These shinning objects send a message by being passed down year by year to different people or teams. The Stanley Cup is given to the best hockey team every year and this team keeps it for a whole year until the next team wins and they pass it down. Each team's victory is documented on the cup and sends a message to all future champions. This medium is shown to America as a symbol of what all hockey players wish to someday win. Behind it lies history, passion, and stories. This inspires kids, viewers, and athletes to win because the threat of losing is an immediate stab at personal pride. There is much pressure in media to win. This is shown as Hadley Cantril explains that "[a person] feels threatened if his investments are threatened, he feels insulted if his children or parents are insulted, he feels elated if his alma mater wins the sectional football cup" (p.16 -The Invasion from Mars). Cantril expresses that excelling in something or winning a football cup for your school brings ultimate joy and pride to a person. A person possesses pride or joy from winning something such as the Stanley Cup because media shows this to be something outstanding. Media has a large impression on our minds through sports and success. Achievement through sports is usually shown by having a trophy. This shows that the medium of a trophy holds immense power and represents the hard work, dedication, and talent involved in attaining it. Each trophy sends the message of media to all viewers and reveals the historical media behind the trophy.
Here are some pictures of the Stanley Cup and a video of the Penguins winning the Stanley Cup. The video shows the game winning shot, celebration, and the cup. The Stanley Cup is shown at 2 minutes and 25 seconds into the video. The cup is brought out by two men in suits, which shows its importance and significance. The people in the pictures show expressions of joy and even love towards the trophy, which shows the mesmerizing effect that trophies have on people. One woman is licking the trophy, which sends a message of the trophy being sexy and attractive to women. There is also a picture of me and my softball team when we won the state finals in high school. Our joy and happiness from success and getting a trophy is shown in the pictures.
lisa,
ReplyDeletei reallly like how you connected trophies to media. i had though about it before but putting down on words is interesting. if there werent any trophies, there would be no interest in sports. kids would not watch it nor play it. people dream for these objects that represent pride and honor. it allows people to feel they are the best, and it lets people know who is the best. i really liked the blog.
salo
Connecting trophies to media? It was definitely an idea that I did not think about; but now that you have drawn the dots for me, I can really relate to your blog entry and the connection. The image of a trophy has always symbolized the victorious or the winner, while the person standing next to this "first place" is always pictured as a loser. But in many cases this is not completely true. For example, in golf, in order to even become second place is a very difficult thing. To even place in a golf tournament is something that takes so much training to do. So by having this image of the victor, are we devaluing the importance of the second place? Is this something right to do?
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting entry because my dad always stressed to me the importance of striving for success in sports. I feel like in this country, there are runners up and participation trophies, which makes some settle for mediocrity. It would be an interesting experiment if there was only an award for the person who won, like it should be haha.
ReplyDeleteAs those before me have said this is a very interesting concept, of connecting media to trophies. I can relate to this idea of trophies causing us to strive for the best. All the way through high school I played hockey, and the glory of winning a trophy that signified you were the best made sure that everyone on the team worked hard, and did their best. Especially when I was younger, seeing the Stanley Cup being raised on TV, made me want to go out and work hard in hopes that one day I too would be able to infamously kiss and raise the cup.
ReplyDeleteConnecting a trophy to media is an interesting take on what many people may overlook when following sports. Interestingly enough, each member os the Stanley Cup winning tea can spend an entire day with the Stanley Cup. The media has played a pivotal part in folling the cup to hundreds of different places. In doing so, the media has helped to glorify the Stanley Cup to the point where it does seem that some players are emotionally attached to winning it.
ReplyDeleteAre Trophies always good?
ReplyDeleteI understand the point you are striving at when describing how trophies represent success and effort and passion for a person or group, that is fantastic, we should all have hobbies in which there is opportunity to succeed. But in the definition of trophies in USA, i would like to bring up trophies and awards that go on in the army, all those rewards, are they good? I mean, soldiers who kill more and save more of their companions are rewarded higher, is that a positive connotation of trophies, for murdering lives, i think that people should put more attention to that these days.
Awesome topic. I am glad that nowadays our trophies are such clean and harmless metal statues, instead of in the ancient times they used to be the dead enemy's head, scalp, or wives, etc. It'll be really interesting to look into the history of the trophy and how it has evolved along the years.
ReplyDeleteGreat job!