By the end of this week we will have watched a documentary and a film that both deal with nationalism and sport. For this week there are some specific questions I would like us to think about. First what is the social context surrounding this game? This should include political and economic events, and sporting history. Use the article and the beginning of the film to help you figure out this question. The article makes many connections between politics and sport, do we see any of these connections portrayed in the movie, if so, how is it done?
Finally, I want you to discuss any points in the movie where you felt a sense of American pride. More, specifically identify (if any) scenes where you were engrossed emotionally in the movie or felt proud to be American. I then would like you to discuss if you believe your feelings could at all be similar to what the Palestinians from One Day in September might have felt about their own country.
As I have said many times in class, I love the sport of hockey. Ever since I started playing at the age 0f 11 I have been addicted. Today I still play competitively, I play fantasy hockey, and follow my beloved New Jersey Devils. I saw the movie Miracle when it first came out and I loved it. AS I also said in class I have been to Lake Placid, and walked into the rink where this game happened. My love for the game of hockey combined with the history at that specific rink left me with goosebumps. When I watch the movie there are two specific scenes that really stick out emotionally for me. As cliche as the scene is, when Herb Brooks has the team doing sprints after their first game and Mike Euroizone finally says his name and that he plays for team USA I still get fired up. Additionally, at the very end when Al Michaels says "Do you believe in Miracles? it makes me happy and excited, and I feel proud of that team. However, despite all these great feelings I do realize the importance of looking at these things critically. I think this is exactly the same feeling people who commit acts of violence for their country experience, it is just manifested in a different way. Also, the numerous ways in which this game is connected symbolically to the Cold War highlight the ways in which politics and sport are constantly intertwined. This also makes me think of how sport was used to foster nationalism after the events of 9/11 and what it makes me realize is that it is great to have love for one's country, but I think critically questioning nationalist ideology really shows pride in your country. This is because you are questioning your nation and working to make it better.
The context of the article and movie was that the economy was down, and the hostages being held in Afghanistan. But mainly it was a fight between the capitalism and communistic counties of the world, aka the USSSR in the Cold War. All this is going on at the exact same time of the preparation for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. The politics are playing a huge part in this time because there was a potential boycott of the olympics by USSSR, and then eventually for us when the olympics were being held in Moscow two years later.
ReplyDeleteFor pretty much the entire movie i had goose-bumps just thinking about what these guys stood for and how they were a sense of pride for this nation and others taht follow us. For me personally i felt the most into the movie when Euroizone steps up and says that he is playing for his country, not his old college team. It seemed to me like he made everything else out there bigger and more important than him and his teammates, it was for our nation. We were in a time of struggle and these boys stepped up and took the challenge to take on the Mighty Russians. Doing what was thought to be impossible was also a big part of this movie for me when again Al Michaels screams at the end of the movie. What was thought to be impossible has been done, and something like that is what our country needed in a time of struggle. As tough as it may be there is always a way and the 1980 USA Hockey team showed the world just that that one night in Lake Placid.