Bad boy rebounds and rare air: Masculinity in televised sport media, young adult male audiences and the search for authenticity in postmodern America.

摘要

This study of televised basketball bridges social science and cultural studies of sport media through an audience ethnography that examines how African American and white male college athletes and non-athletes interpret the oppositional images of Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman. The mixed method design combines textual analysis and audience ethnography to examine the following: (1) how male audiences make meaning of televised basketball images toward ideas of masculinity; (2) the extent to which Rodman's gender play (i.e. cross-dressing) disrupted dominant notions of masculinity (sporting masculinities and the hegemony they uphold) for male viewers; (3) how men negotiate masculinity with peers during social viewing of sport; (4) the extent to which patterns identified through previous textual analyses of media resonate with audience interpretations. Results indicate the commercial focus of basketball foregrounds questions of authenticity for audiences (e.g., whether sport has become mostly entertainment; if athletes love the game and work hard or merely seek fame and money). The audience's divergent interpretations of Rodman's and Jordan's authenticity are examined for their essentialist versus constructionist assumptions. Despite his highly constructed image (especially his association with Nike), Jordan was interpreted as unquestionably authentic. Alternatively, the men read Rodman as not authentic because of his constructed image, yet they did not apply constructionist ideas to the world outside the media where the potential for more critical readings of gender is likely greater. Instead, they relied upon essentialism to interpret Rodman as heterosexual and resisted reading his image as subversive. Furthermore, his image prompted them to affirm their own heterosexuality, suggesting that homophobia informed their resistance. Implications for intervention programs are discussed, including media literacy and critical gender studies curricula to better equip audiences as critical readers of media. This study also has implications for further research. Although audience interpretations seem to resonate with textual analyses of sport media, audience studies are necessary to reveal the processes by which these meanings are constructed and identify modifiable social processes important for social change.