Do You Beilve In Mircales - Essay Example

Societal values are relative principles which are ive and depend on individual and cultural views. These values are not constant; they are modified according to individual and collective experiences and interpretations of reality. As a consequence, societal values not only are shared by the members of the social cluster, but also are able to influence attitudes and behaviors of people. Values in society are recognized with honor and respect, especially when the conditions that surround them are difficult. In the 1980 Olympics, the United States ice hockey team defeated the Soviet team, leading to one of Olympic hockey’s most unlikely victories under the leadership of coach Herb Brooks (Boan). The 1980 United States hockey team consisting of amateur and college players appeared to have little chance to win the Olympic tournament; indeed, the team had won only one Olympic medal since 1960 going into the 1980 Winter Olympics. The team was placed in a preliminary pool after the pre-Olympic exhibition game, where it lost to the Soviet Union. Shortly after, United States went on to complete pool play alongside Norway, Romania and West Germany. The Soviets had won four straight medals and had beaten their opponents in pool play. The first period of the United States – Soviet match ended with the scores tied at two goals. The United States defense led by Jim Craig completed the striking 4 to 3 victory, stimulating Al Michaels’s celebrated comment ‘‘Do you believe in miracles? Yes!’’ Two days after their victory, the team beat Finland 4 to 2 securing the gold medal and achieving its astonishing Olympic victory (Boan). The striking picture promoted by media, showing the successful achievement of an extraordinary task illustrates the influence of sports activities and mass media itself over the way people think about themselves in their cultural values. Sports activities are the furthermost suitable means to create an imaginary of national unity, puritan morality, achievement and success, change and progress, effort and optimism, efficiency and pragmatism. Several examples of such values have been portrayed in the documentary Do You Believe in Miracles? For instance, hockey players required intense training and competitiveness in order to be able to participate in Olympic tournaments. Puritan morality was depicted when Soviet players and coaches were described as robots that showed none or little emotion and never smiled. Soviet team members described hockey as their way of living requiring enormous effort and sacrifice like the separation from their families. This representation of the Soviet team symbolized the antithesis to American values setting the well-known image of ‘‘good versus evil’’ (Pedersen, Miloch, & Laucella). American players are often seen differently from their counterparts; contrary to the image portrayed from the Soviet coach, Brooks himself was framed as a charismatic character able to bring his team together and defeat the Soviets while at the same time keep his family obligations. On the other hand, sports in United States likewise constitute a cogent cultural phenomenon where competition is one of its main features. Participation in team sports promotes attitudes that are mostly related to competitiveness. Competition within the context of sports is showed at several levels including players being interested in acquiring a place on a team and being better than other players; players being interested in helping other players to improve the performance of the team (cooperative); players being interested in performing well regardless of the team performance (individualism). Sports activities load media and socio-economic and educational sceneries in United States, acquiring an undeniable significance in the American culture. Sports activities were exclusive domain of wealthy classes during the 1800s; however, nowadays they are an important issue in the American culture. Moreover, children are cheered to participate in sports activities mainly because parents perceive extracurricular sports activities as fertile soil, where their children are socialized with important values and skills (Kremer-Sadlik & Kim). Practice of sports is often associated with positive values such as setting and achieving goals, being physically and emotional strong, persevering in spite of pain and suffering, being loyal and faithful. Furthermore, passive sports activities such as watching television sports competitions are also thought to give parents the possibility to socialize their children with values through language: parents highlight positive-negative behaviours, sports rulers and moral framings of sport events (Kremer-Sadlik & Kim). The practice of sports activities is also associated with reduced delinquent behavior, increased academic performance and better social interactions (Kremer-Sadlik & Kim). Socialization is the process by which people adapt themselves to the relationship with other people inside their social structure. Through this process people develop ideas about themselves and the others with whom they interrelate. Coach Herb Brooks stimulated tough confrontation, criticizing his players for perceived weakness. He encouraged them stay together and to build strengths. Players had to follow prolonged hours of hard skating practices. His main objective was to persevere through all periods with the Soviets. Herb Brooks stimulated a nationalistic feeling among the players pointing the importance of the game for the future of the country. During the game players seemed to be cooperative and integrated; they were different from their evil counterparts, for that reason they were not allowed to lose. The Soviet coach trained his players in a similar way; however, for the medal round he prepared players in quite a different way, letting them rest and study games rather than skate. According to the documentary, Soviet players were not allowed to smile, their freedom was obliterated; as professional players they were neither allowed to lose. The personalities, attitudes and actions from both coaches are rather stereotyped in the documentary. Once more the good and the evil faced in a quite singular combat. The American coach socialized his players according to American values and the Soviet coach did the same according to Soviet values. Media characterization of the Olympic hockey team victory over the Soviets at Lake Placid as ‘‘miracle on ice’’ gave United States citizens a powerful and emblematic material which helped to expedite nationalistic emotions and lift the fallen spirits of United States. Nationalism can be seen as identification with other fellow members of the nation creating an imaginary of national unity; it is usually created and reinforced by sports media. The United States team’s victory re-established a great portion of national pride in America’s damaged self-confidence (Boan). The victory was important because it came when American society seemed to have lost faith in their political leaders and nation. During the 80s confidence of American people was low and the future appeared miserable; politicians and American citizens believed that their nation was its toughest challenge in ages, this phenomenon was called ‘‘crisis of confidence.’’ Socio-political conditions of the country were precarious: in Iran hostages were taken, Vietnam War wounds were still open, Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviet Union, and the nation itself had gone through the Watergate scandal, and was fronting energy crisis and an increasing rate of unemployment. To many Americans the defeat of Soviets was the victory when in fact hockey team had to defeat Finland in order to ensure the gold medal; it seems that this victory gave American people a reason to believe in this country again (Pedersen, Miloch, & Laucella). The television documentary Do You Believe in Miracles? The Story of the 1980 U.S. Hockey Team recounts the historic achievement, memories and facts with a nationalist tone, where the competition for the gold medal was an impossible dream: amateur American team versus undefeatable and professional Soviet team. References Boan, D. (2008). Miracle on ice. The Eighties in America. Ed. Berman, Milton, 3 vols, 657-59. Kremer-Sadlik, T., & Kim, J.L. (2007) Lessons from sports: Children’s socialization to values through family interaction during sports activities. Discourse Society 18(35). Pedersen, P.M., Miloch, K.S, & Laucella, P.C. (2007). Strategic sport communication. Retrieved from . Read More