Gold Medal Storytelling: NBC’s Hegemonic use of Olympic Athlete Narratives

• In Event: Scholar to Scholar II

Abstract

This paper is a critical analysis of how NBC’s use of athlete stories during their Olympic broadcasts not only increases ratings, but also reinforces hegemonic American values, focusing specifically on the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino Italy. Using Fisher’s narrative paradigm as a theoretical lens and support from the ideas of the American Dream myth, this article places American athlete narratives aired into three categories.

Author

• Michael Burns, Texas State University, San Marcos