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By: Jason DeLong
Class: IAH 207 730
Curation Project

Curator’s Statement
This slideshow is to inform and protect the true vision of foreign hockey players in American movies and the character and
identity of the people who played characters in these movies.To defend and protect the actual foreign hockey players
playing, who have played or who will play Hockey in the USA.
Hockey players face discrimination in their character as they are portrayed as athletic machines, enforcers, instigators,
partiers, and jocks. Society treats foreign hockey players with dehumanizing views based on what they see in American Film
andTelevision. My goal with this slideshow, is to show that hockey players are people too.They are hard working men who
have dedicated their lives to a game that treats them well compensation wise, but sacrifice relationships with their families
and friends.They may not to get to see their families very often due to the strenuous workout schedules, game schedules
and traveling schedules they are on. Facing the challenges of being away from their families most of the time in a foreign
country, they go through a lot. Film depicts these athletes as cowards, sex hungry animals, pill popping partiers, and angry
fighters.
Through each of these examples, I hope to explain how the film expresses these characters in an inhuman way, what
stereotypes the hockey network is facing due to these movies and societies stake in viewership, and what the actual
pretenses and characters are of these players and their backstory.
By identifying and labeling foreign hockey players with stereotypical names, it dehumanizes them and characterizes them
into negative categories. Though film, these negative categories hurt their image by labeling them what they are not. Not
showing the true people who are wearing these jerseys and the struggle they have gone through to get to where they are
today. Hard work makes you look talented as talent isn't something you are born with.The reason they are successful is
because they put in the hard work most of the world wouldn't’t even think about, to achieve success. You get out what you
put in, and this expression holds true to the foreign hockey players determent to success and forthcoming struggles they face
as film portrays them in negative manor.

Background
I have always been a fan of Hockey, since my first NHL game, to skating with
my dad when I was little, to watching hockey every night. Hockey has always
enticed me. Studying tropes, identities, and stereotypes in IAH 207 this
semester, I have really realized the identity ‘Foreign Hockey Players’ make for
themselves or are portrayed on television and throughoutAmerican movies.
Though these stereotypes and falsities that appear onTV and American Film
always depict themes that aren't necessarily true; producers, announcers, and
the generalized perception of Foreign hockey players is apparent.

‘The Enforcer’
Picture from “The Goon”
https://www.google.com/search?q=the+goon&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjI8e3Q0f_SAhVr4oMKHToPBo8Q
_AUICCgB&biw=1018&bih=568#tbm=isch&q=the+goon+hockey&*&imgrc=NHCXCsz8oBfOkM:

In the movie, the Goon, Doug Glatt, the main character is known for his athletic
ability. His athletic ability which isn’t skating or shooting the puck, But its sticking
up for his team mates.Throughout the movie he rises to be a fan favorite because
he is a fighter, or “the enforcer” as some hockey announcers call the grunt of the
team.This movie depicts how foreign hockey players are forced to not be on the
team for their hockey skills, but for their ability to defend their teammates and be
used.
Throughout the movie, Doug doesn't’t like what he has become. A tailored
fighting machine with a reputation for winning fights. But he and his family aren't
proud of the fact that he is just a fighter. His family knows he is not the smartest
person in the world and they are angered at the fact that the team is taking
advantage of him.
Film makers portray Doug as the bad guy to the town, to the other teams in the
league, and to his family. But deep down he is a sweet, gentle and caring person
who doesn't’t want to fight but does it because he is told to do so.This shows how
foreign players are forced to play a game they don’t want to play. Doug loves
hockey and loves playing the game, but is forced to be the enforcer of the team.
The stereotype of the enforcer paired with Doug’s gentle nature offers the viewer
a very complex viewpoint on foreign hockey players in film.

The ‘Instigator’
Picture fromThe Mighty Ducks and of Zdeno Chara
https://lowdownblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/mighty-ducks-fulton-reed-zdeno-chara.jpg

A Disney classic know for a fairytale storyline with a young coach bringing together a
bunch of boys from town, misfits you might say, to win a peewee hockey championship.
One of the misfits from the team is a boy named Fulton Reed.The directors depict Fulton
(a Canadian boy living in the inner city of Philadelphia) as a thug. A boy that grew up on
the rough side of town, but has on talent that cant be missed.
This portrayal continues throughout the team when he cant get along with the players.
But with his wicked slap shot which could blow a hole through the net, the team comes to
term and accepts him as part of the team. Before his acceptance he caused drama on the
ice. As the ‘instigator’ he would pick fights with his own team mates on the ice, the
opponents team and was in the penalty box for more than he played.
As this instigator is compared to present players, he is compared to Zdeno Chara, a known
instigator in the NHL. Chara is a 6’ 9” tall 260lb forward who plays for the Boston Bruins.
His playing style is much like Fulton's in the sense that his vocal idiocrasies on the ice get
him a lot of penalty minutes (hence the Instigator nickname). Chara is a Slovak player
known to not be liked by his team mates or his opponents alike. But plays a good hockey
game and generates points for the team.
Both of these characters/players hold their own on the ice but depict a deeper meaning of
a ‘hockey player’ than most think.Their powerful slap shot offers their team a great
benefit to score points, but their lack luster personalities hurt their team with penalty
minutes. Stereotype's that generalize the ‘bad personality’ of the team are generalized as
the ‘instigators’.

‘The Partier’
Picture is from the movie “The Swingers”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117802/

In the film,The Swingers (1996), this movie depicts a character with not a care in
the world. As a star hockey player, the main character Trent(played by the famous
VinceVaughn) shows the careless lifestyle of a hockey player from Sweden. His
friend on the team Mike shows him around the big city of NewYork, who is also
European. And together they make a mockery of their team, getting on the news
and partying like animals.
This film depicts the stereotype that all NHL players are partiers. Since they
’make the big bucks’ they are able to behave like animals. A young talented
hockey player does drugs, drinks every night and the director shows these scenes
as if it’s an every day thing for the players. Group outings to strip clubs, the bar
scene, and throwing money around like they are billionaires. The movie depicts
foreign hockey players as rich party boys abusing their ‘power’ while making a lot
of money without a care in the world.
This lifestyle may be for some players, but this portrays a false impression of the
‘everyday’ NHL player.The movie shows a fake representation to the end result of
15-20 years of hard work, dedication, and perseverance to develop their hockey
game, only to throw it away on ‘cheap hookers’ and alcohol. The ‘partier’ lifestyle
only can last so long before it catches up with someone.This movie doesn't’t
depict the start or ending, just the ‘golden’ time of a career. Which is very passive
and not accurate to the way most athlete's woud uphold themselves to a set of
standards.

Picture from “The Love Guru”
http://www.hollywoodmoviejerseys.com/the-love-guru.html

The the movie ”The Love Guru”, Mike Meyers, a love guru enthusiast finds himself a new client. The star
of theToronto Maple Leaf’s NHL team. Recently divorced by his wife, the Hockey star enlists Pitka (Mike
Meyers) to help him find love again because he cant play hockey without his ex-wife being his wife. His ex-
wife left him for a rival hockey start who is ‘well endowed’.
This story is full of stereotypes that are crude, sexual, and dehumanizing.The main storyline is of a
broken man, dazed by the recent turn of events of his wife leaving him for another man. But cannot
function without woman.This stereotype is very popular in hockey films as they portray foreign hockey
players as womanizers and obsessive of woman. So much so, that if they don’t have a woman in their life,
they physically and mental cannot play hockey. Having to rely on a weird, degenerate, “love guru” that
talks with terrible innuendoes, just to find spiritual love, really is appalling to watch. Its supposed to be
funny, but explains hockey players so rash.
The imagery in the movie explains very abruptly and dirty the way a hockey player thinks. These
stereotypes hurt the audacity and character of thousands of foreign hockey players because immediately
when they come to America to play in the NHL, they are hit with this freight train of a stereotype has hurt
hockey players in the past because woman don’t want to be in a relationship with an athlete.This is
because they are scared they will be cheated in, womanized, and victimized by the hockey players.
This movie shows that hockey players are dumb, hockey players cant make mental choices for themselves
without a woman in their live, and hockey players are reliant upon other people to find love. Through and
through, this video shows that hockey players get a stereotypical name of being dramatic, but
realistically, hockey is one of the most brutally intense sports around and takes a physical and mental
determination and strong will power to fight through three periods of hockey.This movie makes it seem
that hockey players are weak minded and ignorant to the world around them

The ‘Jock’
Picture is taken from the movie “The Miracle”
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/miracle/

One of the famous hockey stories, and hockey movies of all time is the story of the
USA Olympic team going to the final game and winning against a strong and fast
Russian team, in the movie “The Miracle”. This story is portrayed mostly about the
innocence of all of the USA skaters and the first coach but also talks about the
Russian team full of extremely well coached, agile, and robust players.
Thought not fully engaged in the story line the entire time, its in the back of the USA
players head’s as they train and get ready for the winter Olympics.These European,
Russian, and Canadian hockey players are all portrayed in this film as Hockey players,
and that’s it.There characters are not discovered, they are purely ‘Jocks’.
The backstory to this: Olympic hockey players aren't payed, they are fortified athletes
with one goal in mind, hockey.These players are portrayed in this film as machines,
destined to win.They aren't portrayed as humans, they are shown to be used for one
purpose and one purpose only. HOCKEY.The film suggests these foreign skaters and
dehumanized robots, bred to play hockey and the USA would have no change against
these ‘Jocks’.
The stereotype fails to mention that these foreign players are people too.They aren't
just jocks, or athletes.They have families that want to spend time with them, and
have heart ache being away from them.This movie, though having a powerful
message for American pride, hard work, and determination. Fails to mention that
these players (all of them for that matter) are people, not just athletic jocks.

Annotated Bibliography
• https://lowdownblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/mighty-ducks-fulton-
reed-zdeno-chara.jpg
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117802
• http://www.hollywoodmoviejerseys.com/the-love-guru.html
• https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/miracle/
• https://www.google.com/search?q=the+goon&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=
X&ved=0ahUKEwjI8e3Q0f_SAhVr4oMKHToPBo8Q_AUICCgB&biw=1018&b
ih=568#tbm=isch&q=the+goon+hockey&*&imgrc=NHCXCsz8oBfOkM:

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Curation project draft: Jason DeLong

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Curation project draft: Jason DeLong