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Abstract
This article offers a visual analysis of online videos that feature innovative street trials cyclist Danny MacAskill. While MacAskill tends to be defined exclusively as an extreme athlete, this article instead considers his popular online videos as acts of poesies that make visible the theme of flourishing in the midst of uncertainty. Drawing on and contributing to extreme sports studies as well as recent social theory on precariousness, the article notes the understudied meaning making potential of extreme sports performances, which navigate the peril that characterizes contemporary existence through risk and play. I argue that MacAskill’s videos deserve greater attention because he provides a counterexample to the kinds of hypermasculine extreme sports performances that have historically been studied. Ultimately, the article considers how analysing MacAskill’s videos can begin to redirect critical understandings of the relationship between cultural production, gender performance and extreme sports.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. ‘Bro culture’ refers to a young, white male subculture that is associated with conventional, if also exaggerated, expressions of masculinity and fraternity behaviour, including binge drinking and prioritizing male friendships over respect for women. ‘Hypermasculinity’ is a gender-based ideology characterized by exaggerated beliefs about what it means to be a man. These beliefs conflate masculinity with toughness, violence, the perception that danger is exciting, and calloused attitudes towards women and sex. For a more in-depth definition, see Vokey, Tefft, and Tysiaczny (Citation2013).