When I was in high school in the 80s, the "cool" thing to do, at least among my motley crue of oft-suspended, nonathlete friends, was to find someone who was 18 so they could rent the Faces of Death videos for us. Long before anyone used the term "reality programming" or posted their skateboarding injury videos on YouTube, these videos were meant to shock viewers with scenes of hapless individuals meeting their demise...on camera. The death of the Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili on the eve of the Vancouver Olympics was a tragedy that, not surprisingly, aired a couple nights later on national television. The athlete's ragdoll body launching into the air, slamming into the steel beam, and finally coming to rest in a near-lifeless heap...it was unsettling, certainly, but the footage clearly showed the danger of the sport, and the fact that, despite their strong constitutions, elite athletes are as fragile as you and I. Many news outlets have now criticized NBC for showing the luge accident, but wouldn't not showing it have been worse? For a generation raised on "reality" television and the consumption of violent media images, and at a time when the NFL seeks to sugarcoat the potential risks of pro football, might we view the luge footage as a piece of relative honesty by the corporate media? Sport has risks. You can die in sport. Here is a reminder. Thanatos...no chaser. Citius, Altius, Fortius, Mortium.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Faces of Death Redux
When I was in high school in the 80s, the "cool" thing to do, at least among my motley crue of oft-suspended, nonathlete friends, was to find someone who was 18 so they could rent the Faces of Death videos for us. Long before anyone used the term "reality programming" or posted their skateboarding injury videos on YouTube, these videos were meant to shock viewers with scenes of hapless individuals meeting their demise...on camera. The death of the Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili on the eve of the Vancouver Olympics was a tragedy that, not surprisingly, aired a couple nights later on national television. The athlete's ragdoll body launching into the air, slamming into the steel beam, and finally coming to rest in a near-lifeless heap...it was unsettling, certainly, but the footage clearly showed the danger of the sport, and the fact that, despite their strong constitutions, elite athletes are as fragile as you and I. Many news outlets have now criticized NBC for showing the luge accident, but wouldn't not showing it have been worse? For a generation raised on "reality" television and the consumption of violent media images, and at a time when the NFL seeks to sugarcoat the potential risks of pro football, might we view the luge footage as a piece of relative honesty by the corporate media? Sport has risks. You can die in sport. Here is a reminder. Thanatos...no chaser. Citius, Altius, Fortius, Mortium.
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100% agreement.
ReplyDeleteI heard about the accident a few days after it happened and was, for lack of a better word, excited that NBC showed the footage. As dark as that sounded, I think it is a huge reality check for the world. Despite the hours of training and the vast amounts of money that the athletes have poured into their sports, they are human just as all of us are.
NBC should not be criticized for showing the footage. If anything they should be praised because what they showed was actual REALITY TV, unlike all of the crap-pointless shows that many people waste time watching. At least this reality accident might bring awareness to actual issues and concerns to the world instead of who "survives" Survivor or whats happening on The Hills.
AND further more, what NBC showed was not nearly as gruesome as some movies are. Yes, it was a real person and was not stunt double or computer animated like most movies are, but they were lucky to catch an accident like that to use as an eye opener.
My heart and thoughts go out to his family and friends. Luge is a very dangerous sport and every time he climbed on his sled he took his life in his hands. But he died doing something that he loved and was at the Olympic games which (I am going out on a limb here taking a guess) he probably had been dreaming of doing for a long time. So at least he died doing something other than sitting on the couch being obese like most of the Americans that were probably offended by his real accident footage.
It is a tragedy. But in current time where everything in the world seems wrong, superhero worship is again part of the American psyche. Yes, athletes are as human as anyone of us but we need superheros and we demand them voraciously. They debuted during the Great Depression and now when times are tough once again, they resurfaced. For example, when someone crashes during a stunt or a race, we hushed immediately, but when they get up and show that they're fine, we cheer loudly. Thus by inference, we celebrate superheros or at least normal human being doing and succeeding superhuman things. I'm not sure of the sociocultural precedents but tough times and superhero worship seems to be related. Could you please enlighten us, Dr. Butryn? Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/03/18/superhero.history/index.html
ReplyDeleteI heard nothing of the incident til now. I am trying to go on youtube to view what the incident is about, but they are not allowing me to access it. I can see by a few pictures the athlete was severly hurt. What pops into my mind is who are they going to blame for his death? Are they going to say he was to young or its the peoples fault for not icing the track enough? Did someone do something to his sled? I think that it is okay that NBC airs the viewing of what happened. I guess if I were a family memeber I would be hurt, but if we can show live air tapes of shooting and war then I think we can handle watching another death. It sucks that this incident occured right before the Olympics. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.
ReplyDeleteSuch a horrible tragedy . I heard about it on the news and had difficulty finding a news channel that was actually airing the footage. I searched the internet and finally found a raw video of Kumaritashvili's last moments. It was horrifying to watch this young olympians last minutes. I kept thinking about how young he was. Olympian or not we are not invincible. I think i have trouble understanding why people are demanding that the video not be viewable. I understand the sensitivity of the subject, but why conceal what is reality.
ReplyDeleteabsolutely it was a tragic accident and yes there is danger in sport and yes people do sugarcoat things to make them seem more cool than dangerous...sports players do not seem to care if they get hurt playing a sport because it is for the love of the sport that they throw themselves out there...if they die, they die happy knowing that the last thing they did they did it graciously and to the max...however, NBC airing this footage on tv allows room for people to get a laugh out of it regardless of how extreme it might've been...it was someone's death and we should have respect for them and their family and not view the clip over and over and scream "dayum" or anything like it...i guess it is fine to show this but we must also have respect for the athlete.
ReplyDeleteAlthough as disturbing as the video was, I think it was probably a good thing that it was shown. Hopefully it made some people realize that in sports anything could happen and athletes are not as elite as they are made out to be, especially in a sporting world where going faster and breaking records seems to be the thing to do. I also found it interesting how there seemed to be several athletes having trouble with the luge track but nothing was really done about it until Nodar Kumaritashvili lost his life.
ReplyDeleteI first saw the video on Saturday when my roomate show it to me on the internet. So I didn't experience the excessive replys that NBC was accused of. However I'm not suprised. This is the type of culture we're becoming. A culture that is acostumed to watching dangerous accidents on telivision. A prime example is a show called Tosh.O that comes on Comedy Central. All it shows is people getting hurt, injured, fights. Most people love to watch it, so thats what the media is going to show. Its an ugly truth. And while i was sitting there, it took me a second to think, damn, someone just lost their life. Thats serious, but most people don't even think like that. Most people dont even care because it does affect them.
ReplyDeleteIt was very shocking to see this video of Noder death. I was watching NBC when they showed him smack into the pole or wall and was laid out after that. My boyfriend had came in the room and I was shocked and said you have to see this incident that happened to this luger, he flew off his sled thing and smacked into the wall..Next time they showed it they paused it before the actual incident so it would no longer be shown. I was like wow how could they take this off television, when this is real life. There is death in sport too its reality!!
ReplyDeleteViewers want to see the truth. The hosts of the programming can and should warn those who are more squeamish to avert their eyes. Many young athletes can fall into the idea that they are invincible. This is an example that helps teenagers experience the tragedy in sport, which will hopefully ensure a more serious and safe play. Nodar Kumaritashvili is not the first person to die in preparation of the winter olympics (fourth), and it is inevitably that there will be more serious injuries in the future. Showing the video can be considered one way to help avoid later tragedies. As long as the viewing is done tastefully, and the family/country approves, I do not see a problem with it.
ReplyDeleteThe accident was a major tragedy. I do not know about the critics on NBC news on showing this footage, but I believe that it is appropriate to show this video unless the family did not allow it.
ReplyDeleteEvery sport is dangerous. There will always be pain and accidents that occur in many different sports and I believe that people have the rights to know the reality of these accidents. Even WWF had accidents in the past, where Owen Hart's death is still documented online!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlIR4ZAR5mM&feature=related
It's hard to say, one part of me wants to say that it is morally wrong to show the actual deaths of any human being on television, athlete or not, but the other half of me wants to agree with this blog. Should people need to see the reality of it all? Me being a human, I know I am going to die one way or another, so when I see these "invincible" athletes on television, I know they are made up of the same elements as me, maybe just a little bit more of the "better stuff". I don't necessarily want to see the deaths of human beings on T.V., It just feeds America's need for entertainment. If I were to ever die on television, I would not want it broadcasted on the news, and then put up as a youtube video to be replayed for the world to play over as many times as that want. It's a private situation that should not be taken lightly. I could see how maybe some athletes are vain and would "want to live forever" through their death, and would want it broadcasted. But I know humans die, so I don't think the news needs to show us how athletes accidently die, there is enough of murders and death on American news that scared the life out of me anyways. I would not want to cross ice luging off my list of sports because I know its dangerous and one can die from it.
ReplyDeleteKaitlin Lynch kin 164
It seems to me that all the debate over whether NBC should or shouldn't have aired the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili detracts our attention from the real question we should be asking ourselves. What can we change in the way we do sports, so incidents like this one don't happen in the first place? After all, one of the goals of sport is supposed to be making people’s lives better by improving their health and fitness. However, the current sport ethic favors heroic action and going beyond limits, which puts athletes in situations that do the exact opposite. According to the Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703447704575065492351741522.html) Kumaritashvili was actually terrified of the track on which he died. However, he chose to disregard the danger to his life, because athletes today are praised for putting their health at risk. That’s why, what we really need to do is make the well being of athletes a priority. Simply criticizing the media for showing us the damage that the current sport ethic can cause will not make the real problem go away.
ReplyDeleteThey should have never shown the video period. If he had survived the accident that would be one thing, but to put it in slow motion and show it over and over is unacceptable and 100% inappropriate. Some would argue that we need to see the consequences of life, good and bad and that a part of the problem with our country is that the news does not show what the consequences are of an action. As a result, our children tend to think they are indestructible and can get away with anything. If people think we should be able to see everything in the news then I guess the news should have shown the beheading of Daniel Pearl back in 2002. There are reasons why we aren't allowed to see certain things; much too disturbing.
ReplyDeletePeter C. Kin 164
I have to disagree that it was a good idea to show this video. The reason for my disagreement is that this Luger is someone's child, someone's friend, and someone's neighbor. Would you want the death of your loved one on global television? I highly doubt it, especially because he is alive one second and gone the next. I saw the video of this accident and it was horrifying.
ReplyDeleteDeath occur at any moment and sometimes people meet their death in sport. However, what NBC did was make a spectacle out of this man's death. Their intention, by showing it over and over, was not to bring light to the poor engineering of the course and the safety issues that arose as a result of the design of the course, but rather the media focused its attention on the death of the athlete. Some might argue that he died doing what he loved, which was participating in Luge, but the whole world did not need to witness his death.
It seems footage like this can definatly bring attetion to the seriouness of sports and physical activity. Things like these are often not preventable but often show problems that can surround sports because tragedies like this show why we should leave the high flying, twisting, flipping and other fast-paced board sports to the professonials. Whether NBC should air this person's death on National Television can bring up many morale dilemas such as sensitivity for the family and censorship for images that could potentionally harm the youth. Death is a natural cycle that occurs in everyone's life and until the fountain the youth is discovered media will continue to reflect people's undenying eye for watching it unfold.
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