Great question! I'd guess that there are three things at play here:
Firstly, we're talking bout a small number of movies, for sure. The subset here consists of fiction feature films that utilise soccer as a plot point and in which a character dies, as identified from the available data.
Great question! I'd guess that there are three things at play here:
Firstly, we're talking bout a small number of movies, for sure. The subset here consists of fiction feature films that utilise soccer as a plot point and in which a character dies, as identified from the available data.
Secondly, sometimes it's not a sports-related death, but a death that provides the lead(s) with a plot-turning point. This might be a violent end, such as in Green Street when Pete is killed during a fight between rival gangs, or, as in Gracie, their older brother dies in a traffic accident after a game. Sometimes it's less outwardly dramatic but still meaningful, such as in United (2011) where Duncan's death in the hospital affects the coach's decisions, or in Cool Kids Don't Cry when the lead, Akkie, dies of leukaemia. It can be family members that die, such as the dad in Will, or the mother in Land of Storms. There are deaths which are kinda-sports-related, such as in Brother when Daniel witnesses the accidental death of his mother, caused by the goalie of a rival team and sets out for revenge. And without wanting to dwell, there are the true stories, which tell the tales of real-life people. Such as in Captain, based on the life of V. P. Sathyan, a former captain of the Indian national football team, who committed suicide in 2006.
Sometimes it's wider than that, and about the definition of 'a football film'. If you're focusing on films in which we see football teams constantly play games against each other, then you may not choose to include films like Land of Storms in your dataset. I was interested in the sport on screen and drew a pretty wide circle around what to include. In that film, it's about a soccer coach, the death is his mother, so not a sports-related injury to say the least! This means it includes crossovers with other genres. Two Half-Times in Hell is a war film which revolves around a football match organised by Nazi officers between German soldiers and Hungarian labour servicemen during World War II. After the match, the players are executed by the Germans. And then there is a murder mystery in the form of The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, a rival player drops dead on the field, poisoned.
So a whole cornucopia of misery which drives people to greater football glory!
Hey MJ
Great question! I'd guess that there are three things at play here:
Firstly, we're talking bout a small number of movies, for sure. The subset here consists of fiction feature films that utilise soccer as a plot point and in which a character dies, as identified from the available data.
Secondly, sometimes it's not a sports-related death, but a death that provides the lead(s) with a plot-turning point. This might be a violent end, such as in Green Street when Pete is killed during a fight between rival gangs, or, as in Gracie, their older brother dies in a traffic accident after a game. Sometimes it's less outwardly dramatic but still meaningful, such as in United (2011) where Duncan's death in the hospital affects the coach's decisions, or in Cool Kids Don't Cry when the lead, Akkie, dies of leukaemia. It can be family members that die, such as the dad in Will, or the mother in Land of Storms. There are deaths which are kinda-sports-related, such as in Brother when Daniel witnesses the accidental death of his mother, caused by the goalie of a rival team and sets out for revenge. And without wanting to dwell, there are the true stories, which tell the tales of real-life people. Such as in Captain, based on the life of V. P. Sathyan, a former captain of the Indian national football team, who committed suicide in 2006.
Sometimes it's wider than that, and about the definition of 'a football film'. If you're focusing on films in which we see football teams constantly play games against each other, then you may not choose to include films like Land of Storms in your dataset. I was interested in the sport on screen and drew a pretty wide circle around what to include. In that film, it's about a soccer coach, the death is his mother, so not a sports-related injury to say the least! This means it includes crossovers with other genres. Two Half-Times in Hell is a war film which revolves around a football match organised by Nazi officers between German soldiers and Hungarian labour servicemen during World War II. After the match, the players are executed by the Germans. And then there is a murder mystery in the form of The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, a rival player drops dead on the field, poisoned.
So a whole cornucopia of misery which drives people to greater football glory!