You must answer #1 and #2.
When you reference films or articles, they should be central ones from the course, not ones covered independently in papers. Also, be sure to be specific when referencing the texts (cite key moments, lines, scenes, etc.).Finally, try not to double up on using a story, poem, or film, meaning that have each answer use different texts, unless you are directed otherwise.
- Many of our sports stories deal with the idea of redemption, of coming back from difficulty to make things right, or to start over in a positive direction. Perhaps it is someone who was once a tragic hero who has turned his or her life around. Through the lens of the theme of redemption, analyze the film Field of Dreams and one other sports story we have read or film we have viewed in class. REQUIRED QUESTION
- Seneca, in his Epistle 7, bemoans those who seek “the majority’s approval.” So many view success in sports to be measured by wins and losses and the popular opinion of fans and/or the media. This becomes a struggle for any athlete, as he or she measures success by what others say. At the same time, without the fan and the media, popular sports would not thrive, as they do today. Explore this idea, citing the benefits and drawbacks of the “crowd,” using at least two sports stories we have analyzed this term.
List of readings/ videos to choose from:
Week 1:
Week 2: How we tell stories
Week 3 : The Hero’s Journey
Week 4: Vices and Hubris
Week 5: Tragic Hero’s
Week 7: Sports in context
Week 8: Athelete an ideal citizen
http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/samples/cam032/99036947.pdf (Aristotle’s thoughts on what happiness is, what it should be, and how it is acquired. )
Week 10: Romantcism in sports
Black Hair– Gary Soto
At eight I was brilliant with my body.
In July, that ring of heat
We all jumped through, I sat in the bleachers
Of Romain Playground, in the lengthening
Shade that rose from our dirty feet.
The game before us was more than baseball.
It was a figure–Hector Moreno
Quick and hard with turned muscles,
His crouch the one I assumed before an altar of worn baseball cards in my room.
I came here because I was Mexican, a stick
Of brown light in love with those
who could do it–the triple and hard slide,
The gloves eating balls into double plays.
What could I do with 50 pounds, my shyness,
My black torch of hair, about to go out?
Father was dead, his face no longer
Hanging over the table or our sleep
And Mother was the terror of mouths
Twisting hurt by butter knives.
In the bleachers I was brilliant with my body,
Waving players in and stomping my feet, Growing sweaty in the presence of white
shirts.
I chewed sunflower seeds. I drank water
And bit my arm through the late innings.
When Hector lined balls into deep
Center, in my mind I rounded the bases
With him, my face flared, my hair lifting
Beautifully, because we were coming home to the arms of brown people.
