Mind the gap: female coaches in hollywood sports films

Abstract

In the summer of 2015, the NFL employed both their first female professional referee and their first female coach, while the NBA now has two female coaches in its employment. Representations of female coaches in contemporary popular sports films are, however, virtually non-existent. No mainstream sports film has featured a female coach as a central character since 1996. The overwhelming majority of sports films are about male coaches coaching male athletes. Women coaching men, in particular in professional sports, remain an often uncrossed boundary in films about coaching. This study analyses the depiction of female coaches in three Hollywood films – Wildcats (1986), Eddie (1996) and Sunset Park (1996) – arguing that while these films may well have feminist intentions, they overwhelmingly conform to stereotypical and essentialist ideas of the “woman as coach” trope.

Keywords:

• Eddie (1996)
• Wildcats (1986)
• Sunset Park (1996)
• female coaches
• sports films

Notes

1. Retrieved 22 December 2015.

2. The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/wimbledon-2014-andy-murray-and-am-lie-mauresmo-now-the-courtship-begins-9554396.html, “Andy Murray makes groundbreaking coaching hire with Amelie Mauresmo” USA Today, ftw.usatoday.com/2014/06/andy-murray-amelie-mauresmo-coach-woman, The Express, http://www.express.co.uk/sport/tennis/481288/Andy-Murray-gets-his-girl-guide-Amelie-Mauresmo-before-Wimbledon

3. Women coaching women is even more elusive, the only example since 1985 that I am aware of is the 2009 drama The Mighty Macs, which had only a limited release in the U.S.

4. While research on female athletes has increased manyfold, there has only been one attempt at investigating the depiction of female coaches in the chapter “Measured and Recorded: Cinematic Female Coaches” in Viridiana Lieberman’s monograph Sports Heroines on Film (2015).

5. For a closer examination of abusive coaching practices as represented in Hollywood films, see Kerr et al. in this issue.

6. See also (Bonzel, 2013; Caudwell, 2009; Chare, 2015; Holmlund, 2002).

7. For a discussion of the figure of the phallic woman in film, see The Monstrous Feminine (Creed, 1993).

8. Humour has long been associated with the defusing of gender transgressions, see for example Chris Straayers’ work on temporary transvestite narratives in mainstream comedies (Straayer, 2003).