Žižek And So On UNLOCKED - Desire, Drive, & Football w/ Jack Black
Sep 29, 2023
Jack Black, Associate Professor of Culture, Media, and Sport at Sheffield Hallam University, discusses football as an emblematic example of the Freudian/Žižekian concept of drive. They explore the cultural differences and popularity of a soccer song, share frustrations of being fans, and talk about loss and melancholy in sports. They also have a lighthearted conversation about British comedians, goalkeeper challenges, and the emotions and history of English football.
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Sport Reveals Deep Social Contradictions
- Sport displays social and psychic contradictions that make it rich for theory and analysis.
- Jack Black argues sports can reveal broader social dynamics rather than being mere entertainment.
Live Viewing Preserves Fan Agency
- Recorded sports feel unsatisfying because viewers cannot affect outcomes.
- Robert Fowler's observation explains why live events and rituals matter so much to fans.
Sport Requires Interdisciplinary Study
- Sports studies are interdisciplinary, blending physiology, sociology, history, and philosophy.
- Black favors sociological approaches to critique sport's social meanings over purely psychological performance fixes.