Abstract
Abstract
Although some research has been done on the idea of stardom in sports, the majority of work has not used the framework of phenomenological imagination to analyze sports images. Building upon Bachelard's philosophy, the current study examines the effect of the four essential elements/metaphors (earth, fire, air, and water), considered by many ethnologists as “hormones of prescientific thought,” on the psychology of fans and the reception of sports figures. In this article, the authors analyze fans' images of two of the most popular sports celebrities in France: soccer player Zinédine Zidane and judoka David Douillet. A questionnaire was administered to 878 adolescents in the region of Provence in France to assess their impressions of these two sportsmen. Results indicated that a majority of subjects associated images of earth with Douillet and images of fire and earth with Zidane. The authors discuss the implications of these elements in shaping the archetypical images of athletes and other celebrities.
In what distant depths or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
—William Blake
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.