Lange Zeit von den Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften ignoriert und als bloße Mainstream-Unterhaltung stigmatisiert, erlangt der Sportfilm zunehmend wissenschaftliche Aufmerksamkeit. Der interdisziplinär angelegte Band verdeutlicht das vielfältige und vielschichtige, gleichwohl noch nicht annähernd ausgeschöpfte wissenschaftliche Analyse- und Reflexionspotenzial des Sportfilms. Die Beiträge der national und international renommierten Autorinnen und Autoren fokussieren im Besonderen den Sportspielfilm mit seinen zahlreichen Subgenres wie Football-, Basketball-, Box-, Olympia- und Kampfsportfilm. Das steigende Interesse am Sportfilm resultiert aus der wachsenden Einsicht, dass es sich hierbei um ein Genre handelt, das pointiert gesellschaftliche Zustände, kulturelle Ideologien sowie politisch-ökonomische Strukturen reflektiert und kritisiert. Der Sportfilm thematisiert historische Ereignisse, gesellschaftliche Entwicklungen wie auch individuelle und kollektive (Anti-)Helden. Er gibt Aufschluss über kulturspezifische Besonderheiten des Sports und dessen Verflechtung mit anderen gesellschaftlichen Handlungsfeldern. Darüber hinaus inszeniert er zeitgeisttypische und zugleich allgemeingültige (Körper-)Ideale, Werte, Konflikt- und Handlungsmuster. Der Sportfilm reproduziert damit nicht nur gesellschaftliche und sportliche Wirklichkeit, sondern konstruiert sie im Medium einer emotional wirkmächtigen Bildsprache gleichermaßen mit.

Sport offers everything a good story should have: heroes and villains, triumph and disaster, achievement and despair, tension and drama. Consequently, sport makes for a compelling film narrative and films, in turn, are a vivid medium for sport. Yet despite its regularity as a central theme in motion pictures, constructions and representations of sport and athletes have been marginalised in terms of serious analysis within the longstanding academic study of films and documentaries. In this collection, it is the critical study of film and its connections to sport that are examined. The collection is one of the first of its kind to examine the ways in which sport has been used in films as a metaphor for other areas of social life. Among the themes and issues explored by the contributors are: Morality tales in which good triumphs over evil The representation and ideological framing of social identities, including class, gender, race and nationality The representation of key issues pertinent to sport, including globalization, politics, commodification, consumerism, and violence The meanings ‘spoken’ by films – and the various ‘readings’ which audiences make of them This is a timely collection that draws together a diverse range of accessible, insightful and ground-breaking new essays. This book was published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

It's hard to find females in leading roles as athletes, coaches and owners in sports film story lines. With an abundance of male-focused stories, Hollywood continues to reinforce the association of athleticism with masculinity. Portrayals of women in prominent roles indicate social attitudes and values and--when looked at over time--also show what influence the women's movement has had on cinematic representation and social understandings. This discussion of sports film heroines begins with National Velvet (1944) and ends with Secretariat (2010). It addresses the question of whether these story lines do or do not empower women as characters and role models, while offering alternative cinematic choices that reflect the true and ever-growing history of women in sports.

Sports on Film takes readers behind the scenes of how movies get made and puts them in the stands for some of the key moments in sports in America. Sports on Film documents key events in American sports history through the films that depict them, starting with the integration of major-league baseball when Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Other significant events and personalities examined include the college basketball point-shaving incident of the 1950s; journalist George Plimpton's attempt to go through the Detroit Lions' NFL training camp in the early 1960s; the originations and popularity of rodeo; the brief run of women's professional baseball during World War II; the underdog racehorse Seabiscuit during the Great Depression; the rise of African American boxer Muhammad Ali; the unique 1970s "Battle of the Sexes" tennis event between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King; and Ford Motor Company's run in the 1960s to take motorsports to Europe's premier event in Le Mans, France.

The sports film has become one of commercial cinema's most recognizable genres. From classic boxing films such as Raging Bull (1980) to soccer-themed box-office successes like Bend it Like Beckham (2002), the sports film stands at the interface of two of our most important cultural forms. This book examines the social, historical and ideological significance of representations of sport in film internationally, an essential guide for all students and enthusiasts of sport, film, media and culture. Sport and Film traces the history of the sports film, from the beginnings of cinema in the 1890s, its consolidation as a distinct fiction genre in the mid 1920s in Hollywood films such as Harold Lloyd’s The Freshman (1925), to its contemporary manifestation in Oscar-winning films such as Million Dollar Baby (2004) and The Fighter (2010). Drawing on an extensive range of films as source material, the book explores key issues in the study of sport, film and wider society, including race, social class, gender and the legacy of 9/11. It also offers an invaluable guide to 'reading' a film, to help students fully engage with their source material. Comprehensive, authoritative and accessible, this book is an important addition to the literature in both film and media studies, sport studies and cultural studies more generally.

In the scientific theory of sport science four major questions can be considered: (1) What is the function of science? (2) What is the body of knowledge of a scientific field? (3) What is the appropriate research methodology? (4) How are research results applied to the practical field? This publication structures the body of knowledge of German sportscience and focuses on the second question. Answers to the other questions are given implicitly within the articles relating to the specific subdisciplines of sport science.

Many people are passionate about sport, yet few give thought to its role and importance in their lives - let alone its relationship to Christian faith. This book examines the potential of sports and challenges readers to consider how it relates to their deepest passions, behaviours, and actions, while providing newcomers to the field with a framework to help consider the connection between sports participation and faith-based values. Featuring academic writers from a range of disciplinary fields, including philosophy, theology, sports studies and education, Sport and Christianity: Practices for the Twenty-First Century sheds insight into the meaning of sports for Christians as participants and as practitioners. Divided into practises for the mind, for the heart, and for moral life, the numerous topics include the value of play in sports, sports as a means for dialogue between faith traditions, sports as a place to cultivate virtue and the Christian spiritual life, and prayer and religious experiences in sports The result is a text that promotes new ways of thinking about the sports-Christianity relationship while at the same time developing a deeper understanding of the place of sports in our everyday lives.

While the relationship between sport and religion is deeply rooted in history, it continues to play a profound role in shaping modern-day societies. This edited collection provides an inter-disciplinary exploration of this relationship from a global perspective, making a major contribution to the religious, social scientific and theological study of sport. It discusses the dialectical interplay between sport and Christianity across diverse cultures, extending beyond a Western perspective to include studies from Africa, South America and Asia, as well as Europe, the UK and the US. Containing contributions from leading experts within the field, it reflects on key topics including race, gender, spirituality, morality, interfaith sport clubs, and the significance of sport in public rituals of celebration and mourning. Its chapters also examine violent sports such as boxing and mixed martial arts, as well as reflecting on the cult of sporting celebrity and the theology of disability sport. Truly international in scope, Global Perspectives on Sports and Christianity is fascinating reading for all those interested in the study of sport, sociology and religion.

In the wake of the American and French revolutions, European culture saw the evolution of a new leisure regime never previously enjoyed. Now we speak of modern leisure societies, but the history of leisure, its experiences and expectations, its scope and variability, still remains largely a matter of conjecture. One message that has emerged from a multiplicity of disciplines is that research on leisure and consumption opens up a hitherto untapped mine of information on the broader issues of politics, society, culture and economics. How have leisure regimes in Europe evolved since the eighteenth century? Why has leisure culture crystallized around particular practices, sites and objects? Above all, what sorts of connections and meanings have been inscribed in leisure practices, and how might these be compared across time and space? This book is the first to provide an historical overview of modern leisure in a wide range of manifestations: travel, entertainment, sports, fashion, 'taste' and much more. It will be essential reading for anyone wishing to know more about European history and culture or simply how people spent their free time before the age of television and the internet.