Hockey is Canada’s game as many Canadian’s eat, sleep, and breather hockey. Culturally, Canadians celebrate all facets of hockey and quickly ignore the dark side of the game. In Curtis Fogel’s article, Social Problems in Canadian Ice Hockey: An Exploration Through Film, he examines the social problems in Canada through the use of film. Prompted by pop-cultural depictions of violence, hazing, sexual assault, and drug use in hockey films, (Fogel’s) paper illustrates various social problems that currently exist in Canadian Ice Hockey (Fogel, 2014). In this examination, Fogel enlightens the reader of the dark side of Canada’s beloved game through the use of real life examples, and films that have depicted problems in the culture of …show more content…
Through the use of film, Fogel (2013) examines the “serious social problems that exist within and surrounding Canadian ice hockey” (P.65). Fogel examines the films of Goon (2011), Youngblood (1986), Playing with Fire (2011), Our Guys (1999) and Gross Misconduct (1993) to illustrate the major “social problems of violence, hazing, sexual assault, and drug use in hockey” (Fogel, 2014, p.64). Fogel uses the film Goon (2011) to illustrate the on-ice violence in a comical fashion. Fogel connects instances which have close comparisons of real life on-ice violence, however spun in an entertaining way for viewers. Fogel continues his article with highlighting the use of hazing within hockey as well as connecting to the theme of violence. Using the film Youngblood, Fogel uses the film to illustrate hazing rituals in which have become a common practice within the male hockey game. Fogel (2014) defines hazing as rookie players (who) are forced into non-consensual sexual acts that are aimed to be humiliating and potentially quite painful. Again, Fogel uses real life cases to illustrate how hazing is occurring in Canada and a case as recent as 2011 with a hockey team in Manitoba. With hazing and …show more content…
Using media to stimulate and shock the public is an interesting way to educate the public. Fogel’s ability to connect the films to real life case studies, bring these issues to light, and give the article the necessary support in connecting social issues to life. Although Fogel uses film as an excellent means of information, Fogel’s article ignores the female game. Fogel’s opinion of the game of hockey, is very one sided when examining the darker side of hockey. Fogel does not examine the female game and groups the word hockey to encompass all forms of hockey in Canada. We cannot ignore that these issues may surface in the female game, however Fogel ignores to touch on the whole game of hockey. Another issue that Fogel ignores to incorporate previous research conducted by other scholars as he mentions at the start of the article. It would add support to his article to explore other sources and how their research connects with his research on the relationship between films on hockey and the game itself. Finally, Fogel does not offer insight on how the culture can change and does not provide suggestion on education on how Canada can aid in fixing the pop-cultural depictions of violence, hazing, sexual assault, and drug use (Fogel,
High school sports can have a tremendous effect on not only those who participate but the members of the community in which they participate. These effects can be positive, but they can also be negative. In the book Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger shows that they are often negative in communities where high school sports “keep the town alive” due to the social pressure. In this way, Friday Night Lights gives insight into the effects of high school football being the backbone of a community, revealing that the fate of the individual football players are inadvertently determined by the actions of the townspeople.
As stated in my thesis statement, the sport of hockey has been forced to compete with the growing mass popularity with other sports such as basketball and football. There once was a point in time where hockey had just as much popularity as those sports but because people are finding more interest in those sports, the National Hockey League found itself in a “drought” of unimportance with other sports. With not televising the sport as “commonly” as other sports.
In “Its Time to Think About Visors,” Dryden exposes the fact that the stereotypes of risk in sport have pushed athletes to continue to compromise safety even with advancements in equipment worn. Dryden first explores this while talking about players from the minor leagues who have worn visors for all of their lives reaching the NHL and then stopping, stating, “Then most decide to play as they had never had before, with no facial protection at all.” This shows that even with athletes that have had this safety all of their lives they decide to stop when they reach the NHL because they see the stereotype created by the fans watching that push these players to risk their safety in order to bring a new excitement to the game. Even though the new rookies have been protected by visors the amount of influence of the huge fans of hockey pressure into danger that before they were safe from. In addition to this Dryden adds how there is appeal towards the dangers of life expressing, “People are attracted to risk. Near misses are thrilling.” This demonstrates that audiences don’t want to see players seriously injured but instead the close calls that come with sport and the smaller injuries that some equipment has gotten rid
Saul Indian Horse is an Ojibway child who grew up in a land which offered little contact with anyone belonging to a different kind of society until he was forced to attend a residential school in which children were being stripped away of their culture with the scope of assimilating them into a more “civilized” community. Saul’s childhood in the school, greatly pervaded by psychological abuse and emotional oppression, was positively upset once one of the priests, Father Leboutillier, introduced him to the world of hockey, which soon become his sole means of inclusion and identification, mental well-being and acknowledged self-worth in his life. It is though universally acknowledged how, for every medal, there are always two inevitably opposite
Parents in the U.S. today are becoming too involved in youth sports and are getting out of control. In the July 24, 2000 issue of Sports Illustrated, there is an article by William Nack and Lester Munson about a father in Massachusetts who killed another father over a little dispute about youth hockey. On July 5, 2000 Thomas Junta, a father of two, got into what seemed to be a minor shoving match with Michael Costin, a father of four, over a play in a hockey practice. After a while the fight was broken up and Junta left the ice arena. A little while later Junta returned with "clenched fists" and pinned Costin to the ground. With Costin's children standing just a few feet away and pleading with Junta to stop, Junta pummeled Costin with punches to the face and slammed Costin's head into the hard rubber mats that covered the floor. By the time someone was able to pull Junta off of him, Costin's face was so badly beaten that even his own children could barely recognized him. Costin was left in a coma and died two days later. This shows that p...
All of the films that we watched provided different perspectives on how the image of women is situated in our culture. From the first movie, Dare to Compete, which highlighted the development of women's participation in sports, to Love and Basketball, which fully accepts women's participation in sports, we examined a range of views and opinions on the proper role of women in sports.
In her composition “I Was a Teenage Hijabe Hockey Player,” Shema khan is posing humor by shielding some of the stereotypes allied with her Muslim religion. As she begins telling her co-workers about hockey over lunch, she observed that some of her coworkers have disbeliefs here. Her Co workers have this thing in mind that female Muslims can’t play hockey or even any other sport. In response to that Shema Khan display her interest of the Montreal Canadians and Stanley Cup. Also, she listed some of the recognizable hockey players, stats and some other details which prove that as everyone else she is a hockey fan too. Furthermore, she portrays to play street hockey, driveway hockey and table hockey by figuring herself as both Danny Gallivan and
Young, K. (2007). From Violence in Sport to Sports-Related Violence: Widening the Focus. Sport in Society: A Student Introduction, Second Edition. London. Sage Publications.
Coakley, J. J., & Donnelly, P. (2007). Violence in Sports . Sports in society: issues & controversies (9th ed., pp. 198-199). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
McMurtry, a former football paper, utilizes comparison, hyperbole, and juxtaposition to effectively develop the idea that American society accepts violence and brutality within sports, which reveals the sadistic side of the world. To repair this attitude, however, all of the violent aspects of sports cannot simply be removed. For example, if the tackling part of football was eradicated, the sport would change completely and, consequently, lose much of what gives the sport its redeeming qualities and entertainment for the audience. Tackling does not make the sport violent; it is the violent characteristics of the players and the coaches combined with the constant encouragement stemming from the audience. Violence is a terrible thing, and it will never be completely removed unless each person works together to suppress their behaviors.
This also makes trying to play the game for the boys more difficult and stress full in and out of school. The fact these boys wear the team skirt before a game and during should not have any more of an effect on these boys. Every person has the right to wear any type of clothing he or she wants to wear. Parents of the town seem to make the game even tougher than before because of the verbal threats and physical harm trying to be done to Sherburne and Bell. Through out the entire article the impression that boys are permanently harming field hockey with their unrestricted domination of the sport has been grossly exaggerated.
In 1970 only 1 in 27 girls participated in high school sports, today that ratio is 1 in 3. Sports are a very important part of the American society. Within sports heroes are made, goals are set and dreams are lived. The media makes all these things possible by creating publicity for the rising stars of today. Within society today, the media has downplayed the role of the woman within sports. When the American people think of women in sports, they think of ice skating, field hockey and diving. People don’t recognize that women have the potential to play any sport that a Man can play, with equal skill, if not better.
Sink M. (2002, January 31). HOCKEY; Youth Game Postponed After Fight by Parents. Retrieved November 1, 2010, from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/01/sports/hockey-youth-game-postponed-after-fight-by-parents.html
Jessica Statsky, in her essay, “Children need to Play, Not Compete” attempts to refute the common belief that organized sports are good for children. She sees organized sports not as healthy pass-times for children, but as onerous tasks that children do not truly enjoy. She also notes that not only are organized sports not enjoyable for children, they may cause irreparable harm to the children, both emotionally and physically. In her thesis statement, Statsky states, “When overzealous parents and coaches impose adult standards on children's sports, the result can be activities that are neither satisfying nor beneficial to children” (627). While this statement is strong, her defense of it is weak.
Americans have become addicted to gaining quick rewards of satisfaction through sports and action because they want to be entertained thoroughly without needing to ponder any hidden meaning so it doesn’t take away from the pure entertainment of the action. In his time, Bradbury was fearful of the way that the television’s empty shows were in invading every home in America. The culture in the novel demands for “everything (to be boiled) down to the rag, the snap ending” (Bradbury 52), leaving nothing for the viewer to ponder; they would rather enjoy themselves “a solid entertainment” (Bradbury 58). The same is true in today’s movies and shows, in which most must contain many action scenes in order to keep the viewer’s attention, and the meaning and symbols must be clearly spelled out for them. This is also why Bradbury includes sports as being the main focus of schools in his story, since th...