Presented as part of Sports, Power, and Resistance, an Obermann Arts & Humanities Symposium
Pre-show lecture, “Just 'Bout That Action, Boss”: The Televisual Politics and Pleasures of Marshawn Lynch, begins at 6:30pm. The film screens at 7:30pm.
"A breathtaking look at race, masculinity, media and protest at the turn of the millennium."—Sara Rosen, Huck Magazine
"Inspired by his subject, Shields goes Beast Mode with his movie and never lets up." —G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
Directed by Iowa Writers’ Workshop graduate David Shields, Marshawn Lynch: A History explores the silence that nonconformist NFL star Marshawn Lynch deploys as a form of resistance. Remixing over 700 video clips in radical juxtaposition, the film is a powerful political parable about the American media-sports complex and its deep complicity with racial oppression.
"Just 'Bout That Action, Boss": The Televisual Politics and Pleasures of Marshawn Lynch
Presented by Dr. Samantha N. Sheppard, Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies in the Department of Performing and Media Arts at Cornell University.
During Super Bowl XLVIII’s Media Day, Seattle Seahawks’ elusive running back Marshawn Lynch exited his mandatory press conference after only six-minutes and twenty-seconds (of a sixty-minute timeslot) to the surprise and dismay of reporters and media outlets gathered for the event. A sensational former pro athlete, Lynch gained widespread notoriety off the gridiron for his mediagenic resistance: a surly and sardonic demeanor and an increasing disengagement with sports journalists during mandatory press conferences. During press conferences, Lynch repeatedly stonewalls or signifies, redirecting their questions with short, terse phrases about other topics or gives no explanation or further clarification for his withdrawn behavior. This chapter examines Lynch’s challenging and captivating media persona and performances. I attend to the televisual politics and pleasures of Lynch’s defiant press conferences; David Shield’s experimental documentary collage Lynch: A History (2019); and Lynch’s television appearances, specifically his participation on the celebrity special holiday episode of The Great American Baking Show (2022).