JOCK STEREOTYPES IN FILM

By Chase Andries

It is common when people think of a jock today, the majority imagine an athlete. An athlete who is successful in their sport, aggressive, violent, arrogant, unintelligent, dim-witted, and foolish; a powerful figure in their society who thinks they are untouchable and above everyone else. American film mirrors these same ideas and principles in our culture today. The characters that play the athletes regularly share the same characteristics as the “typical jock” we think of in our society.
For example, in the movie, 17 again starring Zac Efron, is a character named Stan. Stan is the captain of the basketball team, a delinquent, and a bully who follows the stereotypes of being aggressive, unintelligent, and violent which is displayed throughout the film. Stan is clearly the athletic jock from start to finish, but there seems to be an underlying stigma that factors into his character the audience may not realize.

In the movie, the main protagonist named Mike O’Donnell falls into a time traveling whirlpool and that makes him appear how he did in high school. With this opportunity, he goes back to high school with his son and daughter who do not know he is their father. When he gets there, he finds out his son is being bullied by the basketball team and that his daughter was dating their captain, Stan. The audience first sees Stan in the lunchroom. Immediately after he walks in, he takes a smaller student’s sandwich and pushes him, expressing his dominance and presenting his role as a bully and the antagonist. This follows and portrays the stereotype of jocks being bullies. It is common bullies hide in plain sight as the leader in a group, which is supported by his role as the captain of the basketball team. It persists later in the movie when Stan and the basketball team tape a lower tier kid on the team to the toilet with his pants down for their own entertainment, typical “jock” behavior.

Another stereotype Stan follows in this film, is his inability to cope with the stigma of being a student-athlete correctly. Stan was widely renowned throughout the school as the dumb, aggressive jock and in this film exists an issue with this stigma. Stan seems to face an internal battle within himself where he catches moments throughout the film and tries to do what is right, even though he can never seem to get past how others see him. Instead of dealing with his issues, (Simons, Bosworth, Fujita, & Jensen, 2007) imply athletes often choose a coping mechanism in which they, “implicitly accept the stigma by attempting to conceal athlete identity to avoid stigmatization,” (p.251). This implies instead of trying to debunk the stereotype and not conform to expectations, Stan decides to adopt it and become what everyone says he is. For example, in the film Stan is faced with a decision whether to fight Mike or walk away. He initially decides to avoid confrontation before Mike throws and misses a punch. Stan retaliates and once again shows he is the aggressive, violent jock.
These larger categories of the jock stereotype include other stereotypes within them. The portrayal of athletes being bullies include the jock stereotype of being aggressive, violent, and arrogant, just as being unintelligent and dimwitted fall under the inability to cope with the stigma. 
Stan was, in no way, unique to the stereotype of being a jock in a film that involves sports. The traits among these athlete characters that correlate with the traits of a jock remain to be universally seen in film, sometimes in uncommon forms.

References

Shankman, A., Gibgot, J. (Producers). & Steers, B. (Director). (2009). 17 Again [Motion Picture].
United States: New Line Cinema.

Simons, H., Bosworth, C., Fujita, S., Jensen, M. (2007). The Athlete Stigma in Higher Education.

College Student Journal, Vol. 41 Issue 2, p.251 23p.

Word Count: 602