COURSE STRUCTURE
This topic focuses on the complex interconnections linking sport and the commercial mass media. In this way, while the direct relationship is between sport and culture, this week’s focus also demonstrates clear linkages between the sport media and closely linked economic and political dimensions of contemporary society. Introduces on Debord’s understanding of the society of the spectacle, and its relevance for understanding the intertextual late capitalist sport culture. Outlines the relationship between sport spectacles and neoliberal bio-politics. Examines the hyperreal nature of manufactured sportainment spectacles, and their influence on the health of the American public.
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1. LECTURE
For six slides per page format (for printing) click : HERE
For one slide per page format (for viewing on computer) click: HERE
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2. REQUIRED READINGS
It is expected that you will complete these readings following Wednesday lectures and in preparation for discussion section tasks/assignments.
In addition, within the Module 1 exam, you should expect to be asked questions on the following readings:
Reading I: Plymire, D. C. (2012). Teaching the Sociological Imagination: Learning from The Biggest Loser. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 83(8), 23-31.
Reading II: Zeitchik, S. (2014, February 15). Sochi Olympics TV moment: Pikus-Pace and the too-personal problem. Los Angeles Times.
Hamer, M., Weiler, R., & Stamatakis, E. (2014). Watching sport on television, physical
activity, and risk of obesity in older adults. BMC Public Health, 14(10).
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3. VIDEO CLIPS
Some of these video clips will be viewed during lecture. However, you are expected to view those not shown in lecture in preparation for both the discussion section and exam related to this topic:
Video Clip 1: Brief clip of Zinedine Zidane’s “shot” heard around the world, at teh 2006 FIFA World Cup Final.
Video Clip 2: NFL 2014 promotion, highlighting the degree to which the football spectacle has became an example of sportainment.
Video Clip 3: A 2014 season promo for NBC's "The Biggest Loser."
Video Clip 9: A brief review and overview of the History Channel (2012) series, “Full Metal Jousting”, an example of low-level sportainment. NOT FALL 2015
Video Clip 10: KFC Couchgating television commercial (2013). NOT FALL 2015
Video Clip 11: Two McDonald’s Sochi 2014 television commercials, focused on “Celebrating with a Bite”. NOT FALL 2015
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4. KEY CONCEPTS
The following key concepts represent the core knowledge related to this topic, and you should ensure that you develop a thorough knowledge and understanding of them in preparation for both the discussion section and exam related to this topic:
Culture as a Set of Practices and Meaning System
Media Technologies as Communicators of Meaning (Culture)
The Changing Reach and Speed of Media Technologies
Debord’s Integrated and Intertextual Spectacle
Monumental Spectacle; Individual Spectacle; Commodity Spectacle
The Mass Media/Spectacle as a Site of (Traditional) Cultural Meaning
The Economics of the Commercial Sport Media
Sport Media Convergence and Sportainment
Social Welfare and Neoliberal Mass Media Functions
Primetime Programming and Dominant/Hegemonic American Values
The Sport Media as Ideological State Apparatus
The Biggest Loser, Neoliberal Bio-Politics/Citizens, and Dominant Cultural Codes
Hyperreality: The Mass Media and the Re-Presentation of Reality
The Olympic Spectacle as Hyperreal Sport Spectacle
Baudrillard’s Understanding of Hyperreality as Simulation/Model of Reality
NBC’s Construction of Primetime Olympic Reality
NBC’s Olympics as Soap Opera Games: The Importance of Emotional Investment
The Manipulation of Time, Events, and Emotions
Narrativizing and Personalizing the Games
Primetime Narratives and Dominant Cultural Codes (Ideologies)
High (Monumental), Medium (Everyday), and Low (Manufactured) Level Sportainment NOT FALL 2015
The Sportization of Primetime NOT FALL 2015
The Inspirational Effect of Sportainment Spectacles NOT FALL 2015
Amusing Ourselves to Death Revisited NOT FALL 2015
Globesity and the Olympic/Sport Spectacle NOT FALL 2015
Calorific Intake, Passive Viewership, and Public Health NOT FALL 2015
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5. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Following the lecture, and having read the assigned readings and watch relevant video clips, you are encouraged to answer a series of discussion questions related to this topic which can be accessed HERE.
These questions require that you engage and extend the information covered within each theme, in order to generate a better understanding of core concepts, knowledge, and issues.
These questions are intended as preparation for both the discussion section and exam related to this topic.
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6. ESSAY QUESTION #4 (this is an option for the mandatory Module 1 essay)
Choose an example of sportainment broadcast (either high, medium, or low-level broadcasting of a defined sporting event), and analyze its nature as a deliberately produced, popular, and hyperreal sport media spectacle. Your analysis should pay particular attention to:
1. The major narratives (stories) which present and frame the broadcast.
2. The uses of various features, promotions, and/or profiles and their role in constructing the emotional intensity/excitement/investment within the broadcast.
3. The mainstream ideological codes/values embedded within, and communicated through, the narratives framing the programming.
Your aim should be to illustrate the precise way that the broadcasting of a sporting event was manipulated in such as to make it appealing to the values and interests of a mainstream/general viewership.
Throughout your analysis, you should pay close attention to the spoken, written, and visual elements of the broadcast, and you should refer to these regularly within your discussion.
This essay should be a minimum of 1,500 words to answer it comprehensively.
You may find the following academic sources useful in completing this assignment. You do not have to use these sources, they are simply provided for you as an introduction to the literature, and you should use them where appropriate and/or relevant. Also, be warned, these readings do not count towards the THREE additional academic sources you are expected to use within your essays (however, they may direct you toward additional academic sources you could use):
Andrews, D. L. (2006a). That's Sportainment! Sport-Commerce-Culture: Essays on Sport in Late Capitalist America (pp. 41-52). New York: Peter Lang.
Andrews, D. L. (2006b). Gendered Olympic Virtuality. In Sport-Commerce-Culture: Essays on Sport in Late Capitalist America (pp. 53-65). New York: Peter Lang.
Angelini, J. R., & Billings, A. C. (2010). An Agenda That Sets the Frames: Gender, Language, and NBC's Americanized Olympic Telecast. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 29(3), 363-385.
Farhi, P. (2014, February 5). For NBC, a challenge in covering the Sochi Winter Olympics objectively. The Washington Post.
Kellner, D. (2003). Media culture and the triumph of the spectacle. In Media Spectacle (pp. 1-33). London: Routledge.
White, R. E., Silk, M. L., & Andrews, D. L. (2008). Revisiting the networked production of the 2003 Little League World Series: Narrative of American innocence. International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, 4(2), 183-202.
If you choose to complete this essay, and in addition to the sources provided on this page, you need to identify and use (either through paraphrasing or direct quotation) interpretations, insights, or information from a MINIMUM OF THREE appropriate academic sources (in addition to those provided for you on this website).
The deadline for submitting (via the ELMS/Canvas website) your Module 1 Essay is 11.59pm ET on Friday October 23.
Important: The ELMS/Canvas website will not accept essays after the due time and date.
In order to receive feedback from your TA, you can submit a draft version of your essay up to and including 10.00pm ET Friday October 9.
Be sure to review the details on the module essay page. On that page you will find the EVALUATION CRITERIA for module essays (which you are strongly encouraged to read), you will also find links to the appropriate academic sources you should use when researching and writing your module essays, and the style and format guidelines you need to follow when completing module essays. All this information needs to be read, understood, and closely followed for you to succeed in this course.
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