Toward a genealogy of spectacle: understanding contemporary spectacular experiences

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Notes

1. Spectacle derives from ‘specere,’ to look.

2. The Ancient Greek Olympic Games and other spectated sport events arguably predate philosophy ‘proper’ by several centuries—‘proper’ in terms of uncontroversially mature manifestations of the practice. See Heather Reid’s Introduction to the Philosophy of Sport (Plymouth: Rowan & Littlefield, 2012).

3. ‘§’ refers to aphorism number; the second number indicates the page.

4. After all, for the Greeks the agonic was the means to honor the gods through the suffering of the athlete, and not to aggrandize the latter’s persona.

5. This is anthologized in his Sport, Virtues and Vices (2007b), which tellingly carries the subtitle of ‘Morality Plays,’ furthering the ties to the world of spectacle qua drama.

6. Two sources that broaden the scope of violence in sport and supplement Tuncel’s views are Nicholas Dixon’s (2010) ‘A critique of Violent Retaliation in Sport,’ and Dennis Hemphill’s (1998) edited collection All Part of the Game—Violence and Australian Sports, whose historically and socially situated approach is congruent with Tuncel’s genealogical method.

7. Aphorisms §178–196 precede the third part, and constitute an appendix to parts I and II.