Media images including film are powerful tools to formulate a certain figure’s stereotypical characteristic. Film viewers are influenced by symbolic representations of figures’ characteristics portrayed in films. Analyzing physical educators in popular films is a useful tool to understand media frames of physical educator’s social standing. The purpose of this study was to examine the cinematic images of sport figures during the past decade in South Korea.
Method:
The ten films were chosen for the study using the following steps. First, each researcher compiled a list of Korean films released between 2000 and 2013 that have been viewed over a million. Second, researchers excluded sport-dominated films because of its limitation for the directors’ intentions. Then, each researcher searched story lines and media reviews for the films. Lastly, a peer review was conducted to finalize the list of films that mainly deal with sport figures.
Each researcher observed the films independently while noting the dialogue and camera shots of all scenes involving sport figures for emerging frames of reference regarding physical education teachers, (former) athletes, or coaches. Data were analyzed using ethnographic content analysis, constant comparison method and text analysis.
Analysis/Results:
Two categories emerged from the data: sport figures’ image portrayed in individual film and their occupations, physical and verbal behaviors, relationships to others, and others’ perceptions. Three themes emerged based on the categories: Butches, Morons, and Isolations. First, almost all films described sport figures as butches. Second, sport figures portrayed in films were often lacked of intelligence, finance, family backgrounds, and even ethics. Lastly, they were situated in isolation in many cases.
Conclusions:
Recognitions of sport figures including physical education teachers and former athletes have been marginalized and distorted in Korean society. An understanding of the media frames about sport figures is important because it provides an insight about social cognition and behavior in regard to issues of sports and physical education.