Requiem for a “Tough Guy”: Representing Hockey Labor, Violence and Masculinity in Goon

Abstract

This paper explores the ongoing construction of hockey in Canada through a textual analysis of the popular comedy, Goon (2012). Touted by its authors as “the Canadian sequel to Slap Shot” and “an homage to enforcers”, Goon is analyzed in relation to simmering debates about fighting in hockey as well as the broader crisis of employment and masculinity that characterize the sociopolitical milieu in which the film circulates. A crisis of masculinity narrative is found to emerge in and through a discourse about working-class labor that both celebrates and devalorizes violent labor and the capitalist relations in which it is embedded. The analysis provides insight into the interlocking relationships among texts and contexts as well as the role of sport films in perpetuating dominant ideologies about violent labor in hockey.

“Discipline that hurts”: Punitive logics and governance in sport

“…This study also illustrates how embedded questions of masculinity and Canadian national identity are in conversations about hockey violence and aggression. Similarly, Ellexis Boyle (2014) documents how popular culture reinforces a “crisis of masculinity” narrative that perpetuates dominant ideologies about violence and labor in the hockey world.…”

“Knuckle-Dragging Thugs”: Civilizing processes and the biosocial revolution in the National Hockey League

“…One of the most pervasive adjectives for NHL offenders in news media is "goon," which has a long-standing history of derogatory use among athletes and pundits and in hockey folklore (Boyle, 2014). Here, the term signifies an enduring character script within hockey that has been used historically to distinguish "star" players, whose job is to uphold the "graceful beauty" of the game, from a different class of hockey player-the one whose job is to protect the elite from the inherent risks of this violent sport.…”