Popular Culture: The Boston Marathon

The Boston Marathon is a grueling twenty-six-mile race that occurs every year, beginning in the town of Hopkinton and ending near the John Hancock Tower (Boston Athletic Association, 2016). Known as the “Patriots Day Race”, this event is not for the light of heart, requiring qualifying times in other races or marathons to be eligible to run, as well as the marathon itself being a test of strength, speed, and endurance (Boston Athletic Association, 2016). Those who complete the marathon are held in high regard, and today the event boast thousands of male and female runners along with millions of viewers every year. This was not always the case however, especially in the era of the 1960’s when the marathon was seen as an extremely (and almost

Elizabeth Suarez in a lecture given at California State University Fullerton, are stories which, while varying from culture to culture, are generally meant to help specific communities deal with and understand things that are out of their control (Suarez)). Dr. Suarez explains that despite these variances, there are several common elements that are present throughout most myths, such as heroes (which embody the traits valued by that culture), a villain (representing the opposite), and that they are a representation of the current time in which they are told (Suarez). In his book Popular Culture, Marcel Danesi argues that “Sports too are experienced mythically” adding that “…this unconscious symbolism is the reason why pop culture spectacles are so powerful. Like the ancient ancestors, modern-day people subconsciously need heroes to “make things right” in human affairs, at least in the world of fantasy (55). This connection between mythologies (and their shared characteristics) and the enjoyment and perpetuation of aspects in pop culture (in this case sports) is called mythology theory (Dansei, 55). By comparing the common aspects of “myths” to the Katherine Svitzer’s running of the Boston Marathon, it can be easily seen why this event can be described as “Mythical” in modern American

In the 1960’s the women’s rights movement was in full swing. In the article “Four Waves of Feminism” Martha Rampton states that, “In this phase, sexuality and reproductive rights were dominant issues, and much of the movement's energy was focused on passing the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing social equality regardless of sex” (Rampton 2015). Women at the time were attempting to prove themselves equal to men in areas such as the workforce and education, places where they were thought of as inferior. After her encounter with Jock Semple, this became a large issue for Switzer. In fact, in a video entitled Katherine Switzer from the PBS series Makers: Women who make America Switzer herself states she told her trainer “...if I don’t finish this race, then everyone’s going to believe that women can’t do it, and that they don’t deserve to be here…I’ve got to finish this race” (Kathrine Switzer).Thanks to the large media coverage, her finishing the race itself was an upstart, and had a large impact in women’s equality (at least in the in the field of sports) seen by the fact that five years later women were officially allowed to compete (Kathrine