Hollywood Sports Movies and the American Dream

In Hollywood Sports Movies and the American Dream, author Grant Wiedenfeld argues that sports films are a progressive critique of anti-democratic tendencies in the post-Civil Rights era and a site of multiculturalism's origin.

List of contents

• Acknowledgments


• 1. Introduction: America's Civic Screen


• 2. Rocky (1976): Tenderhearted Community and Racial Moderation in Bicentennial America


• 3. Slap Shot (1977): Deindustrialization, Goon Masculinity, and Yankee-Doodle-Disco Patriotism


• 4. The Natural (1984): Farm Crisis and Minority Culture in a New Deal Legend


• 5. White Men Can't Jump (1992): "Winning and Losing is One Big Organic Globule"


• 6. A League of their Own (1992): Egalitarian Women and Sideline Men


• 7. Ali (2001): Actions of the People's Champion


• 8. Conclusion


• Bibliography


• Index

About the author

Grant Wiedenfeld earned a PhD from Yale University in Comparative Literature and Film & Media Studies. He taught courses on sports and cinema in Yale's English Department and Film Studies Program before being hired at Sam Houston State University, where he is currently Associate Professor of Media and Culture. Previous publications include studies of Gustave Flaubert, D.W. Griffith, and André Bazin.

Summary

In Hollywood Sports Movies and the American Dream, author Grant Wiedenfeld argues that sports films are a progressive critique of anti-democratic tendencies in the post-Civil Rights era and a site of multiculturalism's origin.

Additional text

Wiedenfeld's work is a well-written, engaging read with a rich philosophical foundation.

Product details

• Authors: Grant Wiedenfeld, Grant (Associate Professor of Media an Wiedenfeld, Grant (Associate Professor of Media and Culture Wiedenfeld
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.04.2022
• EAN: 9780197624920
• ISBN: 978-0-19-762492-0
• No. of pages: 292
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Photography, film, video, TV; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; HISTORY / United States / 21st Century, HISTORY / United States / 20th Century, Sports & outdoor recreation, Sport: general, PERFORMING ARTS / Film / History & Criticism, History of the Americas, Film Theory & Criticism, Film history, theory or criticism, Film, television, radio and performing arts genres