The Hockey Girls. The creation of a new collective subject: sisterhood and the empowerment of women

ABSTRACT

The vindication of female sport at an international level and the visibility of this subject in the media provided the groundwork for the release of the fictional television series Les de l’hoquei/The Hockey Girls (TV3, 2019–2020; Netflix, 2019). After a successful first season on TV3, it was included in the Netflix catalogue. Through content analysis of its first season and an ad-hoc analysis sheet, we conclude that this series promotes equality by creating a new collective subject that unites men and women. We also find that it builds new models of masculinity, female empowerment, sisterhood and better relations between genders. Therefore, the series moves away from post-feminist postulates and shows that it is still necessary to establish equality between men and women.

KEYWORDS:

• Sport feminism
• TV series
• gender
• sisterhood
• equality
• intersectionality

Acknowledgments

Professor Mark Jancovich and Dr Melanie Williams from the University of East Anglia’s Department of Film, Television and Media have contributed to the improvement of this article, so thanks for a warm and very special “virtual stay” for Dr Anna Tous-Rovirosa in the spring of 2021.

Disclosure statement

There are no relevant financial or non-financial competing interests to report.

Notes

1. Interviewed by Anna Tous-Rovirosa, online. 15/07/2021.

2. This is a portmanteau of Dynasty and Dallas, widely used in TV Studies.

3. Costumbrismo is a literary genre of local customs and manners that can be applied to TV genres, in the Catalan case.

4. “We skate … together! We play … together! We win … together! Together, we are unstoppable” . “If we’re together, if we hold hands, nothing will stop us. (…) Always forward, never a step back; nothing will stop us. We’re like a beast. We want to win, dream … Together, together! And if we’re together, nothing can stop us … ” (1. 2, 1.11, 1.12, 1.13).

5. When the song Junts som invencibles (“Together we are unstoppable”, masculine plural in the original in Catalan) is playing, the two teams chant together the feminine motto: “We’ll skate … Together! We’ll play … Together! We’ll win … Together!” (1.13).

6. Emma to Anna: “Fuck you and your shitty play!” (1.5).

Emma: “It’s a bit too much!”. Anna: “What happens when you want to fuck us?” (1.6).

7. Raquel to Óscar [after their first sexual intercourse]: “You went sacking and it didn’t grind me. People! I never want to be with you again. I missed you about it”. (1.5).

8. Gina kisses Putxi (Guillermo Lasheras) in 1.7.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anna Tous-Rovirosa

Dr. Anna Tous-Rovirosa is senior Lecturer at the Department of Journalism and Communication Sciences and research member of the Sport Research Institute (Autonomous University of Barcelona, UAB). She has been visiting scholar at the universities of Bochum (Germany), Salvador de Bahia (Brazil) and East Anglia (Norwich, UK). Her research on television fiction, audiovisual narrative and gender is available in international journals such as Palabra Clave, Communication & Society, Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, El Profesional de la Información, SERIES and Comunicar, amongst others. Email: [email protected]

Maria Prat

Dr. Maria Prat is senior Lecturer of Physical Education Teacher Training at the Department of Education of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Currently, she is research member of the Sport Research Institute, UAB. She has been studying promotion of attitudes and values in physical education and sport, specially focusing on gender and diversity discourses. She has published in international journals such as: Sport Education and Society (UK); Quest (USA); International Journal of Medicine and Sciences of Physical Education (Spain); Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy (UK); Movimento (Brasil), and others. Email: [email protected]

Daria Dergacheva

Dr. Daria Dergacheva defended her PhD dissertation with distinction in July 2021 at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Her dissertation studied state narrative construction around representation of LGTBQ in news and social networks in Russia. She received the Chevening scholarship and graduated from the School of Media at the University of Westminster in 2013. Before that, she worked in Russian media for over 10 years. She has published in international journals such as Russian Journal of Communication and Quaestio Rossica, amongst others. E-mail: [email protected]