The Rhetorical Myth of the Athlete as a Moral Hero: The Implications of Steroids in Sport and the Threatened Myth

This research analyzes changes in the rhetoric of a sustaining myth in order to better assess what happens when a myth is threatened. By examining American sport and its current struggle to withstand the widespread use of steroids, the author investigates how public discourse about the scandal turns...

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Main Author:	Hartman, Karen L.
Other Authors:	Roland Mitchell
Format:	Others
Language:	en
Published:	LSU 2008
Subjects:	Communication Studies
Online Access:	http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07102008-110841/

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spelling	ndltd-LSU-oai-etd.lsu.edu-etd-07102008-1108412013-01-07T22:51:47Z The Rhetorical Myth of the Athlete as a Moral Hero: The Implications of Steroids in Sport and the Threatened Myth Hartman, Karen L. Communication Studies This research analyzes changes in the rhetoric of a sustaining myth in order to better assess what happens when a myth is threatened. By examining American sport and its current struggle to withstand the widespread use of steroids, the author investigates how public discourse about the scandal turns athletes from mythical heroes to cheaters. The author begins by explicating the rhetorical construction of the athlete as a moral hero in America and how this myth is perpetuated today. The author then examines how steroids threaten the myth of the moral athlete and uses Major League Baseball as a case study to illustrate the rhetorical justification of their use. Ultimately this research offers a cyclical method of mythical analysis as a new method to analyze threatened myths. Current research offers few methods to explain how myths develop and this cyclical method attempts to provide specificity for one-way myths can survive. It is argued that the cyclical method acts as a way to account for threats to the myth, as well as to allow for rhetorical shifts. Roland Mitchell Patrick McGee Ruth Bowman Stephanie Grey Andrew King LSU 2008-07-11 text application/pdf http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07102008-110841/ http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07102008-110841/ en unrestricted I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.
collection	NDLTD
language	en
format	Others
sources	NDLTD
topic	Communication Studies
spellingShingle	Communication Studies Hartman, Karen L. The Rhetorical Myth of the Athlete as a Moral Hero: The Implications of Steroids in Sport and the Threatened Myth
description	This research analyzes changes in the rhetoric of a sustaining myth in order to better assess what happens when a myth is threatened. By examining American sport and its current struggle to withstand the widespread use of steroids, the author investigates how public discourse about the scandal turns athletes from mythical heroes to cheaters. The author begins by explicating the rhetorical construction of the athlete as a moral hero in America and how this myth is perpetuated today. The author then examines how steroids threaten the myth of the moral athlete and uses Major League Baseball as a case study to illustrate the rhetorical justification of their use. Ultimately this research offers a cyclical method of mythical analysis as a new method to analyze threatened myths. Current research offers few methods to explain how myths develop and this cyclical method attempts to provide specificity for one-way myths can survive. It is argued that the cyclical method acts as a way to account for threats to the myth, as well as to allow for rhetorical shifts.
author2	Roland Mitchell
author_facet	Roland Mitchell Hartman, Karen L.
author	Hartman, Karen L.
author_sort	Hartman, Karen L.
title	The Rhetorical Myth of the Athlete as a Moral Hero: The Implications of Steroids in Sport and the Threatened Myth
title_short	The Rhetorical Myth of the Athlete as a Moral Hero: The Implications of Steroids in Sport and the Threatened Myth
title_full	The Rhetorical Myth of the Athlete as a Moral Hero: The Implications of Steroids in Sport and the Threatened Myth
title_fullStr	The Rhetorical Myth of the Athlete as a Moral Hero: The Implications of Steroids in Sport and the Threatened Myth
title_full_unstemmed	The Rhetorical Myth of the Athlete as a Moral Hero: The Implications of Steroids in Sport and the Threatened Myth
title_sort	rhetorical myth of the athlete as a moral hero: the implications of steroids in sport and the threatened myth
publisher	LSU
publishDate	2008
url	http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07102008-110841/
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The Rhetorical Myth of the Athlete as a Moral Hero: The Implications of Steroids in Sport and the Threatened Myth

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