Essay on Images of Women in Sports - 1033 Words

Images of Women in Sports Over the years the perception of women in sport has changed considerably. In this course we have viewed several films all dealing with the depiction of female athletes in an attempt to gauge societys current perception of women in sport. I will briefly summarize each film and the main themes of the films before providing a description of the female athlete which I will infer from commonalities between the films. The first film we watched was a documentary entitled, Dare to Compete; it provided a brief history of women in film, focusing primarily on American women in sport from the late 19th century to the present. From this film we gained a notion of where women have been and how far weve come in the†¦show more content†¦The third film we watched was, Remember the Titans. Remember the Titans, traces the racial integration of a Virginian high school football team in the 1960s as well as the racial integration of the high school. While this film is about a male football team and women are minor characters within the film it shows how sport can unite people from different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds The fourth film we watched was, Girlfight; a film about a Latina who lives in the ghetto and becomes a boxer. The protagonists struggle to be taken seriously as a female boxer, to find people who will train her and compete with her is one of the major themes of this film. However, this film examines not only the protagonists role as an athlete, but her home life, love interest and inner turmoil as she learns to control and focus her aggressive personality. The fifth and final film we watched was, Love and Basketball, a film that primarily traces the coming of age of a man and a woman, two childhood friends and basketball fanatics who both pursue professional careers in basketball while focusing primarily on the female protagonist. The main conflict in this film had less to do with the female protagonist struggling for approval from her parents and acceptance by society than any of the other films weve seen in this class. Instead, it dealt with the female protagonists need to evaluate her priorities and decide what she wanted and how to divideShow MoreRelated Images of Women in Sports Essay859 Words   |  4 PagesImages of Women in Sports There is, of course, a huge difference between the ways women are typically supposed to act and what is expected from a typical athlete. Whereas women are expected to comply to their gender role prescribing passivity and compliance, athletes are connoted with an aggressive, competitive nature. 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