Sportswomen in Cinema ─ Film and the Frailty Myth

This trailblazing book provides an overview of films about women in sport and a timely critical analysis of their role in shaping perceptions of female athletic ability. It examines the themes of aggression, beauty, class, ethnicity, physical feminism, sexuality, synaesthesia and technology in relation to mainstream and art house cinematic depictions of sportswomen, fromPumping Iron 2 to Bend It like Beckham.
Nicholas Chare investigates films across different forms of athletic activity, including aerobics, bodybuilding, boxing, cheerleading, climbing, football, surfing, swimming, tennis and track and field. He assesses their significance for female athletes' struggles for physical freedom through theoretically innovative close readings, achieving a sustained investigation of the varied ways in which sports films, and the kinaesthetic politics they embody, push directors to challenge the limits of cinema as a medium.