More on TV's American Olympic Myth

What makes this myth is not only the rather simple story of loss, obstacle, hard work, success, but more so the visual and audio style in which is presented. We're not sure if this is an ad or propaganda, or both, but the producers would really like you to feel an emotional reaction to seeing this story or triumph of individual will - in the context of pure patriotism. Not one of these stories are shown without at least one solid image of the American flag, Old Glory. If network television were religious and not secular, then the flag would also be shown with images of the cross, but since the news media is secular, the holy symbol, the image of power and transcendence in the name of which athletes perform is the flag, the nation, the US of A.

One of the most significant impressions I get when watching these stories is that the athlete never seems to have gotten wiser or more matured from their experience of suffering and hard work and redemption - no, the sentimental music and flowing images of the flag, the tear in the eye of the friend or the athlete as they make a promise to win a gold medal for their dead father or little brother who died of a rare brain disease, all of this only reinforces the fundamental submissive humililty of the individual. There appears to be no progression or growth of the person's mind or soul, no, this huge effort is only attained through hard work and faith, faith in the memory of a dead relative, faith in the goodness of the individual, faith in the American - all faith but no intelligence or progression or maturation of the individual. At the end, even if medals are one, the star athlete reverts back to a state of humble innocence.

This myth seems not unlike that myth perpetrated in the movie Forrest Gump.