More Than a Game? 'The Decision' and the Social Responsibility of the Athlete

Department: Film and Media Studies

Date and Time: October 25, 2017 | 4:30 PM-7:00 PM

Event Location: Ahmanson Auditorium, University Hall 1000 Loyola Marymount University

Event Details


"More Than a Game? 'The Decision' and the Social Responsibility of the Athlete"
Featuring Prof. Victoria Johnson
Associate Professor, Departments of Film & Media Studies and African American Studies at the University of California, Irvine

Come hear one of the nation’s premier media studies scholars consider NBA superstar LeBron James’s 2010 “decision” and 2014 “homecoming” as critical moments that reveal a broader ideological commitment to the idea that sport is a realm of knowable “truths,” sincerity, and ethical/just practice. The Decision telecast as orchestrated by James with ESPN (July 8, 2010), was so controversial in large part because it ruptured this myth while simultaneously exposing a heartfelt need for such a belief. In an era of “alt-news” and “alt-facts,” The Decision, its aftermath, and resolution offer a uniquely vivid intersection of questions regarding media practice, ethical conundrums, and socially responsible behavior as each informed popular discourses regarding the possibilities and limits of professional sports as a unique site characterized by sincerity, undeniable “truths,” and “free agency,” embracing both the economic and broader symbolic meanings of freedom and autonomy.

Presented by the Forum on Media Ethics & Social Responsibility at Loyola Marymount University.