Tag Archives: sport

Football and the Culture of Sport

2 Replies

My relationship with football, or I guess sports in general for that matter, is quite minimal and insignificant in nature, but that doesn’t mean I can’t understand the appeal for billions of others around the world. Both of the readings for this week’s topic opened up some avenues of thought for me that I hadn’t given much attention to prior- the beauty, the ugliness, the glory, the history, the evolution and the commercialization of a sport that seemingly unites the world through a cup every four years (give or take, in cases of global pandemics). Admittedly, my fleeting moments of connection to the sport have essentially consisted of playing for five months when I was six years old, and every so often the glimpse I catch of a game being religiously watched by my dad and brother. Nonetheless, I seem to know enough about the game, its iconic players, and the culture surrounding it to understand the extent to which it arguably dominates the world of sport. 

Sant’Anna in his piece “In the Mouth of the Tunnel”, makes a fascinating comment on how “with videotape football entered into the History of Art… and the goals and the passes became museum pieces” (58). Without thousands of fans lining the stands at games, every moment,  and every play captured and internationally televised, what is modern football? Of course, the sport, at its core, exists simply with a ball and feet to kick it, but it’s interesting to think about how our definition of football has been transformed into something that concocts images of merchandise, sports betting, wealth and celebrity status’. The fact that someone who has never played a game in their life can sport a team jersey or bet their life savings on the outcome of a match is quite telling in itself. 

The commercialization and professionalization of sport is argued to have transformed football into something quite distant from children kicking a ball around on a street, as put forth by Galeano, “when the game stopped being a game and professional soccer required a technocracy to keep people in line” (11). Whether or not football is still a game outside of Galeano’s terms is up for debate, but I do think there is a point to what he is trying to say. Football’s value lies in what the game means to those who watch and those who play it, and the game in itself has undeniably formed the fabric of a much larger, global culture or phenomenon…

My question: Has football changed, or have the ways we view it, follow it and think of it changed? Is the game still the same game, whether it is played casually on a street or professionally in a stadium?

The Fighting Cholitas: Femininity and Lucha Libre

Leave a reply

Mariam Jobrani’s documentary on “The Fighting Cholitas” was fascinating, and deeply captivating in its personal, authentic and unique portrayal of a cultural instance where sport seems to erode divisive gendered boundaries, and empower those whose voices are too often marginalized. The fact that this was something I had never heard of, and I presume the same for most others in our class, speaks to the role the documentary has played in opening up parameters for what traditionally defines a sport still so male-dominated like lucha libre. The women who were interviewed spoke with conviction and pride for their wrestling identities, whether they consider themselves to be in the ‘tecnicas’, ‘rudas’ or ‘amoradas’ categories- a nod to the empowering role the sport seems to bring to their identities as Indigenous women, or Cholitas. I feel as though there is a connection between these distinct identities, almost characters they have assumed, and one of the women’s comments on how the matches are “80 percent real and 20 percent show.” Show or reality, or both, the Cholitas’ skirts, and their refusal to remove them during their fights, is powerfully symbolic. The skirts in this documentary serve more than material function for these women, they serve a function of identity. Cholitas’ skirts are reiterated in this documentary, both visually and verbally, as integral parts of Indigenous identity and culture. 

Further, it must be acknowledged how, through lucha libre, the fighting Cholitas are ultimately redefining cultural and social notions of femininity. I was struck by the way in which the sport gave these women both external and internal motivation and praise for something beyond traditional boundaries and expectations limiting female identities. Yolanda hoping for her own daughter to become a professional like herself seemed to demonstrate this relationship between motherhood, a gendered role women are expected to fulfill, and the challenging of those expectations.

Lastly, what I found quite intriguing was not only the role lucha libre seemed to play in the lives of the Cholitas, but the role it was playing for the community and spectators. The cholitas, in acknowledging a performative dimension of the sport, highlighted its attraction to those who attend the matches as viewers. As quoted in the other reading for this week, Margarita de Orellana’s “Lucha libre: Stories with no Time Limit”, the ring or “arena offers a space where a marginalized public finds a way to vent about the discrimination and shortages it experiences in everyday life, and this experiences a catharsis” (95). It was fascinating to hear how the Cholitas, themselves, recognized how their matches provided a form of relief, laughter, and escape from life’s stress for the women who watch them. 

Overall, what are your thoughts on the role the Fighting Cholitas play in redefining notions of femininity? Do they? What cultural significance does this have within the context of lucha libre?