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Keepers of the Flame: NFL Films and the Rise of Sports Media
NFL Films changed the way Americans view football. Keepers of the NFL Films and the Rise of Sports Media traces the subsidiary's development from a small independent film production company to the marketing machine that Sports Illustrated named "perhaps the most effective propaganda organ in the history of corporate America."
Drawing on research at the NFL Films Archive and the Pro Football Hall of Fame and interviews with media pioneer Steve Sabol and others, Travis Vogan shows how NFL Films has constructed a consistent, romanticized, and remarkably visible mythology for the National Football League. The company packages football as a visceral and dramatic sequence of violent, beautiful, graceful, and heroic gridiron battles. Historically proven formulas for presentation--such as the dramatic voiceovers once provided by John Facenda's baritone, the soaring scores of Sam Spence's rousing background music, and the epic poetry found in Steve Sabol's scripts--are still used today.
From the Vincent Price-narrated Strange but True Football Stories to the currently running series Hard Knocks , NFL Films distinguishes the NFL from other sports organizations and from other media and entertainment. Vogan tells the larger story of the company's relationship with and vast influence on our culture's representations of sport, the expansion of sports television beyond live game broadcasts, and the emergence of cable television and Internet sports media.
Keepers of the NFL Films and the Rise of Sports Media presents sports media as an integral facet of American popular culture and NFL Films as key to the transformation of professional football into the national obsession commonly known as America's Game.
Drawing on research at the NFL Films Archive and the Pro Football Hall of Fame and interviews with media pioneer Steve Sabol and others, Travis Vogan shows how NFL Films has constructed a consistent, romanticized, and remarkably visible mythology for the National Football League. The company packages football as a visceral and dramatic sequence of violent, beautiful, graceful, and heroic gridiron battles. Historically proven formulas for presentation--such as the dramatic voiceovers once provided by John Facenda's baritone, the soaring scores of Sam Spence's rousing background music, and the epic poetry found in Steve Sabol's scripts--are still used today.
From the Vincent Price-narrated Strange but True Football Stories to the currently running series Hard Knocks , NFL Films distinguishes the NFL from other sports organizations and from other media and entertainment. Vogan tells the larger story of the company's relationship with and vast influence on our culture's representations of sport, the expansion of sports television beyond live game broadcasts, and the emergence of cable television and Internet sports media.
Keepers of the NFL Films and the Rise of Sports Media presents sports media as an integral facet of American popular culture and NFL Films as key to the transformation of professional football into the national obsession commonly known as America's Game.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 1, 2024
A scholarly look at the history of the NFL and its media empires that helped mythologize the game and make it America’s most popular sport. Quite an educational read for anyone intrigued by the history of sport and television.
Some parts are fascinating and some parts are dull, but hey — that’s life
Some parts are fascinating and some parts are dull, but hey — that’s life
August 11, 2016
As a football fan with a cultural studies background, I love the idea of "unpacking" the NFL to get a sense of how the National Football League shapes the cultural discourse around race and masculinity (amongst other things). While mainstream sports coverage is often lacking when it comes to addressing the NFL's power when it comes to shaping cultural norms, books like Keepers of the Flame provide an opportunity for plenty of "brainy" football talk. In Keepers, Travis Vogan explores the history of NFL Films, the NFL's in-house film production company and the ways in which NFL Films has functioned as a "propaganda organ" of the NFL. Through an investigation into NFL Films, Vogan is also able to address the work that the NFL has done in broadening its audience to include women and children, sports media's growth into a 24/7 TV and internet empire, and the NFL's journey from a fringe organization into a cultural juggernaut.
Reading Keepers of the Flame, one gets the sense that the book is a direct publication of a scholarly thesis. While the book's introduction is an easy to read historical account of how NFL Films came into being, later chapters dive deep into theory. The chapters on looking at NFL Films through the lens of Bourdieu, Foucault, and Derrida are dry and challenging to read if you are out of practice with academic texts or do not have a foundational understanding of the work that Vogan is drawing upon.
I think that books like Keepers of the Flame are tremendously important when it comes to opening up a broader discussion about the important role that football plays when it comes to "average Americans" and their conceptions of race, class, masculinity, and patriotism... But I can't help but wish that Keepers of the Flame were written in a way that made it more accessible to readers. I would love to be able to talk about this book with my dad or my boyfriend, but can't imagine either one of them sitting down and reading it. That said, if you're comfortable with an academic read and have an interest in football (whether casual or fanatic), your dream of reading a text that name drops both Otto Graham and Pierre Bourdieu has finally come true.
Reading Keepers of the Flame, one gets the sense that the book is a direct publication of a scholarly thesis. While the book's introduction is an easy to read historical account of how NFL Films came into being, later chapters dive deep into theory. The chapters on looking at NFL Films through the lens of Bourdieu, Foucault, and Derrida are dry and challenging to read if you are out of practice with academic texts or do not have a foundational understanding of the work that Vogan is drawing upon.
I think that books like Keepers of the Flame are tremendously important when it comes to opening up a broader discussion about the important role that football plays when it comes to "average Americans" and their conceptions of race, class, masculinity, and patriotism... But I can't help but wish that Keepers of the Flame were written in a way that made it more accessible to readers. I would love to be able to talk about this book with my dad or my boyfriend, but can't imagine either one of them sitting down and reading it. That said, if you're comfortable with an academic read and have an interest in football (whether casual or fanatic), your dream of reading a text that name drops both Otto Graham and Pierre Bourdieu has finally come true.
June 24, 2014
Originally Reviewed on http://www.batsarenotbugs.com/2014/06...
Think about the seminal moments in NFL history. The Catch. The Immaculate Reception. The David Tyree catch that for some reason still lacks a catchy nickname. Imagine these events in your head. Do you have any idea of what the live television footage of those plays were like? You might be able to conjure up some vague recollections of what Tyree's catch looked like, but in general I'm guessing this was a pretty tough task. You are likely far more familiar to NFL Films' footage of such events, and the company has been documenting and canonizing professional football games since tiny Blair Motion Pictures won the rights to the 1962 NFL championship game. Travis Vogan's new book Keepers of the Flame documents the history of NFL Films and analyzes the evolution of sports media. Written by an academic and published by the University of Illinois Press, the book is appealing to football fans both inside and outside the ivory tower thanks to Vogan's extensive research and original subject matter.
The first aspect worth mentioning about Keepers of the Flame is that it takes a more scholarly tone than the average football book (for what that's worth). Vogan is an assistant professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Iowa and his book is clearly intended to contribute to the academic discourse of football, sports media, and the business of sport. It has the somewhat detached emotional tone common to scholarly books and cites some deep thoughts by sociologists and cultural critics about the documentary form and role of media. That being said, this isn't a treatise on monetary economics or something. I would have definitely tried to take a class with Vogan had I attended Iowa and by that same logic I decided to pick up Keepers: I think the fundamental subject matter is fascinating and I want to learn more about it. So don't let the nature of the book dissuade you from reading it if you share my interest in the subject matter.
Vogan starts out with an exceptional and extensively-researched section on the history of the Sabols and NFL Films. Steve Sabol has been featured in the "A Football Life" series on NFL Network and the history of NFL Films has been covered in books such as America's Game by Michael McCambridge but Vogan's treatment is by far the most comprehensive and interesting. The Sabols were a pretty eccentric bunch, as Keepers outlines anecdotes such as Steve Sabol's quixotic Heisman campaign has a backup fullback at Colorado College that included local newspaper ads, postcards, t-shirts, and buttons and managed to fool the (presumably incredibly inattentive) local sportswriters to name him to the All Rocky Mountain Conference Team. Outside of these factoids, Vogan also presents the best history of how humble Blair Pictures managed to eventually become the media behemoth that is NFL Films. The history chapter reads like an excellent longform magazine article and stands well by itself.
The rest of the book examines topics such as the aesthetics of NFL Films' productions and the company's role in elevating the league and its players to the greatest heights of importance. The Sabols were meticulous auteurs (with quite a bit of cultural literacy and included some highbrow references to works such as Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon in their movies) and went great to great lengths to present works of artistic merit. Vogan outlines signature elements such as the "tight on the spiral" aerial footage of the prolate spheriod and microphoning of players and coaches, a first among sports media entities. One benefit of reading academic authors is that they generally leave no stones unturned in their research, and Vogan is no different. He had access to Steve Sabol and was even granted the opportunity to visit NFL Films as often as he wanted. He also was able to sit down with producers, archivists, and administrators at NFL Films and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This allows for some great original insights and trivia, such as how NFL Films' reliance on 16mm color film has made them Eastman Kodak's largest current client and the intricacies of the complex SABER system used to classify game footage which includes subcategories such as "Sweat," "Praying," and "Torn Uniforms."
Vogan spends a substantial share of the book writing on NFL Films' role as acting as a historian and propaganda arm for the league. Their productions allow the game to achieve a higher level of significance compared to other sports and seem more consequential in general. He also analyzes major films such as "Big Game America" for their portrayal of the sport and its athletes and how they were influenced by the current culture. People definitely took NFL Films' highlight films seriously, and in the 1970s the Pennsylvania State Legislature even passed a resolution censuring Monday Night Football because the NFL Films highlights that ran during halftime were apparently Steelers-deficient. Vogan concludes with a look at NFL Films today and how it is adapting to a shifting media market and trying to avoid obsolescence by aiming for a niche role and seeking out older audiences.
In Sum
I am not an academic and I didn't read Keepers of the Flame to cite it in a college essay or thesis or something. I simply picked it up because to my knowledge NFL Films hadn't yet received a full book treatment and it seemed like it would be an interesting read. Travis Vogan ultimately delivers a very well-researched and often illuminating look at an NFL cultural institution. Understand that while this book is academic in tone and quotes people like Pierre Bourdieu, it is still a great read for anyone interested in NFL Films and the history of sports media.
8/10
Think about the seminal moments in NFL history. The Catch. The Immaculate Reception. The David Tyree catch that for some reason still lacks a catchy nickname. Imagine these events in your head. Do you have any idea of what the live television footage of those plays were like? You might be able to conjure up some vague recollections of what Tyree's catch looked like, but in general I'm guessing this was a pretty tough task. You are likely far more familiar to NFL Films' footage of such events, and the company has been documenting and canonizing professional football games since tiny Blair Motion Pictures won the rights to the 1962 NFL championship game. Travis Vogan's new book Keepers of the Flame documents the history of NFL Films and analyzes the evolution of sports media. Written by an academic and published by the University of Illinois Press, the book is appealing to football fans both inside and outside the ivory tower thanks to Vogan's extensive research and original subject matter.
The first aspect worth mentioning about Keepers of the Flame is that it takes a more scholarly tone than the average football book (for what that's worth). Vogan is an assistant professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Iowa and his book is clearly intended to contribute to the academic discourse of football, sports media, and the business of sport. It has the somewhat detached emotional tone common to scholarly books and cites some deep thoughts by sociologists and cultural critics about the documentary form and role of media. That being said, this isn't a treatise on monetary economics or something. I would have definitely tried to take a class with Vogan had I attended Iowa and by that same logic I decided to pick up Keepers: I think the fundamental subject matter is fascinating and I want to learn more about it. So don't let the nature of the book dissuade you from reading it if you share my interest in the subject matter.
Vogan starts out with an exceptional and extensively-researched section on the history of the Sabols and NFL Films. Steve Sabol has been featured in the "A Football Life" series on NFL Network and the history of NFL Films has been covered in books such as America's Game by Michael McCambridge but Vogan's treatment is by far the most comprehensive and interesting. The Sabols were a pretty eccentric bunch, as Keepers outlines anecdotes such as Steve Sabol's quixotic Heisman campaign has a backup fullback at Colorado College that included local newspaper ads, postcards, t-shirts, and buttons and managed to fool the (presumably incredibly inattentive) local sportswriters to name him to the All Rocky Mountain Conference Team. Outside of these factoids, Vogan also presents the best history of how humble Blair Pictures managed to eventually become the media behemoth that is NFL Films. The history chapter reads like an excellent longform magazine article and stands well by itself.
The rest of the book examines topics such as the aesthetics of NFL Films' productions and the company's role in elevating the league and its players to the greatest heights of importance. The Sabols were meticulous auteurs (with quite a bit of cultural literacy and included some highbrow references to works such as Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon in their movies) and went great to great lengths to present works of artistic merit. Vogan outlines signature elements such as the "tight on the spiral" aerial footage of the prolate spheriod and microphoning of players and coaches, a first among sports media entities. One benefit of reading academic authors is that they generally leave no stones unturned in their research, and Vogan is no different. He had access to Steve Sabol and was even granted the opportunity to visit NFL Films as often as he wanted. He also was able to sit down with producers, archivists, and administrators at NFL Films and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This allows for some great original insights and trivia, such as how NFL Films' reliance on 16mm color film has made them Eastman Kodak's largest current client and the intricacies of the complex SABER system used to classify game footage which includes subcategories such as "Sweat," "Praying," and "Torn Uniforms."
Vogan spends a substantial share of the book writing on NFL Films' role as acting as a historian and propaganda arm for the league. Their productions allow the game to achieve a higher level of significance compared to other sports and seem more consequential in general. He also analyzes major films such as "Big Game America" for their portrayal of the sport and its athletes and how they were influenced by the current culture. People definitely took NFL Films' highlight films seriously, and in the 1970s the Pennsylvania State Legislature even passed a resolution censuring Monday Night Football because the NFL Films highlights that ran during halftime were apparently Steelers-deficient. Vogan concludes with a look at NFL Films today and how it is adapting to a shifting media market and trying to avoid obsolescence by aiming for a niche role and seeking out older audiences.
In Sum
I am not an academic and I didn't read Keepers of the Flame to cite it in a college essay or thesis or something. I simply picked it up because to my knowledge NFL Films hadn't yet received a full book treatment and it seemed like it would be an interesting read. Travis Vogan ultimately delivers a very well-researched and often illuminating look at an NFL cultural institution. Understand that while this book is academic in tone and quotes people like Pierre Bourdieu, it is still a great read for anyone interested in NFL Films and the history of sports media.
8/10
August 18, 2014
This is a book for anyone who really is into the history of pro football. Here is the story of the rise of the NFL network before there really was any cable with so many stations to choose from. This story actually started out by the name of Blair productions and Ed Sabol, Steve father owned that company. Together they decided to buy the rights to the 1962 NFL championship game between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants played in Yankee stadium. That film the highlights if you ever get the opportunity to see is really good for their first production. Form their they get the opportunity to sign a deal with the NFL to film games during the season this works out and by adding music and the voice of John Facenda. By 65 Blair films was gone and it was now NFL films, they had sold Pete Roselle on the idea of the league having their own films their brand so to speak. Then they started with weekly highlights of the games on Sunday. So for a kid like me living in a small town in middle of the desert in California, I could keep up with all of the teams and of course my Packers. Then they started having specials, Halloween Vincent Price did one with the scariest football players and they had others they don’t show those anymore I think some of them they might think are to violet for today’s viewing. Any way from there the author takes through the journey of cable TV, ESPN, and other networks that started with sports programing. I don’t think anyone thought ESPN, was going to be as big as it got. In time it turned out that the best deal the NFL ever did was buy Blair films, for now you have the creation of the NFL network. I don’t know if they, Ed or Steve, really thought that it would or could get as big as it has, but I do know they were right in that there was money in filming the games and through that they help with camera and sound technology just to name a few. I found this to be a fascinating book and full of a lot of information about the game and the history of pro football. I got this book from net galley
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews