Media Sport Stars: Masculinities and Moralities

Media Sport Starsconsiders how masculinity and male identity are represented through images of sport and sport stars. From the pre-radio era to today's specialist TV channels, newspaper supplements and websites, Gary Whannel traces the growing cultural importance of sport and sportmen, showing how the very practices of sport are still bound up with the production of masculinities. Focusing on figures like Muhammad Ali and David Beckham, Whannel shows how growing media coverage has helped produce a sporting system, and examines how modern celebrity addresses the issues of race and nation, performance and identity, morality and violence.

Garry Whannel is Professor of Media Cultures and Director of the Centre for International Media Analysis at the University of Luton.