s Who We Are: Articulating Irish identity in documentary representations of the Gaelic Athletic Association

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaper

Abstract

In the first episode of the three-part 2018 documentary; ‘The Game- The Story of Hurling’
,
the well-known former GAA player and team manager Ger Loughnane tells us: “Every
young lad wants to be the hero, and Cú Chulainn really, was the first hero, it went that
deep…

. The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) is the most ubiquitous sports and cultural
organisation in Ireland, and has a presence in most Irish communities. Through the Irish
national broadcaster (RTE) and independent producers, it has been the subject of many
documentary productions.

This paper examines the mapping and articulation of Irish national and cultural identity as
seen through representations of the GAA and GAA players in documentary film. Through an
identification of formal and structural tropes, I argue that the lineage of many
documentaries about the GAA can be traced back to conventions developed by filmmakers in
state-supported constructions of distinct culture, such as in early Soviet cinema, as well as to
documentary films that recount the histories and personal stories of liberation and
revolutionary movements of the mid-to-late twentieth century. Finally, I examine how
Irish identity is performed, presented and re-articulated in contemporary documentary
representations of the GAA using modern filming techniques, editing techniques and video
technologies.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - May 2019
EventIrish Screen Studies Seminar 2019 - NUI Galway, Galway, Ireland
Duration: 09 May 2019 → …

Conference

ConferenceIrish Screen Studies Seminar 2019
Country/TerritoryIreland
CityGalway
Period09/05/2019 → …

Keywords

  • Documentary Film
  • Gaelic Athletic Association
  • Nationalism

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Visual Arts and Performing Arts
  • History

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