critical piece of sports achievement.

A further example of nationalism includes the Daily Mirror article headlined “Achtung! Surrender” , the article was building up the England vs Germany match for the event Euro 1996. This was an obvious case of jingoistic ideologies as it showed two England footballers in Second World War helmets. Tabloid newspapers like the one mentioned evidently provide representations that will offer global cohesion. This is because it is attempting to get people behind its nation through the false impression that it is a war. On the other hand, it could be debated that nationalism does not occur in every sport or isn’t to the same extent. One popular sport that comes to mind is tennis. This is perhaps due to most of the rewards being focused on individuals and their own personal accomplishments. Consequently, it could be questioned that a ‘heroic’ portrayal is more frequent in tennis and other individual sports rather than team sports. The reason for this is the attention of the audience and the media is directly focused on the individual rather than shared between a team. “Federer made his point and created, once more, the magnificent illusion that he could do anything, that no challenge or pressure was so great that it could not be sustained by the sheer scale of his talent and his resolve” . In addition it is more straight-forward for audiences and the media to attach a protagonist and antagonist role in a sport like tennis. Moreover it allows audiences to identify with them more as they are able to understand and interact with the narrative by knowing who to route for. Yet, this may mean in tennis there is less of a chance of global cohesion as there are two competitors and people’s allegiances will be split.

Conversely, there are many theoretical views of relating sports to media. Such as Marxism, “the media are instruments of social control whose content is manipulated to mislead people and encourage them to accept their subordination” . The media gives hegemonic ideologies which benefit the ruling class; this is referred to by Althusser as an “ideological state apparatus” . The link between this and sports is, the media permit the thought that sports people are representing society and the working class. However, the Marxist view would argue it is a means of maintaining the status quo as it creates “false consciousness” . The media is controlled and run by the ruling class and is used as an agent of social control, one of the ways this is done is through sports people. Athletes are represented as heroes in order to create unity with the working class viewers; this enables them to be content with their lives as they are unaware of their exploitation.

A valid argument would be that as Britain is more ethnically diverse, it has enabled the media to appeal to different audiences and lead to a unified society. This is through, “increased money from advertising, sponsorship and media revenues has led to increased player wages/expensive foreign imports” . By having a greater amount of foreign sports people, it facilitates a global cohesion as there is a range of nationalities representing sports, this connotes that ethnic minorities are not left secluded with no sports icon to represent them. The awareness of ethnic diversity may perhaps have a bearing on why London’s 2012 Olympic bid was so successful. London which overcame Paris in the final as hosts for the 2012 Olympics had contrasting approaches in how they were going to succeed in their proposal. Paris emphasised on their traditions and the legacy of the Olympics, while London demonstrated the idea of how ethnically diverse the city is and how this links to the idea of the Olympics having a range of different talents from different backgrounds. London’s bid also referred to the importance of how the Olympics can “inspire young people from around the world” by viewing sports people as role models. Consequently it can be argued that London was more successful as they enforced the view of athletes being portrayed as heroes and also the views on international unity.

There is an indication that sports is becoming widely celebrated with major sporting events now going to be hosted on continents that have never done this before. Such as the 2010 Fifa World Cup will be hosted by South Africa and the 2016 Olympics will take place in Rio, Brazil. The Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva claimed “For South America, it will be a magical moment. For the Olympic Movement, it will be an opportunity to feel the warmth of our people, the exuberance of our culture, the sun of our joy” . This signifies that not only do the media contribute to sports being linked to a global cohesion but organisations such as the International Olympic Committee also assist in this. In addition it suggests how society has become more contemporary and is promoting ideologies of equality as other continents are getting a chance to host big sporting events. Although it can be debated that sport is losing its traditions; “Netball is hoping to follow the example of rugby sevens by campaigning for the inclusion of a cut-down, speeded-up version of the sport in the Olympics” . It can be questioned that the purpose and motive of sports has changed as rules are changing in order to make it more entertaining for audiences. As a result the conventions that go along with sports may possibly be changing. Nevertheless, it could be argued because sports is more entertainment focused, it appeals to a wider more universal audience, as a result sport is more globally cohesive.

The media seems to be the key explanation for the ‘heroic’ portrayal of sports people. On the other hand, due to the introduction of user- generated content, other media institutions may not have as much of an influence on the representations of sports people. “Social networking sites with video streaming facilities have led to more broadcast exposure for minority sports, as participants/fans post their own videos on the internet” . This has led to different perspectives of sports people and may go against Marxism’s theory. This is because user-generated content has led to working class people able to share their views, “blogging is a common practice for contemporary sports audiences” . Conversely, this may support the idea of sport being presented as constructed imagery. This is because audiences are able to give their own outlook on sport which may not be truthful.
Overall, there is a great amount of evidence which suggests the media’s ‘heroic’ portrayal of sports people during sports events seems to offer a unified and utopic notion of global cohesion. “World Cup’s organisers FIFA claimed that an unprecedented 1.1 billion people watched the 2002 final between Brazil and Germany” . A key explanation for this is big sporting events such as the Fifa World Cup and the Olympics focus a great deal on national achievements. The Olympics is seen “as the television event that brings the 'global village' together through shared appreciation of the universal ideals embodied in athletic competition, transcending racial, national and religious differences” . Sporting events like the Olympics link to global cohesion due to the amount of media coverage surrounding it.






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