Topics for Midterm - Ben Carrington PDF

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Ben Carrington...

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1. A question on the “society of the spectacle” (Debord) nd its relationship to the “sportsmedia complex” (Sut Jhally) (25 marks) ●

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Spectacle = LINKED to commercialization ○ Branding ○ Generating revenue ■ Some idea of commerce ■ Some kind of financial interest at stake ○ Relationship b/w capitalism and spectacle ■ Sports being linked to celebrity culture and athletes can make millions of dollars ■ Every part of the visual commodity is sold for commercial use ■ Can become part of the game itself The visuality is really important ○ Guy Debord —> “we live in a society of the spectacle” Producer —> consumer —> producer ○ Spectacle —> associated w/ spectacular ○ The visuality becomes a value that we desire ○ Scopophelia —> pleasure by looking ■ Defining feature of how we attribute value ○ A surface level form of understanding ■ We start to spectacularize ourselves ● Ex: Instagram ○ Everyone’s happy and smiling — food, travel, etc ○ A representation of ourselves ○ Disconnected ○ Partially driven by commercialism ● Staples center ○ Overloaded w commercialism that is visual

Guy debord — we become disconnected from the real and care more about how things look/appear and how the spectacle has started to control every aspect of our lives -scopophilia — pleasure of looking Sports media complex (relationship bw sports and media, defined by technology, specialization, fragmentation of audiences, proliferation of media platforms) = the origin of the society of the spectacle and how it originated in the 20s/30s w the telegraph —> you can't have the spectacle without the picture. Ppl could see games from wherever. That turned into a complex of us being at home and being able to watch a glorified version of the game. Later on w the NBA, the spectacle became trying to recreate the live version of you being at home -the commentary and awe Michael jordan — Relationship b/w capitalism and spectacle ■ Sports being linked to celebrity culture and athletes can make millions of

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dollars Every part of the visual commodity is sold for commercial use Can become part of the game itself

2. A question on mediasport (Wenner) and its relationship with capitalism (define) and modernity. (define) (25 marks) ●

Mediasport = the way that sports and the media interact

“The histories of media and sport are substantially intertwined, both w/ each other and more extensively w/ capitalism and modernity” (rowe, 2013, p 62)

CAPITALIZATION: the ability to turn acts of resistance into commodities and sell these back to the consumers ● Replaces agriculture and farming ● The nation-state is created ○ Creation and birth of the United States ○ Connection of highly complex societies w/ differentiation —> key element of modernity *** ● Consumption defines us ○ What clothes we wear ○ What cars we drive ○ Types of phones we have ■ Capitalism drives the tendency to upgrade our belongings/ourselves ● The things you own own you —> DEPENDENCY Back to capitalism —> the things you own, own you ● We become deskilled in the process of becoming dependent on technology ● Such as how to get around ○ Cant get anywhere w/o our phones ○ Other examples: food preparation, self care/shaving ● Life expectancy is declining bc of this History of capitalism: ● Sport emerges as an institution well suited culturally and ideologically, first, to the emerging capitalism of the 19th century, and 2nd, to the mature corporate capitalist society of the 20th century ● Sports in a capitalist society reflect capital values ○ Merit brings you to the top —> pays off ○ Prioritization of the individual superstar ● Production of the top athletes comes from societal infrastructure (America —> Capitalism —> Opportunity)

MODERNITY: iron cage (weber) about postmodernity MODERNITY: epoch (a period of time/era) ● Modernity is the name we give to similar periods of time (2020 included) ● 500 yrs from now they’ll be studying 2020 as the end of modernity BEFORE MODERNITY: 1492 —> emergence of the new world and the beginning of modernity ● Differentiates b/w an old way of life and a new way of life ENLIGHTENMENT: contrasted w/ the dark ages ● Humanity becomes the shaper ● No longer fixed by nature, church, or superstition ● HUMANITY becomes @ the center of the cultural universe ○ An example: ■ When you feel sick you go to the doctor ■ Validation of scientific intelligence ■ Transferring of trust to scientifically proven methods of healing ■ Trusting enlightenment/modernity ● Before you would’ve gone to the priest Connection of highly complex societies w/ differentiation —> key element of modernity *** ●

MODERNITY JOURNALISM ○ Dealing w the gap b/w the event the getting the report to the ppl

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(Marx)The price of something is determined by its use-value (Baudrillard) — says sign-value is more important in post-modernity

3. Understand what is meant by sports fan’s having a “career”, the seven phases of fandom that Crawford’s discusses (explain and critique) (25 marks) Theorization of the process of induction and progression of a sport fan along a moral career path. The progression involves changes in the individuals OWN identity as a supporter, and significantly how they categorize and judge their own and other’s behavior. Sports fans have (moral) careers ● Four key factors in our “socialization” into fandom 1. Family 2. Peers 3. School 4. Community ● Locality used to be more important for sporting allegiances ○ Globalization shifted these relations ● Career progresses through phases (Crawford)

1. General public a. Little to no interest/knowledge b. Most ppl will have some, limited knowledge i. Ex: british ppl will tend to know the basic names of teams and popular players in soccer (football) 2. Interested public a. Where a more specific interest begins b. A transitory stage usually overlooked in childhood but may be more visible in adulthood i. Socialization process into fandom in adulthood (4 major factors) 1. Family 2. Peers 3. School 4. Community — includes mass media and specific role models c. No longer localized bc of globalization —> you could become interested and socialized into fandom for a team or sport your area/country doesn't have 3. Engaged a. People who begin to take more of an interest in a specific sport or team b. Look out for the results online or in mass media and may once in a while attend a game 4. Enthusiastic a. Fairly dedicated patterns of support b. Occupy a part of their daily life c. REGULARLY watching and attending games d. Actively identify as a fan i. Wear signifiers 5. Devoted a. Smaller section of more long-term fans b. Significant part of their daily life and have significant knowledge c. More likely to be male (women tend to get stunted by the judgements of other men except for in sports like tennis and field hockey) 6. Professional a. Small, elite group of supporters b. Make some income based on their involvement c. People who write and produce fanzines or run supporter organizations i. Have detailed knowledge d. Usually middle class men who have affluent jobs that are not manual e. Usually all know eachother 7. Apparatus a. running/administration of the sport i. Marketing directors, company chairpersons, team managers, etc. b. Turns interest into a full-time profession

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Fans can move back, forward, or vary

Crawford reading: “a more profitable way forward is to view contemporary fan culture as a social career in which an individual's location within this is both fluid and dynamic, and the nature of this community itself as (to a certain degree) permeable, as individuals move in or out of this within their everyday lives.” -Ties in elements of structure and agency, ascribed and achieved status, and individual/institutional definitions of rank. Has to do with ‘tribal belonging’ of football support (for example). (my own opinion is that structurally they hold similar frameworks [a job career and a support career] but ultimately one is more recreational and therefore more fluid and malleable. Destructible)

4. A question about the tensions between (1) sports journalists and other journalists, and between (2) sports journalists and athletes (use historical and contemporary examples) (25 marks) TENSIONS:

1. Sports Journalists and Other Journalists -other journalists don't see sports as true journalism — see it as middle class white guys pursuing a hobby. Thinking they’re too close to the subject matter because they're fans. Being a journalist vs. being a PR person for a team; the access sports journalists get is only motivated by promoting good press. Ex: they think major sports news organizations knew about Tiger Woods but they couldn't release it bc they needed to retain relationships Also (from conclusion page): although sometimes well-paid, with high general visibility, sports journalists often lack the same standing and respect as their colleagues with more “serious” journalistic beats. According to Rowe (1999) “critics of sports journalism… see it as the compromised ally of the sport and entertainment business rather than as a legitimate arm of the news media” 1. “Shabby Reputations” — 3 reasons why sports reporters have a lower standing in journalism a. People think there is a lack of professionalism i. Aren’t held to the same standards by editors for accuracy, competence, fact vs. opinion, etc —> not as rigorously edited b. Sports journalists sometimes become detached from the wider profession and attached to the world of sports fandom i. Bc they are held to the standard that they are also fanatics of the sport ii. Less focused on internal promotion or trying out more prestigious rounds c. “Anorak journalism”

d. Stigma attached to sport that isnt really news 2. Sports journalists being white/male — does it matter? a. Representation of common belief systems and understandings b. w/o additional perspective, the story is stunted in depth c. “Clubbish” image of sports journalism due to weaker standards 3. The 4th estate a. Press has the ability to frame political issues and explicitly advocate b. An estate of power c. Significant social/political influence d. Sports journs. Less likely to cut corners i. They have relationships w/ the sports ppl/officials/organizations that they can't afford to lose ii. Heavily dependent on those sources iii. Don't want them to cut you off 1. Mutual relationship

2. Sports Journalists and Athletes -middle class white guys interviewing these players ● Tensions between journalists and athletes grounded in differences between background and salary ○ Middle class journalists and working class athletes ○ Athletes untrusting in journalists and journalists looking down on athletes ○ Kevin Durant - “I don’t trust none of y’all” ● Outsiders don’t understand the technicality of what happened in the game, and yet are allowed to comment on them afterwards ○ Alan Iverson - “practice” ● More likely that non-sport media channels (TMZ) will break sporting news than traditional media because they have no commercial ties ● Young sports reporters tend to remain in the sports department and rarely move on to more “prestigious” areas of journalism ● Sports journalists are expected to write in depth analysis and commentary on a sport they may or may not have played themselves ○ “Sports journalists...are expected to be objective reporters...and not to have performed sports at elite levels…” (Rowe, 1999) ● Overwhelmingly white, male, middle-class ○ 1990 - only 3% of reporters were women ○ Today - only 11.4% are women ○ Cases of sexual harassment among women ○ Female journalists often questioned on their credibility ■ Cam Newton - “funny to hear a female talking about routes…” 1. Things associated w/ the body of sports seem to be perceived as less important a. More cerebral topics like politics and economics are seen to be at a higher level b. mind/body split dualism theories

i. Might want to push back on those ideas c. DISCOURSE OF SPORTS: i. Being “naturally gifted” —> destined to be a professional athlete ii. In reality —> nearly every aspect of sports is NOT lateral — you are training to look natural iii. Athletes absorb this discourse and reiterate it 1. Our physiology can be shaped/trained in a similar way that your mind/intellect can be d. The Social process of producing the “natural athlete” e. The fact that sports isnt labeled as political makes it easier to have a political influence i. Sports strips the name but keeps the influence f. Suppose 95% of all sports journalists are all black, lesbian females i. Different questions would be asked ii. White heteronormativity is sooo normalized 1. We don't think of this as a demographic group 2. The result of a configuration of power ● ●

Sports centrality to public discourse is linked to its dominant place in mass media ○ Disproportionate to the amount of people that actually play the sport Sports journalists often seen with lack of respect ○ Critics of sports journalists think they are too close to the subject matter (Rowe)

5. A question related to fantasy sports (define) and e- sports (define) and the extent to which modern sports are becoming “postmodern” (explain) (25 marks) ● Post modernist esports movement has challenged traditional modernist notions of sports, fandom, and media by blurring the boundary bw the real physical world and the digital virtual world a ● The networked digital media sports environment is transforming the traditional sportsmedia complex ○ Understanding the changing and global aspects of the global media culture (from production to texts to PR) and developing a critical media literacy is necessary for any account of the place of sport in society Fantasy Sports ● Definition: Can be defined as a “sports based internet game in which collocated participants virtually manage teams of professional athletes in competition with each other” (Bowman The Origin of Fantasy Sports) ○ Has grown from a small subculture and hobby to a complex and lucrative business for players, sports leagues and the sports media ○ Kellner is critical of the passive fan ■ Fantasy sports overcomes that bc it requires participation ● Fantasy football = first played in 1962, using playing cards and stats collected from box

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scores Fantasy sports transitioned to other sports. Around the same time, in 1960, Harvard sociologist Gamson created a fantasy baseball league Fantasy sport is now a large industry in its own right, evolving from a small subculture towards a mass public appeal There are an estimated 41-42 million fantasy sport players in the US alone, with economic activity between 4-5 billion annually FSTA (fantasy sports trade association) established in 1999 to represent interests of players Even as newspaper circulation has declined, many traditional media outlets are devoting space to fantasy sport coverage

Fantasy Sports ● Mixed experience of participatory/spectator sports ● Re-shaped the sports media complex ○ Stadiums = theater of dreams ● “Sports-based internet game...participants virtually manage teams of professional athletes” (Bowman) ● Professional sports leagues were initially wary of fantasy sports, but most have embraced them (NFL) ● Dedicated fantasy sports channels ○ Anthem Media Group - first 24 hour dedicated channel ● FanDuel and Draftkings charge a fee to play ○ Is fantasy sports a disguised version of gambling? ● FTSA - average person spends 9 hours a week on fantasy sports ● Demographic - white, male, 34 years old, college educated ○ More females playing, but still 69% to 31% ● Ethical behavior of the players - turning fans into suckers Esports: (Miah reading) ● Postmodern sports ● Further radically changed the sports-media landscape, blurring the line between virtual and physical worlds ● Postmodernist e-sports movement ○ Challenged traditional modernist notions of sports, fandom, and media by blurring the boundary between the “real” physical and the virtual world ● Contrary to stereotypes, not all gamers lead sedentary lives ● Active gaming → “exer-gaming” ● Individual activity → gamified, social experience through tech ○ Closer to the action, tech where you physically move ○ Classes on e-sports, scholarships being offered ● “Cyber athletes...have celebrity status as athletes...own endorsement deals” (Miah) ● Miah reading about esports

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Esports gamers as “elite athletes” Reflection of sports in post-modernity ■ Simulators for driving new tracks like an arcade ■ Gamers could close in on these practices and blur the line ■ Physical appearance of a gemr v. traditional athlete

6. A question on capitalism (define), resistance (define) and power (define) in sports, and commodification (define). (25 marks) - Histories of media and sport are substantially intertwined w/ capitalis and modernity - Sports and media have a symbiotic relationship - Big college sports are the ones that have the highest entertainment values (march madness is an example) - Mutually dependable ●

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Capitalism ○ Intertwined with sports and media and modernity ○ Replaced agriculture and farming in modernity ○ Thrives on the exploitation of workers (Marxism) ○ Consumption ■ Defines us (clothes we wear, cars we have) ■ Drives the tendency to “upgrade” ourselves ■ The things you own start to own you ■ We become unskilled in the process of becoming dependent on our belongings, specifically technology ○ Sports is the idea of capitalism coming true ■ If you work hard, you will come out on top ■ Has nothing to do with location, background, socioeconomic status, etc. Fan resistance and power ○ Consumer can refuse to buy, but cannot control what is produced (Crawford) ○ Basic needs turn into wants and desires ■ Capitalists assign value, tell us what makes a good man/woman, husband/wife (diamond industry) and then a new better one comes out ■ Never ending cycle of consumption ○ Power relations ■ Making profits ■ Shaping values ■ Providing a public service ■ Building their own reputation ■ Expressing themselves in technical, artistic, or personal ways ● Is there a market for it? ● Who you are and what you believe in influences the content that gets put out there (social conditions of those making decisions) Commodification ○ Colin Kapernick - Nike positioning themselves alongside a social movement and

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profiting off of it Harriet Tubman - face on Visa card Kobe Bryant - commodification of his death

From lecture notes: (theodore adorno) ● Culture under capitalism has become a commodity ○ Manufacturing of culture = part of capitalism ● Standardization (ex: songs that all sound the same) ○ Structural similarities ○ Cotton candy as a metaphor for these industries ■ Tastes good but there’s no substance ○ Standardization plays on the Illusion of importance ● SPORTS play a key role in commodification of culture ○ Example: staples center ○ Hyper Commercialization = normalized ■ Because you don’t notice it, that means it is working ○ Sports-media consumers need to have the tools to recognize these images and critically evaluate them

Commodification: Within a capitalist economic system, commodification is the transformation of goods, services, ideas, nature, personal information and people into commodities or objects of trade. -commodification of sports values (like signifiers like lebron and MJ) Capitalism: Nike for example, using the NBA and their individualist values to profit Resistance: also about commodification of resistance like the Colin Kapernick thing and the women’s soccer team ● Commodification of resistance ○ Colin Kapernick - Nike positioning themselves alongside social movement and profiting ○ Harriet Tubman - face on Visa card Power: (power relations in sports media) 1. Making profits — will it sell? 2. Shaping values — is it moral? 3. Providing a public service — is it for the common good? 4. Building their own reputations — how does it make us look? 5. Expressing themselves in technical, artistic, or personal ways — is it good? ●

-these 5 goals may often be in conflict with ea...