You are here

Visual & Media Cultures Colloquium - Travis Vogan

Theatrical Ali: The Greatest, The Super Fight, and the Cultural Politics of Closed Circuit Sports Television
Photo of Vogan Super Fight Ticket
Mon Nov 6, 2017, 4:00pm to 6:00pm
Porter College Room D245
Presented by: 
Arts Division
Film & Digital Media
History of Art & Visual Culture

 

Focusing on Muhammad Ali and The Super Fight (1970), a film based on a computerized simulation of a match between Ali and retired former heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano, this talk considers the cultural politics of closed-circuit prize fighting broadcasts—a seldom examined part of media history. It demonstrates how public closed circuit telecast exhibitions informed Ali’s divisive identity, and, in turn, how Ali impacted the culture, industry, and metamorphosis of closed circuit sports TV. 

Travis Vogan is Associate Professor in the School of Journalism & Mass Communication and the Department of American Studies at the University of Iowa. He is the author of Keepers of the Flame: NFL Films and the Rise of Sports Media and ESPN: The Making of a Sports Media Empire. He is currently working on a cultural and institutional history of ABC Sports. With Victoria E. Johnson, Vogan is co-editor of the University of Illinois Press book series Studies in Sports Media and he serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of Sport History.

The annual Visual and Media Cultures Colloquia (VMCC) at UCSC are a collaboration between the graduate programs in Film and Digital Media Department and Visual Studies in the History of Art and Visual Culture Department. The series brings an array of cutting-edge scholars to speak on a broad spectrum of subjects. Talks are free and open to the public. Parking permit required.  https://taps.ucsc.edu/parking/visitor-parking.html