首页 | 本学科首页   官方微博 | 高级检索  
     检索      


Negotiating violence: Mixed martial arts as a spectacle and sport
Authors:Jesper Andreasson  Thomas Johansson
Institution:1. Department of Sport Science, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden;2. Faculty of Education, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
Abstract:Drawing on qualitative interviews with Mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes and stakeholders, this study aims to investigate the relationship between, on the one hand, MMA as a spectacle and imaginary world, and on the other, the fighters’ experiences of violence, pain and ‘the real’. Analytically, we are influenced by the literature on the spectacle and on hyperreality. The results show that athletes’ negotiations concerning the sport largely connect to a particular way of approaching violence – culturally and in terms of physical experience. On the one hand, there is a desire to portray MMA as a civilized and regulated sport. The athletes develop different strategies by which to handle or renegotiate the physical force and violence in the cage. On the other hand, however, the fighters’ bodily control and management of their fear sometimes breaks down. When the spectacle of the octagon becomes ‘real’, the legitimacy of the sport is questioned.
Keywords:MMA  spectacle  sport politics  sociability  subculture    violence
设为首页 | 免责声明 | 关于勤云 | 加入收藏

Copyright©北京勤云科技发展有限公司  京ICP备09084417号