THE WIDE WORLD OF DOPING: DRUG SCANDALS, NATURAL BODIES, AND THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT.

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Bibliographic Details
Title:	THE WIDE WORLD OF DOPING: DRUG SCANDALS, NATURAL BODIES, AND THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT.
Authors:	Carstairs, Catherine
Source:	Addiction Research & Theory. Aug2003, Vol. 11 Issue 4, p263-281. 19p.
Subjects:	Doping in sports, Journalists, Athletes, Politicians, Barthes, Roland, 1915-1980, Wrestling
Abstract:	The article examines various doping scandals in sports entertainment to better understand the responses of journalists, athletes, politicians and the general public to such scandals. The role of doping scandals in sports entertainment must be considered in light of why people watch sport. In 1955, author Roland Barthes published the book "The World of Wrestling," in which he argued that people who watched wrestling did not care if the matches were rigged or not, they watched wrestling for the spectacle it provided. Wrestling was appealing for its grandiloquence, for its extreme presentation of emotion, especially suffering, defeat and justice. Today, this may be true not just of professional wrestling but of all sport entertainment, including doping scandals, produced for a mass-market audience. People enjoy viewing the efforts and physical prowess of athletes, but this does not have to be natural to take pleasure in it, in fact it is enjoyed precisely because it is out of the range of the normal.
Database:	Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection

Description
Abstract:	The article examines various doping scandals in sports entertainment to better understand the responses of journalists, athletes, politicians and the general public to such scandals. The role of doping scandals in sports entertainment must be considered in light of why people watch sport. In 1955, author Roland Barthes published the book "The World of Wrestling," in which he argued that people who watched wrestling did not care if the matches were rigged or not, they watched wrestling for the spectacle it provided. Wrestling was appealing for its grandiloquence, for its extreme presentation of emotion, especially suffering, defeat and justice. Today, this may be true not just of professional wrestling but of all sport entertainment, including doping scandals, produced for a mass-market audience. People enjoy viewing the efforts and physical prowess of athletes, but this does not have to be natural to take pleasure in it, in fact it is enjoyed precisely because it is out of the range of the normal.
ISSN:	16066359
DOI:	10.1080/1606635031000135659