By: Jackson Williams
In America, being an athlete is generally celebrated and encouraged from a
young age. This is also seen when examining the monstrous contracts athletes receive once they reach the professional level. While it is evident that we as Americans revere our athletes, it is also evident in modern forms of media that there is a stigma around athletes that they are underachievers in the classroom and only care about
young age. This is also seen when examining the monstrous contracts athletes receive once they reach the professional level. While it is evident that we as Americans revere our athletes, it is also evident in modern forms of media that there is a stigma around athletes that they are underachievers in the classroom and only care about
their athletic performance. The typical stereotype of athletes is explained by
Beck (2011), “The male athlete stereotype is often used in the mass media to portray a
relatively unintelligent and unenlightened, but nonetheless physically and socially
well-endowed character” (pg.7). In many forms of media we see today an athlete is usually
portrayed as someone who skips class, makes nerds do their homework, and gets bad
grades. While this stereotype might help the storyline of a movie or tv show, the fact
of the matter is that many student-athletes today are engaged in the classroom
and earn grades that rival students that don’t play sports.
and earn grades that rival students that don’t play sports.
One example where we see this negative stereotype of athletes is in the show Friday Night Lights.
Taylor Kitsch, who plays Tim Riggins in the show, is often shown on screen being drunk or hungover
and having a bad attitude about everything except football. His bad attitude and lazy nature specifically
carries over to his school work. In the show, football players have their own nerds that do their homework
so they can just play football. Since the show’s main focus is the football team, it is easy for producers
to eliminate the academic side of the player’s lives because it would take away from the rest of the show.
This approach works well for the storyline of the show but the concept of athletes not having to do
their homework is not plausible in the real world.
Growing up, it is difficult for athletes to not experience this stereotype due to the media that companies
produce targeting young children and teens. Beck (2011), “the media is one of the primary sources
adolescents utilize for identity formation. Therefore, teenagers can use the media‘s portrayals of male
athletes to either identify themselves or others as the stereotyped characters portrayed in teen films” (pg.11).
As children grow up and attempt to find their identity, they tend to look up to people that they want to
be like. Since media outlets produce shows and movies that glorify the lifestyle of an athlete, children
naturally want to be like them. Again, the media outlets don’t show much of the academic side of being
an athlete. Many universities attempt to highlight the athletes that excel in both areas. DePauw University,
a small liberal arts college in Indiana, does this by naming students to the Tiger Pride Honor Roll
every semester. In order to make the honor roll list, athletes must maintain above a 3.4 GPA for the
semester. DePauw has a little less than 600 athletes enrolled at their school and last semester
194 athletes made that list. Speaking from first-hand experience, getting above a 3.4 GPA at DePauw
requires an extensive amount of work away from the athletic time commitments.
Media, for generations, has always turned a blind eye towards the academic side of being an athlete.
On screen, the lives of these athletes look glamorous, exciting, and affluent, but many people have
consciously chosen to ignore the hard work of student athletes and ignore the fact that the
overwhelming majority of student athletes do not come close to conforming to the dumb jock
stereotype.
On screen, the lives of these athletes look glamorous, exciting, and affluent, but many people have
consciously chosen to ignore the hard work of student athletes and ignore the fact that the
overwhelming majority of student athletes do not come close to conforming to the dumb jock
stereotype.
References
Beck, Jason M., "A Comparison of Male Athletes with Teenage Peers in Popular Teen Movies"
(2011). All Theses and Dissertations.
(2011). All Theses and Dissertations.
Word Count: 599
Labels:
Student-athlete
Stereotype
Media
Dumb jock
Classroom performance
Jackson, please revise and resubmit no later than Monday September 17. Improper formatting makes this barely legible. LMK when you have done so.
ReplyDeleteIn future, be certain to review prior to publication.
Good stuff, Jackson.
ReplyDeleteHowever, failure to revise in a timely fashion (as indicated in my comment from last month) undermines your grade.
More important, there's plenty to recommend about this post. First and foremost, your writing is clear and concise. What's more, you've applied some of the academic literature to a discussion of FNL. So far so good.
However, you don't really interrogate the contradiction you've identified between student athletes and their representation in media and popular culture. For instance, how does Beck's discussion of the relationship between media and identity point to the trouble with FNL's depiction of student athletes.
What's more, how does Beck's concern reflect Kidd's work? That's the sort of synthesis this post is crying out for.
In short, Jackson, despite initial hiccups, this is a fine piece of writing. Continue to explore this line of inquiry if you find it compelling.
In the meantime, consult the OWL for tips on making effective use of quotations. The bit in the third paragraph could be presented more elegantly.
24/30 pts.