Popular Beliefs, Myths and Icons
Josh Dusenbery
Popular Culture HUMN 240
Professor Hamlin
October 5, 2011
Popular Beliefs, Myths and Icons
The pop culture topic that I chose to write about is extreme sports. Many people have different definitions of extreme sports and in my opinion I think that it would be hard to assign it one. What is “extreme” to one person may not be to the next. Still this type of sport has become so popular these days that ESPN has even created The X Games to crown the top people in each of their extreme sports. There are many popular beliefs about extreme sports along with many myths and most of all icons.
Many people have popular beliefs as to what is considered an extreme sport but I want to take the approach of why do people do it. According to a study on Australian surfers showed “that voluntary risk-taking is done for a variety of reasons. These can range from the need for thrills and excitement, to overcoming personal fears and to exercise personal agency as well as for emotional engagement, control and self-improvement” (Robinson, 2008, p. 147). I believe that this sums up many peoples popular beliefs about why people participate in extreme sports.
One of the main myths that surround extreme sports is that it has to be dangerous to be considered extreme but I found a website that shows horse racing as the most dangerous sport around and I don’t know of anyone that would consider that an extreme sport. Also this same website mentions that most “extreme” sports are packed with safety tips and ridiculous amounts of safety gear. This would also cut down on the whole dangerous factor.
I have found that most extreme sports have their individual icon that has helped their sport rise in popularity. Take Travis Pastrana for example. No one really knew, or at least I didn’t, that freestyle motocross was even a sport until he came around. Now I watch the X Games on television every year just to watch that competition. Most of the time in regular sports the sport helps the star become an icon; with extreme sports it seems that the icon helps the sport become popular.
I gained a lot of insight into extreme sports by applying these terms to it. I’ve learned that many people believe that people do it for the adrenaline rush. I have also learned that a common myth about extreme sports revolves around whether or not it is dangerous. The biggest thing I took from this assignment would definitely be that the icons in extreme sports usually make the sport that they do more popular instead of the other way around.
References
Appleton, J. (2005, August 30). What's so extreme about extreme sports?. Spiked Online. Retrieved from http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CAD26.htm
Robinson, V. (2008). Everyday Masculinities and Extreme Sport. Oxford
Berg Publishers.
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