Women in Popular Media

"Field of Dreams", "Any Given Sunday", "Hoop Dreams", "Rudy", and even "Space Jam". With all the evolutions in the world of sports, newer and better ways of displaying sport for means of inspiration or entertainment come on the scene. Most of us are familiar with all of the sports movies above, and vast numbers more. We can be certain that there are no shortages of sports movies featuring men, which provide us with countless amounts of inspiring, memorable moments in men's sports. However, is it possible to attempt to correlate the few number of sports movies featuring women's sports with the current lack of comparative popularity in women's sports? I say yes! Movies like "A League of Their Own" and "Bend it Like Becham" feature truly fantastic and quality stories about women in a man's sports world. However, apart from a number of complimentary, almost comedic scenes, none of these movies are centered around the lack of respect in today's culture for women's sports. It is my belief that more media focused on this, in the form of films or otherwise, is positively key in part of the promotion process of women's sports. If there is one thing I take away from this semester, it is that the media has a power unlike any other, not just in the world of sports, but in today's culture, focused around communication and social media. When, then, I ask, will the opportunity present itself to mass market women's sport on the same level as far as popular media? With rising popularity, stemming from the impressive Women's USA Soccer Olympic Team, I feel that there will be an extreme increase in the amount of sponsors, media exposure, and popular media inclusion of women in sport.