Social Problems In Canadian Ice Hockey

1007 Words3 Pages

Hockey is Canada’s game as many Canadian’s eat, sleep, and breather hockey. Culturally, Canadians celebrate all facets of hockey and quickly ignore the dark side of the game. In Curtis Fogel’s article, Social Problems in Canadian Ice Hockey: An Exploration Through Film, he examines the social problems in Canada through the use of film. Prompted by pop-cultural depictions of violence, hazing, sexual assault, and drug use in hockey films, (Fogel’s) paper illustrates various social problems that currently exist in Canadian Ice Hockey (Fogel, 2014). In this examination, Fogel enlightens the reader of the dark side of Canada’s beloved game through the use of real life examples, and films that have depicted problems in the culture of …show more content…

Through the use of film, Fogel (2013) examines the “serious social problems that exist within and surrounding Canadian ice hockey” (P.65). Fogel examines the films of Goon (2011), Youngblood (1986), Playing with Fire (2011), Our Guys (1999) and Gross Misconduct (1993) to illustrate the major “social problems of violence, hazing, sexual assault, and drug use in hockey” (Fogel, 2014, p.64). Fogel uses the film Goon (2011) to illustrate the on-ice violence in a comical fashion. Fogel connects instances which have close comparisons of real life on-ice violence, however spun in an entertaining way for viewers. Fogel continues his article with highlighting the use of hazing within hockey as well as connecting to the theme of violence. Using the film Youngblood, Fogel uses the film to illustrate hazing rituals in which have become a common practice within the male hockey game. Fogel (2014) defines hazing as rookie players (who) are forced into non-consensual sexual acts that are aimed to be humiliating and potentially quite painful. Again, Fogel uses real life cases to illustrate how hazing is occurring in Canada and a case as recent as 2011 with a hockey team in Manitoba. With hazing and …show more content…

Using media to stimulate and shock the public is an interesting way to educate the public. Fogel’s ability to connect the films to real life case studies, bring these issues to light, and give the article the necessary support in connecting social issues to life. Although Fogel uses film as an excellent means of information, Fogel’s article ignores the female game. Fogel’s opinion of the game of hockey, is very one sided when examining the darker side of hockey. Fogel does not examine the female game and groups the word hockey to encompass all forms of hockey in Canada. We cannot ignore that these issues may surface in the female game, however Fogel ignores to touch on the whole game of hockey. Another issue that Fogel ignores to incorporate previous research conducted by other scholars as he mentions at the start of the article. It would add support to his article to explore other sources and how their research connects with his research on the relationship between films on hockey and the game itself. Finally, Fogel does not offer insight on how the culture can change and does not provide suggestion on education on how Canada can aid in fixing the pop-cultural depictions of violence, hazing, sexual assault, and drug use (Fogel,

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