From awww to awe factor: UK audience meaning-making of the 2012 Paralympics as mediated spectacle

Abstract

This article considers UK audiences' meaning-making of television coverage of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. As an elite sporting event, the Paralympics has been categorized alongside other high-profile media spectacles. Yet, an analysis of the 'spectacle' has further significance here in relation to what Mitchell and Snyder conceptualize as 'fascination with spectacles of difference', which encourages audiences to view the disabled person through their impairment, rather than as a human being. Inspirational 'supercrip' stories that glorify 'special achievement' fuel perceptions that disabled athletes have extraordinary, heroic qualities, and coverage of the 2012 Paralympics was no different. The spectacle is created through everyday talk. Therefore, we utilize in-depth interviews supported by netnography-inspired methods to consider to what extent media representations appropriated disability into 'spectacle', consequently perpetuating ablest discourses, whilst also addressing the intended social agenda by facilitating greater understanding. Our findings suggest an unexpected emotional engagement with the (mostly) sporting spectacle, with audience narratives moving from 'awww' to 'awe' as sporting achievement was celebrated. The disabled sporting 'hero' as 'superhero' is, we argue, further evidence of the influence of discourses that attempt to transform a stigmatized identity, i.e. disability, into a revered one -athleticism, thus reinforcing existing hierarchies of ability/disability.

Watching disability: UK audience perceptions of the Paralympics, equality and social change

“…Hodges et al (2015) highlight that, despite the critique of supercrip narratives, this marked an important step towards audiences perceived comfort with Paralympic sport, implying a more positive societal shift in developing a public dialogue around disability issues. However, Hodges et al (2015) note that a significant proportion of the audience maintained the position that Paralympic sport was a ‘second-rate games’ and there remained limited appetite among audiences to watch disability sport beyond the Paralympics. This continues to highlight the deeply rooted ableist assumptions and perceptions of many audiences which continue to remain a barrier in generating social change beyond media representation.…”

“…Despite this important context, research documenting audience reception of Paralympic broadcasting is limited to less than a handful of quantitative (see Bartsch et al, 2018; Smith et al, 2017) and qualitative studies (Fitzgerald, 2012; Hodges et al, 2015). Yet, understanding audience reception of the Paralympics is an important indicator of public attitudes towards disability (Schantz and Gilbert, 2001), especially when Paralympic broadcasters themselves have a stated ambition to drive societal change (Walsh, 2014).…”

“…Based on focus groups with non-disabled young people in England before 2012, Fitzgerald (2012) found themes of disgust and discomfort with different, impaired bodies and a lack of acceptance of the Paralympics as legitimate sports. Based on interviews in the lead up to, and immediately after, the 2012 London Paralympics, Hodges et al (2015) document a shift in attitude by audiences from the more widely stereotypically sympathetic positioning of disability depicted in historical representations to one expressed through a ‘supercrip’ narrative. Hodges et al (2015) highlight that, despite the critique of supercrip narratives, this marked an important step towards audiences perceived comfort with Paralympic sport, implying a more positive societal shift in developing a public dialogue around disability issues.…”

“…Based on interviews in the lead up to, and immediately after, the 2012 London Paralympics, Hodges et al (2015) document a shift in attitude by audiences from the more widely stereotypically sympathetic positioning of disability depicted in historical representations to one expressed through a ‘supercrip’ narrative. Hodges et al (2015) highlight that, despite the critique of supercrip narratives, this marked an important step towards audiences perceived comfort with Paralympic sport, implying a more positive societal shift in developing a public dialogue around disability issues. However, Hodges et al (2015) note that a significant proportion of the audience maintained the position that Paralympic sport was a ‘second-rate games’ and there remained limited appetite among audiences to watch disability sport beyond the Paralympics.…”

“…From 'second rate' sport to elite sportFor a large proportion of participants, attitudes toward Paralympic sport indicate a positive shift away from viewing the games as non-elite or 'second rate' sport; a continuation of a theme identified byHodges et al (2015) from the 2012 Games. This was centred on a way of viewing that shifts the association of the Paralympics with just disability to a general and genuine elite sporting event.…”