Page 34 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

Analysing Media Sport • 23

. . . He was immediately surrounded by nurses, X-ray technicians and stetho-
scope-wielding doctor . . . Beckham was quickly ushered into a room labelled ‘Ec-
ografica 2’ for a blood test from which he emerged with shirt open, gold chain

gleaming and smile flickering across his face . . .
. . . Then came the X-ray of the metatarsal damage in his foot that almost ruined

his World Cup, a break for orange juice and his first taste of Spanish ham, before
he was whisked down another logo-splattered corridor for further heart and lung
tests . . .
. . . Beckham’s medical test was relayed to Real fans on the club’s in-house
television station, the bulletin preceded by countless clips of other members of the
Bernabeu ball-lover’s union parading their own gifts . . .

—Winter (2003: paras 1–10)

Winter’s (2003) newspaper report of British football player David Beckham’s medi-
cal examination following his move from Manchester United to Real Madrid il-
lustrates strategies used by the media for the depiction of male sport celebrities.
Male sport celebrities are regularly subjected to an invasive media gaze that moves
beyond the surface of the body to probe beneath the skin. In this example, Beckham
was probed inside and out in the full gaze of Real Madrid TV. Other football play-
ers have been subject to similar treatment. Before his death in 2005 at the age of
59, the Northern Irish soccer star George Best, known for his unparalleled football
talent and partying lifestyle, regularly featured in the British media. On 25 June
2001, Channel 4 broadcast a documentary about the ups and downs of Best’s career.
The documentary was called George Best’s Body (Football Stories), and throughout
the programme, X-ray images appeared in a split screen format alongside shots of
Best in action. On one occasion, whilst discussing Best’s excessive drinking, the
screen showed images of him in a bar alongside an X-ray image of an upper torso,
inviting the viewer to speculate on his liver. Later, when Best’s relationships with
women were profiled, the X-ray image was of a pelvis, and when the documentary

talked about Best developing deep vein thrombosis, the X-ray panned down to the
lower leg.
This attempt to model the interior of the celebrity body can be observed in other
media formats. Reporting on George Best’s liver transplant on 31 July 2002, The
Mirror newspaper edged a double-page spread with close-up photographs of Best,
drink in hand, toasting the camera, one for each year between 1967 and 2000. At the
centre of the spread, a diagrammatic representation of the mechanics of a liver trans-
plant asked the reader to imagine what was going on inside Best’s body.
Similarly, former Manchester United football player Roy Keane featured on the
cover of The Observer newspaper’s Sport Monthly supplement in September 2002.
Keane had a reputation for passionate but aggressive playing. Staring straight ahead,