Sport, Film and National Culture, edited by Seán Crosson, provides fourteen contributions to the discussion of how sport has been used within film as a tool to promote national culture. As Crosson notes in his introduction, “[S]port films are rarely primarily about sport” (3). He argues that sport films typically lack global impact but make up for this at the national level. Be that as this may, filmography featuring sport can help promote national cultures on a global level—if nothing else, educating and providing insight of a particular national culture to a global audience.
The book is split into three parts: “Sport, Cinema, and National Culture in the USA,” “The European Experience,” and “Beyond Hollywood and Europe.” With ten out of the fourteen chapters focusing on American and European case studies, it does feel Western and Global North heavy. Crosson acknowledges this to a point in the introduction while...
