A sports movie is a movie genre which uses sports as the main theme of the movie. It’s usually a character-driven drama where a beloved sport, fan, or athlete of popular sport are heavily involved, and that rely heavily on sports to an important degree for their storyline resolution. You could say that most sports movies are about the people who are really into sports – the ones with the money and power to play and train and compete, not the people who can’t get enough of sports. A lot of current movies fall into this category. We see athletes getting injured and then having to retire or get injured again; there’s story around the athlete getting even more famous (and perhaps getting cheated out of millions).
Film makers will often base popular sports events on real sporting events. They may base a NASCAR race on the actual race at the Monaco Grand Prix, with cars travelling across the finish line in wheelchairs, making it one of the most memorable films of the 21st century. Or they may take the story from the real world, for example, and create an event like the Olympics which allows the audience to follow the athletes and their training as well as how they perform during the games. So if you want an example of a film which takes its story from the real world and makes it into a sporting event, then look no further than the recent London Olympics opening ceremony. The film highlighted a number of topics which were related to the games, including how the athletes trained and the various sports that they participate in.
There’s also a lot of talk nowadays about equal opportunity in sports for all, particularly for disabled sportspeople. For instance, it was quite recently that the football player Leighton Meester became the first male wheelchair-bound athlete to represent the USA in a professional game. And just recently, Michael Phelps became the first man in history to win both the gold and silver medals in the swimming event at the swimming events at the Sydney Olympics. And why shouldn’t athletes and ordinary citizens, especially those that can’t afford the kind of fees that some sportspeople get, be able to take part in sporting events?
There are many different types of sports that don’t involve the kind of equipment or support that you would expect to find in the kind of sports which are covered here, such as tennis and badminton. However, there are still many sporting disciplines where the equipment you need is provided. In fact, there are countless sports which have developed themselves because of the advancements in medical and sporting equipment. If you’re interested in a particular type of athletic pursuit, then it will almost certainly be covered by your local newspaper.
Of course, the big sports tend to dominate the news. One of the biggest sports stories of recent years has been the scandals involving professional sportspeople, usually athletes, who have been accused of using performance-enhancing drugs. This has lead to wide discussions about the role of sports in society and the unfairness of taking part in sporting events knowing that certain individuals aren’t following the rules or having a fair play. The idea of fair play is generally considered to be the cornerstone of a democratic society, but what about when it comes to sports?
It’s difficult to say whether sports really have a bearing on our society or not. Most people play sports as a form of recreation – something they do to release their stress and to enjoy themselves. Many people also watch sports as a way to escape and relieve themselves of their daily stressors. Some people even take it so seriously that they make money by participating in amateur athletic competitions. So then, is it unfair to say that sports have an impact on our society?