The Power of Sports: Media and Spectacle in American Culture
Michael Serazio
Boston College
Date: Friday, October 4, 2019
Time: 12鈥�1:15 p.m.
Location: Boisi Center, 24 Quincy Road
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Abstract
Drawing upon dozens of interviews with media professionals and business leaders, "The Power of Sports" goes behind-the-scenes to explore how today's ubiquitous, $70 billion sports spectacle is crafted. In an era of deep fragmentation, the book provocatively analyzes how sports culture explains and reflects life across a wide range of patterns in American culture: religious experience, technological disruption, journalistic sensationalism, economic inequality, military hawkishness, and masculine ideals. Far from being about "just a game," "The Power of Sports" holds up a mirror to the sports industry and reveals the lived realities of the nation staring back at us.
Speaker Bio
Michael Serazio is an associate professor of communication at Boston College who studies media production. A former journalist, his writing has appeared in the听Journal of Communication听and听Critical Studies in Media Communication听as well as听The Washington Post听and听The Atlantic.
Michael Serazio of Boston College gave a presentation on the power of sports to a full audience at the Boisi Center.
Photos by MTS photography
Event Recap
In the first luncheon colloquium of the academic year, Michael Serazio explored 鈥淭he Power of Sports鈥� in contemporary American society. Far more than a form of entertainment, Serazio argued that sports are a way in which American society derives its meaning, contending that sports have filled the gap left by the decline of organized religion. He then analyzed this meaning through sports鈥� relationship to journalism, commercialism, gender, and politics.
Sports can be understood as a great unifier, Serazio argued. At a time when entertainment is individualized and on-demand, sports are more pervasive and air non-stop. Sports journalism, he added, manufactures the meanings and illusions that accompany the sports. The rise of social media, however, has forced those same journalists to sacrifice their journalistic integrity to compete for viewers against the same players or teams that they cover. Why go to ESPN to read about Lebron James when you can simply go to his Instagram profile? Stories are necessary, and journalism creates them.
Serazio then explored sports鈥� second, though closely related, relationship to commercialism. Since information is instantaneous, consumers鈥� attention spans shorter, and marketing dollars subject to competition, sports journalists are pushed towards the 鈥渉ot take鈥�: to write the most outrageous or controversial opinion to ensure views, likes, clicks, and retweets from fans. This leads to over- worked and underpaid journalists and, most importantly, contributes to a shift in journalism鈥攏o longer is there a concern for objectivity, journalists validate popular opinions.
Serazio then turned to the relationship between sports and gender. For men, sports embody and express the epitome of masculinity. For example, Serazio described how male athletes are encouraged to 鈥減lay through the pain.鈥� Of all sports writers, anchors, and commentators, over 90% are men. Women in these fields often face sexism and discrimination and are held to a double-standard. For example, women are expected to be pretty and smart yet a single error is enough to destroy their career.
Lastly, Serazio turned to sports as the expression of our politics. Since Colin Kaepernick鈥檚 protest against the treatment of black Americans by kneeling during the national anthem, many have called for a strict separation between sports and politics. Seraz