Scripting the American Olympic StoryTelling Formula

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Scripting the American Olympic Story-Telling
Formula

• The 1924 Paris Olympic Games and the American
  Media

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I. American Stories in the 1920s

• Charles Lindbergh as cultural symbol
• Parallels to the 1924 American Olympic Team
• The significance of nationalism
• Media interpretation of Olympic exploits
• -- ballyhoo
• Translating the Olympics for an American audience

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II. Pre-Olympic Media Interpretation

• Olympism as an antidote to realpolitik
• Olympic preparations in Paris
• A French Olympic Craze
• American Try-outs
• --Charles W. Paddock

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III. A Winter Interlude

• First Winter Olympic games in January of 1924
• Charles Jewtraw wins 500 meter speed skating
  gold
  
• Media interpretation of the American performance

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IV. Olympic Sport and American Politics A
Contrast

• The Teapot Dome Scandal
• Sport as an escape from politics
• Public donations for American team expenses
  sought
  
• --350,000 for a 350-member team

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V. Setting the Stage Olympic Ballyhoo

• American team seen as favorites
• Stiff competition expected from Finland
• A change in the scoring policy
• Special attention given to American sprinters

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VI. Sex Appeal at the Olympic Spectacle

• Media focus on American women swimmers
• The ambiguous role of women at the Olympic
  games
  
• The sexual appeal of female swimmers
• Sportswomanship of female swimmers
• Sometimes women endorsed the male-chauvinist
  views of womens sport

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VII. Unbearable Americans

• United States defeats France in Rugby in May of
  1924
  
• French crowd response
• Crowd response denounced by French press
• American media interpretation of the rugby wars

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VIII. Defending Americas National Honor

• Sport as an instrument of peace
• The role of nationalism in the Olympics
• American team sails for France
• No media reports from American athletes
• American Olympic quarters
• Americanizing the Olympic experience

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IX. The 1924 Games

• The Opening Ceremony
• The entrance of the American team
• 12 New World Records
• U.S. faced tough competitors
• American results
• Anti-American behavior of the French crowds

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X. Counting Medals and Confirming American
Superiority

• U.S. won 45 gold medals, 26 silver medals, and 27
  bronze medals
  
• Nation-wide epidemic of patriotic
  back-slapping
  
• Olympic performance as an antidote to the fast
  living of the 20s
  
• Theories explaining the American success
• The invisibility of Black Olympians
• Some criticism of the American Olympic performance

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XI. Glorifying Finland

• Paavo Nurmi, The Flying Finn
• Proposed Reasons for Finnish excellence in
  Olympic sports
  
• --climate and size
• --superior moral athletes
• --long fight with the Russians
• --diet and training
• --compulsory physical education
• Why did Americans celebrate Finlands Olympic
  successes

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XII. Creating Foreign Enemies

• Press created villains along with sidekicks
• British Criticism of Olympism itself
• American faith in the Olympic spirit
• The Olympics as an arena to Americanize the
  world
  
• Sport as a way to spread civilization and
  American ideals

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XIII. A Triumphant Return from Paris

• Ticker tape parade in New York City
• New York City mayor attacks federal government
  for lack of support of American team
  
• Fact and Fiction in the Olympic Story-Telling
  Scripts
  
• Traditional and modern society might successfully
  be merged
  
• An Ethiopian Takes Notes
• Difficulty of separating fact from fiction

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Marketing National Identity

• The Olympic Games of 1932 and American Culture

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I. Hollywoods Olympic Village

• Means of producing cultural images and myths
• Residential pattern of the Olympic Village
• The role of Hollywood stars
• Special food for each nation
• The Tenth Olympiad headquartered in fantasyland

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II. Advertising the Los Angeles Olympics

• Marketed as the vacation of 1932
• Advertised as a Depression-buster
• New American Olympic president Avery Brundage
• Olympians as an example of the true American
  economic ethos
  

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III. Underwriting a Wholesome Olympics

• Nation-wide campaign to finance the American
  Olympic Team
  
• State and local support
• Enforcement of Prohibition

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IV. The Winter Games at Lake Placid

• Third Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York in
  February, 1932
  
• Governor Franklin Roosevelt opens the games
• Media Coverage
• Stunning American victory
• Financial Issues for the Winter Games

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V. Funding Issues for the Summer Games

• Fears that African-American Athletes will be
  dropped
  
• --Ralph Metcalfe and Jesse Owens
• German participation in spite of economic woes
• AOC funding problems
• Local Fundraising Challenges

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VI. The 1932 Games

• The Anticipation of American Victories
• Who would open the games?
• Visions of Olympic Harmony
• An Olympian Publicity MachineHollywood Style

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VI. 1932 Games (cont)

• The Opening Ceremonies
• An Orgy of Self-Congratulation
• Revelations of National Character and Status
• The US and Japan at the 1932 Games

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VII. Women and the 1932 Summer Games

• Continuing controversy over the role of women in
  the Olympic games
  
• A lack of grace among female track and field
  stars
  
• Still, the female athletes were perceived as
  fair
  
• The NaturalBabe Didrikson

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VIII. Reflections on the 1932 Games

• The Sable Cyclones
• The invisibility of African-American athletes in
  the 1930s
  
• The global politics of the Olympic
  spiritOlympism as the recipe for world peace
  
• A Dissenting Voice
• Appeals to American Athletic Nationalism