Sporting films ‘affirm American Dream myth’

Hollywood sports films have played a crucial role in affirming the myth of the American Dream in times of crisis and upheaval in the US, a new book contends.

Entitled Sport and Film, the study by programme director of the MA in Film Studies at NUI Galway Seán Crossan, argues that the sports film genre has become one of cinema’s most recognisable, particularly in the past decade — a period in which American society and culture has faced unprecedented crises.

These include the controversy over the 2000 presidential election; the Enron scandal; the bursting of the dotcom bubble and subsequent financial crisis at the end of the last decade; and the 9/11 attacks.