Sport vs Non-Sport
A sports movie is a movie genre, which makes use of sport as the main theme of the movie. It’s a fictional production where a sport, particular sport, participant of the sport, or team of sport are heavily involved, and that depend very much on sport for their major plot premise or resolution. For instance, if the movie takes place in Malaysia, the events in the plot will definitely relate to sports, or the people who follow that sport. Or it could also take place in the United States, in a town in which one of the professional athletes becomes a superstar. These all could be sub-plots to the main events of the movie, but that’s how they fit together.
Sports stories are always about two or more competing teams or athletes, and how they try to overcome some kind of obstacle in order to win the game or tournament. Some of these events are athletic competition such as wrestling, martial arts, boxing, sprinting, track running, tennis, hockey, soccer, basketball, football, sailing and so on. In many instances the events are physical and involve competitions between the various sports – although it can also be about the camaraderie between players within a team or a certain club or association as well. A popular sports movie, and the most popular, are the” Lakers’ Ball”, about the rivals LA Lakers and the inner-city team the Memphis Grizzlies.
Most sports movies take physical skill, or sport in its strictest sense, as the central theme. For instance, one could consider “The Replacements” (the movie version of “The Office”), which is all about a group of cheerleaders who play a secret role in the Americans’ successful victory in the World Basketball Cup. In this movie, the sport that the opposing teams are engaged in is almost entirely based on sport. The players use their sport physical skills, they use their sport mental skills and then they use their sport strategy in their efforts to win.
Many people think that if you’re engaged in a heated competition or clash of egos, then there’s no scope of sport, of fair competition or of fair play. But many professional sports have built up an infrastructure that promotes fair play and makes it clear that, even though individuals might have differing views, and even if you might be involved in a war of supremacy and hate, or if you are indulging in a dirty sport for the sheer thrill of competition, then it’s important to maintain a level playing field. You might say that any set-up like this needs to be properly regulated by a body, an authority, if you like. The problem with regulation is that it can be very difficult to regulate, especially if there’s not a standard for the different types of regulation.
It is important to note too that different types of regulation and the way in which they are administered, even if they are part of the same system, can serve different purposes. In one sense a certain type of regulation may be seen as covering up some unsavory tactics or foul play. And in another sense the opposite may be true. Sportive eating may well be seen as a foul play, but the sport body may not feel that the players have a particular ability or skill required of them to play sportingly.
Perhaps it is simply more appropriate to say that the sport requires a certain skill, some physical exertion, and the means by which to learn and master that skill. There is skill in sport; physical exertion is also involved in the activity. But what sport is truly considered a sport? Well, let’s go back to the original question.