The image of sportsman

The contemporary image of the sportsman can be studied not only in marketing terms, but also in film and media studies, indicating the protagonist’s struggle with fate, his own weaknesses and limitations, as presented in the audiovisual message. The analysis focused on contemporary Polish feature films from 2011–2020, containing the story of athletes who experience both universal and national history and their own existential and moral dilemmas.

Analysis method

The method used was the study of films and TV series as media messages and the theoretical perspective of an intimate approach to the analysis of the athlete’s image. We may pose the following problematic questions:

what is the significance of universal and national history in the film and media presentation of the experiences of a given athlete?
in what way are his existential struggles symbolically captured in individual cinematic images?
what moral dilemmas does the athlete experience and how are they portrayed in a given audiovisual message?

Polish sports movies – 5 films selected for analysis

Five Polish sports feature films of the second decade of the 21st century were selected for analysis:

1. Prawdziwe historie: Bokser (True Stories: Boxer), dir. T. Blachnicki, Poland 2012

In 2012, two biographical TVN productions from the series Prawdziwe historie: Bokser (True Stories: Boxer) directed by Tomasz Blachnicki, based on the life story of Polish kickboxer Przemysław Saleta and Nad życie (More than Life) dir. by Anna Plutecka–Mesjasz, about the life and fight against illness of Polish volleyball player Agata Mróz–Olszewska, were presented.

2. Nad życie (More than Life) dir. A. Plutecka–Mesjasz, Poland 2012

3. Najlepszy (The Best), dir. Ł. Palkowski, Poland 2017

Polish sports movies. Najlepszy — *Najlepszy* (The Best), dir. Ł. Palkowski, Poland 2017.

2017 saw the premiere of two sports biographical productions: the picture Najlepszy (The Best), dir. by Łukasz Palkowski – inspired by the life of Jerzy Górski, the 1990 world champion in the Double Ironman triathlon competition in the United States, previously struggling with a drug addiction problem – and the film Gwiazdy (Stars) dir. by Jan Kidawa–Błoński, about the story of Jan Banaś, a football player of Polonia Bytom and Górnik Zabrze, a multiple representative of Poland.

4. Gwiazdy (Stars) dir. J. Kidawa–Błoński, Poland 2017

5. Underdog, dir. M. Kawulski, Poland 2019

The analysis also included a Polish sports drama from 2019 titled Underdog, dir. by Maciej Kawulski – incidentally co–founder of the Polish martial arts federation Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki – featuring Mamed Khalidov. I invite you to read the whole study in „Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie”).