1. Introduction – A short overview of topic of sport mainly focusing on football within the media and how it remains relevant to the contemporary media landscape.
My critical investigation is going to focus on the obsession of the media, the fans and the remaining population with sports and the sport stars that elapse from the subsequent coverage. Sports have engulfed everyday life and weather you like it or not you will come into some contact with it regularly throughout your life. (I, A, R, S)
I will explore a number of possible reasons for why this is the case and ultimately make a decision as to who I believe is spurring the obsessions and the possible consequences of this (Both positive and negative). As I am trying to determine the root of sports over domination of the media I will look at a number of texts from “Sky Sports News TV”, “Heat” and “Football Factory”. (M, I, G,)
2. Moving Image portrayal of sports fans and Hooligans and the associated violence that comes with this.
The believe that sports fans are generally violent and aggressive has become very common nowadays and it is important to analysis why this is the case. Within the moving image area of broadcast a number of films, news stories and documentaries have been created to show this. Some examples are Green Street Hooligans, Football Factory, The Firm Real Football Factories and a number of news stories on the everyday news that portrays your average football fan as a thug. In this paragraph I will look at why this is the case bringing in a number of theories such as the Marxist, Nationalist and whether the image was perpetuated to create a moral panic. (G, R, Id, H )
3. The amount of coverage within the media that sport receives and the genres it infiltrates.
Sport is generally seen as being a male dominate world which mainly appeals to men and therefore you would think that it would only appear in male targeted programming, web pages and print formats but this isn’t the case. As well as holding a permeate place on the back pages of every newspaper and having a specially ascribed slot on the news shows it has also forced its way into other genres and text. Sport stars are being cast as lead roles in movies with Rampage Jackson playing the role of Mr.T in the new A-team film and they appear regularly in female gossip magazines. In this paragraph I will examine how the sport star has become a celebrity with there roles involving entertainment outside there field of sports and what this means.(M, G, I, S)
4. Feminism in the male dominated world of sport for a fan to the athletes and others.
The female athlete faces a number of prejudices with there earning potential being much lower than there male counterparts and the attention of female dominated sports being significantly lower. As well as this the female fan is subjected to viewing all sports through Laura Mulvey’s purposed male gaze and if it’s not the athletes themselves wearing small little skirt (tennis), it’s the countless number of cheerleaders in between every play (American Football). "Nancy Hartsock (1990), for example, argues that the women are alienated from their "real" experiences because they are forced to use dominant male, conceptual schemes" this quote encapsulates my examination of the problem with sport from the eyes of a feminist. The female is being only shown men’s sport and women within a men’s world and therefore not experiencing what women’s sporting contribution is. (S, I, Id, R, A)
5. What are the effects of watching sports on the possible audiences and why are they somewhat addicted to watching it.
In this paragraph my focus will be on the theories behind audience effects and how they apply to the sports industry. Firstly uses and gratifications theory, this is the theory that the consumer consumes the media to gain some sort of emotional gratification and motivation from it. "Some contend that this so-called eustress motivation is theoretically driven by the chronic underestimations experienced by many individuals in their daily lives” this quote shows one possible gratification that comes form watching sports. The next quote shows the move from the hypodermic needle theory and how it has been adapted. "This pioneering work theorized that although the mass media may not have the power to tell the audience what to think (as noted by the hypodermic needle model) the mass media do have the power to tell the audience what to think about" this can be seen by the numerous panel shows around sports which arouse interest in specific areas of a sport. Another audience theory is the two step theory which is that the information of the sport travels from institution to consumer through personal connections such as friends and family. (A, Id, S,)
6. Marxism in Sports.
There is a huge amount of money in sports and this automatically makes me think of the Marxist theory and the possible gainers from it. The Marxist theory states that the upper class imposes boundaries to ensure that they retain profit whilst the lower classes remain comfortable with their position through false empowerment. This can be seen throughout the majority of sports clubs with the fans being middle and lower class while the owners and players are wealthy upper classes. The false empowerment comes from the constant projections of the clubs being for the fan but not actually assigning any from of power or control to fans. This can be seen in the Liverpool Football Club issue with Hicks and Gillet. In the paragraph I will address the question of the amount of money in sport, how much control the fan actually posses and apply the Marxist ideals to sporting clubs such as the England Football Team. "As the culturally and historically specific expression of physical culture under the conditions of capitalism, few redemptive qualities were seen to be present in sport. The limiting and damaging culture of sport was contrasted with the expansive and liberating qualities of play. Sport was, as the title of Jean-Marie Brohm's seminal book so evocatively captured 'a prison of measured time'." (E, Id, I, A, S, P)
7. The level of which sporting addiction reaches and the effects it is having on society.
Sports are becoming increasing accessible to the everyday fan and this has pushed sporting addiction to new limits. As well as being 24 hour sports channels there are a number of websites which also give 24 hour access to sports news and now there are mobile phone apps which allow you to check the latest news where ever you my be. Sports are willing to go to a number of lengths in order to see their favourite sporting athletes and pay outrageous amounts of money just to be able to cheer along their teams. This paragraph asks the question whether the love of sports is going too far and how the institutions behind the clubs and sporting events are exploiting this love or addiction and if it is righteous. For example Real Madrid Football club are partly funded by the government and therefore are paid for by the Spanish public also American sporting franchises have threatened to leave their city if funds for new stadiums aren’t made available. (N, P, A)
8. How sporting role models have become general role models and the promotion of positive ideologies that sports promote.
Sport stars have become general role models to nations of people and this alone shows the effect on sports on this world. The question pose in this paragraph is should sport stars really be revered as icons and expected to lead a perfect lifestyle. Also the lengths in which institutions are prepared to go to in order to keep their poster boy athletes hidden lives under wraps. For example the tiger woods situation which recently came out the john terry scenario. This links to the idea of heroes and villains with sporting stars being shown as heroes or villains. Sports have been used to promote positive ideologies like not giving up and inequality amongst everyone and varies different institutions have used these stories to show them. For instance Disney and Warner Bros. use sports narratives in the films High School Musical and Space
9. Postmodernism in Sport
Sport often is used to offer a
Conclusion – A summary of my most important points linking them to my introduction and the questions I asked. Show how through my essay I have incorporated MIGRAIN and SHEP throughout my work.
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