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Sports Events and James Carey’s Ritual Model of Communication
Introduction
Scholars have utilized various theories that aim to examine how the field of sports media are scripted, negotiated, performed, celebrated resulting to diverse mass media effects. There are some theories that examine how communication is being sent or encoded by the sports media as well as how it is being interpreted or decoded by the audience (Pedersen, Miloch, and Laucella 83).
Taking into account several literatures from mass communication research, it has been noted that the mass media has primarily focused on mass media effects and how such impact is being created by various influences such as history and sociology. Existing literatures note it that the restrictedness, complexity, influence, and the pervasiveness of the sports community appear communicatively which makes sports an ideal site for exploring communication (Kalbfleisch 359).
Communication theories have provided scholars with an outline as to how sports events achieve depth and breadth through the discussion of the impact of the trends, pioneers and the dynamic shift of the sports industry and the intersection of sports communication with the issues in sociology and culture. There is a unified thought among mass communications research that the community of sports is influential as seen by the media representations and social portrayals of specific athletes who have been considered effective for promoting social and cultural values.
There are some scholars who have explicated how the presentation of particular sporting events such as the Super Bowl and Olympic Games functions to strengthen existing social structures (qtd. in Kalbfleisch 359).Scholars also used communication theories to show the ability of sports media to ignite, reflect and sustain power structures, perceptions and policies in the society. Such theories support the notion regarding the unique relationship between sports journalism and the public.
The coinage of the term 'festive viewing' can be greatly attributed to the notion that viewers sense a valuable retreat from media events upstaged by the ceremonial Contest, Conquests, Coronations down to Disaster, Terror and War which have perpetuated the ere of television programming for many decades. As these events become crucial in the field of mass media,
Communication theories have been given definitions in order to conceptualize the procedures by which people navigate and assign meaning with the aid of information transmission. According to some scholars, there is a ritual process of communication which is not artificially divorceable from a specific sociological and historical context. In the aspect of sport communication, to be able to obtain meaning, there must be action and interaction between the communicators and the recipients (Pedersen, Miloch, and Laucella 83).
It is in the process of information transfer that the language becomes vital because it is the central instrument utilized by sports constituents to produce meaning. In the perspective of theorist, James Carey, that there are two ways of thinking about communication which have already existed in American social thought, and also within the more operational categorizations of media theory and study: first, the transmission model which presumes directness and intent, command and influence, and the second, the ritual view of communication (Calhoun, Rojek and Turner 193). Carey theorizes that:
Communication is linked to terms such as 'sharing', 'participation', 'association', 'fellowship', and 'the possession of a common faith'. This definition exploits the ancient identity and common roots of the terms 'commonness', 'communion', 'community', and the 'communication'...It is directed not toward the extension of messages in space but toward the maintenance of society in time; not the act of imparting information but the representation of shared beliefs. (qtd in Calhoun, Rojek and Turner 194)
Applying Carey's theory or ritual process with the communicative nature of sports events, this paper aims to examine how media events, in particular, sports are being scripted, negotiated, performed, celebrated which produces various outcomes in the fields of culture, society and history. This paper first discusses media events in general and escalates the discussion to the application of Carey's ritual model of communication theory to a more definitive area of media events, the sports events. This paper then shifts the discourse to a more specific topic, the 1980 Winter Olympic hockey game between Russia and the USA. Overall, the focal point of this paper is to explore sports events within the realm of Carey's ritual model.
An Overview of Media Events
As sports events are under the realm of media events, it is important to provide a brief discussion of media events and broadcasting, while exploring the impact of such events history and the society.
Media events are ceremonial events that constitute a coherent television genre. Characterized by live broadcasting, media events have the capacity to evoke cultural and social realities by garnering public attention with influential nature of language. Media events are the collective term referring for the occasions of a state televised as they take place and transfix a nation or even the world (Dayan & Katz 1).
Mass communications instigate an idea that the ceremonial events being broadcasted imply semantic features which are indicative of celebrating consensus, history-in-the-making, acts of will, and charismatic pursuits which in turn monopolize viewing. Media events include epic contests of politics and sports, charismatic missions, and the rites of passage of those considered to be great and highly influential (Dayan & Katz 1).
With their dominating capacity, media events have spurred out ceremonial participation of the audience who has signified them as an invitation, moreover, a command, to refrain from their daily routines and partake in a holiday experience (Dayan & Katz 1). Television ceremonies or media events have been deemed necessary in as much as they are among the image outlets available to people that assist and enable them to imagine the societies they live in.
Due to the immensity of television audience, media events are conceived as rituals of coming and going by viewers who accept the invitation to participate in a ritual role, take leave of everyday routine together with their heroic idols; venture on experiencing the liminality of their sojourn; hold their breaths awaiting, or despairing of, their return; and reposition themselves to continue with living with the everyday reality when a televised event has concluded (Dayan & Katz 119).
One of the vital elements in media events and their broadcast is the script. It has been said the corpus of events can be subdivided into the categories of Contests, Conquests, and Coronations, which are the story forms, or the scripts that carry the narrative possibilities within the genre (Dayan & Katz 25).The scripting of media events conjures to the fact that transmission of meaning from the source to the receiver is a powerful process in shaping the perspectives on life. The scripting of media events is sometimes grounded on the idea that the professionalism is compromised by a move in the direction of the audience (Rothenbuhler and Coman 189). In the sudden disappearance of script which necessitates an impromptu action from the broadcasters creates a momentous impact to the viewers.
It is said that the scripting of media events should be based on the sole purpose of grasping history not just chronology and narrative (Rothenbuhler and Coman 189). With this musing, the meanings sent by the media events create a deep connection with the viewers which in turn enables the communication process involving the viewers as part of television ritual.
According to scholars, the profound narrative instigated by media events can be in the form of rationality, charisma, and tradition, and can determine the distribution of roles within each type of event and the ways in which they will be enacted ((Dayan & Katz 25). The onset of the three basic scripts which are Contests, Conquests, and Coronation produced a various sets of drama in which the audience can relate to resulting from a diverse reaction towards nature, society and one’s self.
Conquest is considered to be the live broadcasting of the “giant leaps of mankind” or the events in which make brings life into a new direction after being televised; Contests are the media events focusing on sports and politics, ranging from the World Cup to presidential debates, from the Olympics to the scandalous Watergate issue; and Coronations are events depicting parades such as funerals ((Dayan & Katz 27). All of which are the insightful narratives of television that establish rapport with the audience; and are a new dimension in transmitting signals from the source to the receiver which holistically creates a clear picture of a ritual model of communication.
Television broadcast creates a rapport with its audience through a distinctive combination of play and reality that impacts the lives of viewers. The influential amalgamation of play and reality as seen in the routine or ritual events are said to reiterate basic rules of the society which results to an explicit participation from the viewers. According to scholar Johann Huizinga, competitive games (Contests) and exhibitions (Coronations) do not proceed from culture but preceed it in the play forms executed by animals and children (Dayan & Katz 28). It is in the adaptation of these forms that viewers tend to incorporate religious meanings with the celebratory events in the television instigating a new perspective towards society, history and culture.
Among the media events such as the deaths of great figures, the celebration of sporting occasions, the reporting of global catastrophes are key moments, highly ritualized in their reporting and representation that indeed render those momentary spaces and times when the profane and ordinary world is put to one side and where the power of the dispersed collective is moved in a project and mutuality and togetherness (Calhoun, Rojek, and Turner 194).
The ritual function of media then regards Carey’s ritual model which depicts that communication process involving the viewers and the meanings conveyed by events serves to maintain a society through rituals or by creating a unifying factor which connects the society to the real world. The ritual model of Carey reiterates media’s role in establishing and sustaining social order. Carey’s emphasis on ‘community’ have been evident on the studies of national press and broadcasting cultures which address the media’s role in creating and sustaining the ordinariness and normality of everyday life (Calhoun, Rojek, and Turner 194).
Rituals in Sports
Several literatures are at one in stressing that there is a thoughtful connection between sports and religion. According to scholar Gruneau, in this period of mass sporting spectacles, it has become common to express that sports have taken on the character of a modern religion (qtd. in Cho 3). It is theorized that the insightful resemblance of sports to religion maybe based on four distinctive factors: mobilizing strong belief, necessity of leaders and rules, sense of belongingness, and ritual ceremonies (Cho3).
The first factor, mobilizing strong belief, is best explicated using the enthusiasm of the crowd in pushing for the win of their preferred team. It is imperative for the success of sports and religion to enforce strong and even desperate belief (Cho 3). The belief in gods and divination may equal with the kind of eagerness and beliefs of the crowd to their team. The second factor, the necessity of leaders and rules pave the way for the emergence of followers. The leaders and the rules that govern them are important with guiding and disciplining their followers (Cho 3). Simply put, followers and leaders engaged in a ritual process the bond that connects them is the rules. The third factor is the sense of belongingness caused not only by belief or enthusiasm of the participants, but also by attractive and dramatic attributes in the processes and outcomeswhich aid in the creation of the participants’ collective identities (Cho 3). The last factor is the ritual ceremonies. When sports enthusiasts repeat the same processes every week or in every game, they create rituals.
In applying the ritual model of communication proposed by James Carey, it can be said that the capacity of the field of sports to create a community of people with a unified thoughts and beliefs and with a set of collective identities best represents Carey’s notion of media’s purpose: to sustain society amidst changes. It is noted that the period of Enlightenment and the industrialization have shaped the way people view the emergence of modern sports. The process of Enlightenment persuades people to pursue rationalized types of leisure in which they tried to avoid bloody violence and brutal competitions and to domesticate sports (Cho 4). With this process, sports became tools of disciplined activities aiming at what Carey referred to as ‘maintenance of society’. However, the process of industrialization precipitates urbanization which results to social alienation and isolation. The onset of social alienation and separation induces people to seek for sense of belongingness and communities with shared beliefs and principles. In that period, sports, particularly the sports teams based on certain cities and urban areas have become the appropriate solutions and outlets for their desire (Cho 4).
The ritual aspect of sports can be defined in two ways: the repetitive and structured ceremonial rituals and the other is the symbolic and theatrical performance (Cho 5). To further the discussion on the ritual aspect of sports, it is of high importance to examine the opening and closing ceremonies in the Olympics. Scholars regard the rituals in Olympics as grounded on the classic schema or rites of passage and during the ceremony, the spectators, the games and the victory ceremonies are rites of intensification (qtd. in Cho 6). The Olympics instigate a new mileage and presents to people the victorious side of life. People who partake in the in the ceremonies of the Olympics commonly have an experience of rites of passage which implies that participants’ experience changes with following the same procedures together and possessing shared memories: the main source for collective identities (Cho 6).
The collective identities of Olympics enthusiasts in turn create a unified community with same rituals aiming to reiterate values and morals of the society. Carey’s ritual model suggests that shared values and sense of community are suggestive of sports media aiming at ritualizing the modes of living of the people to sustain society. Though Carey’s model is not directed on media’s role in changing societal perspectives, the onset of reflexivity comes to mind. With the industrialization becoming more advanced and modernity continues to instill impact, reflexivity appears in the picture as the susceptibility of most aspects of social activity, and material relations with nature, to chronic revision in the light of new information or knowledge (qtd. in Calhoun, Rojek, and Turner 195). Reflexivity is then the combination of modernity and ritual.
The 1980 Winter Olympic Hockey Game between Russia and the United States
As it is said that sports is able to instigate meanings on world view, sports also mirror conflicts, certainly when the divisions are politicized, such field becomes a dramatic microcosm of political conflicts (Combs 65). The 1980 Winter Olympic Hockey Game between Russia and the United States reflects such notion.
The United States was emerging from a troubled decade. Prior to the Olympic game, the 1970s had been marked by an ugly end to the Vietnam War, a demoralizing Watergate spectacle, rampant inflations, unemployment, and energy crisis. Meanwhile, the Soviet had just invaded Afghanistan rejuvenating the cold war. The Russians had not lost an Olympic hockey game since 1968 and they were widely recognized as the best hockey team in the world. The game became memorable as the game was infused with tension.
But the most memorable recent incident involving the United States occurred at the 1980 Winter Olympics. In late 1979, in an already volatile Middle East following the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. This was the culmination of a complex series of political events that signified the crisis of “détente” between the United States and the Soviet Union, and brought the world into one of those periods of international tension. (Combs 66)
As the United States was in a retributive mood during that period, President Carter symbolically referred to the game as having its sole political purpose of punishing the Soviets for the Afghanistan intervention. It was conceived that the defeat of the Soviets was not just a game but the result of the outpouring of emotions and quest towards victory and dismissing international tensions with the Soviets.
At the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, the American hockey team unexpectedly upset the Soviets, 4-3. This triumph, and then later when the Americans won the gold medal by defeating the Finns, brought an outpouring of rejoicing and national pride. This outburst, which included many people who knew absolutely nothing about hockey, was clearly related to the new international tensions with the Soviets. (Combs 66)