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“Not Just a Game” with Filmmaker David Zirin
May 21, 2011 @ 6:00 pm – 9:30 pm EDT
In the powerful 2010 documentary Not Just a Game: Power Politics & American Sports (based on Zirin’s best-selling book, The People’s History of Sports in the United States), author and activist Dave Zirin argues that, far from providing merely escapist entertainment, American sports have long been at the center of some of the major political debates and struggles of our time. We’ve been told again and again that sports and politics don’t mix, that games are just games and athletes should just “shut up and play.” But according to Zirin, this notion is just flat-out wrong. In a fascinating tour of the good, the bad, and the ugly of American sports culture, Zirin first traces how American sports have glamorized militarism, racism, sexism, and homophobia, then excavates a largely forgotten history of rebel athletes who stood up to power and fought for social justice beyond the field of play. The result is as deeply moving as it is exhilarating: nothing less than an alternative history of political struggle in the United States as seen through the games its people have played. Screening and Q&A preceded by a community BBQ dinner.
We are committed to lowering the barriers to access for events at The Sanctuary for Independent Media. For people who are hard of hearing or deaf, blind or low-vision, or whose physical limitations can interfere with a satisfying experience, let us know two weeks in advance so we can make appropriate arrangements.
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