Sports Movies and Religion - Term Paper Example

of the Religion and Theology of the Concerned 17 March Sports Movies and Religion There is no denying the fact thatin the United States of America, sports and recreation tend to embody the national civic and religious values and the nation in that context has formally institutionalized sports and sports movies (Putnam 113). The religious values tend to have a deep influence on the sports movies that could be traced through the development of this relatively nascent nation. The salient values and themes that tend to have an influence on the sports movies and could readily be traced are the essentially protestant values like hard work, dignity of labor, competitiveness, a goal driven attitude, and quest for perfection and achievement. During the early stages of the American nation, the Church tended to deplore sports and sports related activities as it was believed that sports led to diversion from goal oriented activities (Putney 224). However, with the satiation of the nation with the Victorian values and the commensurate physical decline ushered in by sedentary activities, the nation vigorously turned towards sports as a source of rejuvenation and vibrancy (Putney 224). It goes without saying that sports movies not only necessarily embody the essential American civic and religious values, but, also veritably stand to be the vital source of religious motivation and faith. To understand the link between the sports movies and religion, it is imperative to pragmatically trace the similarities and affinities between religion and sports. Sports movies happen to be religious in the sense that sports like religion tends to be a very organized activity, which requires as much effort, faith and practice as any religious achievement (Jay 226). Words like sacred, love, devotion, immortality, ritual and faith that could be traced to the religious sources and literature are also amply mentioned and delved upon in the sports movies (Guttmann 25). The religious practices and the events and themes in the sports movies tend to overlap in multiple ways. Like religion, sports movies also tend to have their saints, those departed souls that in that in their very life represented and embodied the glory of sports (Tietalbaum 4). Like religious achievers, sports movies also tend to have such personalities and characters that could aptly be said to be seekers, believers and converts (Tietalbaum 4). Like religious institutions, the sports movies also happen to present patriarchs, who are primarily the motivating coaches and managers who organize, manage and sometimes emphatically influence the national sporting activities and sports person. Very much like religious ceremonies, the sports movies also tend to revolve around multiple symbols of faith like the sporting gear, trophies and cups and above all the code of honor so much inherent in sporting activities. Sports movies like religion have their martyrs and apostles signified by the sportsperson who emerge to be national stars and superstars and thereby command a great influence over the overall sporting fraternity (Simon 201). So, it stand to be totally true that the sports movies tend to revolve around such activities, values and symbols that have their parallels in religion and religious activities. The linkage between the American religious and civic values and sports movies could well be understood in the context of some celebrated sports movies. For instance the movie This Sporting Life (1963), delves on the dilemma of a rugby league footballer, Frank Machin, who is simply not able to reconcile his passion and devotion on the field to the intricacies and demands put on, on him by his personal life. The theme is akin to the religious theme of a possibility of conflict and reconciliation between the religious aspirations and the world. The 1980 movie Inside Moves is as much replete with the ideas like empathy, compassion and humility as one could deem to trace in a religious text. The movie deals with the plight of a basketball star, who earlier happened to be a physically challenged person, and with some divine help secured the money for a surgery that restored his leg. However, in his quest for worldly success, Jerry turns a blind eye to his old friends and abandons his past, a theme that is as much akin to religion as to a social drama. One could readily pin point the Christian themes like the travails of the early Christians, the rise of the weak against the strong signified by the David and the Goliath, the return of the prodigal son and the magic wrought by passion, faith and belief in the 1986 sports film Hoosiers, marking the rise of a high school basketball team that goes on to win the state championship, clearly elucidating the spiritual struggle and travails of the characters like the coach Norman Dale and his alcoholic assistant Shooter. Say the 1998 sports move He Got Game that closely traces the inner spiritual and emotional turmoil of the convict Jake Shuttlesworth in the backdrop of the sporting career of his prodigious son Jesus Shuttlesworth. Nothing could be perhaps unlike the close religious thematic affinity of the 2002 sports movie Bend it like Beckham that traces the sporting career and aspirations of Jess, a girl of Indian origin in the backdrop of much prejudice, racial persecution, and racism, the themes that are so akin to religious texts. No wonder, sports movies since years have served as a cinematic metaphor representing real life and the 2010 documentary Senna, unraveling the inner struggles and turmoil of the Brazilian Formula One Champion Ayrton Senna, is so akin to what one may call the spiritual catechism and anguish of a true Christian. It would certainly not be wrong to say that sports movies in a way constitute the civic religion of the United States of America that in a discernible way endow the individuals, groups and communities with the possible ways towards the resolution if not the solutions to the problems faced by them in the daily grind of their ordinary lives. In sports movies as in religious congregations, the salient values, beliefs and sources of faith of the communities are brought to life. The travails, ordeals and issues faced by the characters in the sports movies do facilitate a measure of hope and enlightenment to millions of viewers in a language and format that is so akin to religion and theology as they are practiced and revered by people in their ordinary course of life. The very act of watching a sports movie in the cinemas and movie theatres, reminds the people of their inherent interconnectedness, their sense of social interdependency and the affinity of the values and morals that have remained dear to them since ages. The characters in the sports movies allow the viewers to satiate their innate instinct to belong to a clan, a sort of social setup where the codes of honor, the essential human trust and hope are not only respected, but rather command the status of a cult or belief system. Thereby, sports movies are much more than commercial promotion, advertising and the selling of tickets. In fact, the sports movies are a veritable source of hope, belief and trust. The sports movies cater to the revered space existing inside a viewer and watching a sports movie is in itself an act of reverence and devotion. Very much like religious congregations, the sports movies tend to follow the rhythm of seasons. In the sports movies the religious metaphors of the good against evil come to life, the characters in the movie become the virtual representatives of the struggle of innate human weakness against the essential goodness and hope residing within the human heart and thereby the viewing of such narratives assumes a sanctified and hallowed relevance and importance. Simply speaking sports movies are not merely about sports, but are rather ‘significant religious works’. It goes without saying that there does is a close affinity between the sports movies and the traditional American civil and religious aspirations. Sports movies do tend to present and delve on the turmoil and struggles of the sporting personalities against the dominant social and sporting influences and consequently, the American religious aspirations that most of the times prefer to side with the underdog, be it in any vocation, find much to believe, adore and love in the sporting personalities and the sports movies. Works Cited Guttmann, Allen. From Ritual to Record. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. Print. Jay, Kathryn. More than Just a Game. New York: Columbia University Press, 2004. Print. Putnam, Douglas T. Controversies of the Sports World. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1999. Print. Putney, Clifford. Muscular Christianity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001. Print. Simon, Robert L. Fair Play. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1991. Print. Tietalbaum, Stanley H. Sports Heroes, Fallen Idols. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005. Print. Read More