Taking "One Goal Fame" as an example, this paper explores the cultural significance of football-type sports films from the perspective of semiotics
As a special symbol system, film needs to convey meaning through image symbols, and characters, as indispensable image symbols in film text, have a unique role in the expression of meaning.
"One Ball of Fame" makes the characters carry values through the detailed portrayal of the characters, and the process from conflict to understanding between the characters in the film also represents the process of different values from conflict to recognition.
The movie "One Goal to Fame" mainly narrates the experience of teenager Santiago chasing his football dream.
The protagonist Santiago is a Latino youth smuggled to the United States, the film presents the innate identity of the subject through the setting of Latino and stowaway, and then the film shows the acquired identity of the character through the narrative of Santiago entering a professional football club and becoming a professional player.
Through the two aspects of innate identity and acquired identity, the film completes the construction of character symbols in the movie, and the change of characters is achieved through the transformation of identity symbols.
Santiago's father, an opponent, played the role of an initial social identity stubborn growing up in San Diego.
Whether it is his belief in the existence of two people in the world, or his opposition to Santiago's ideal of becoming a professional player for a considerable period of time, it can be used as a father's choice of identity.
The violent conflict between father and son in the film can be seen as Santiago's renunciation and re-selection of his original social identity.
When the protagonist entered the trial training of the Newcastle Club, faced with the criticism and discrimination of his teammates, and the difficulties encountered in training, Santiago was frustrated again and again, overcame the difficulties again and again, and finally got his father's understanding and realized his dream of becoming a professional player, which is reflected through the transformation of Santiago's identity symbol.
Through the transformation process of character identity symbols, the film highlights the growth experience of the protagonist Santiago.
Since personal growth is inseparable from specific social and cultural values, the character symbols in the film also reflect specific cultural values.
As the protagonist of the film, Santiago can be faithful to his dreams, whether it is to protect his football when he was a child, or the football dream that he has always adhered to as an adult, all convey Santiago's values of positive optimism, persistence in dreams, and never giving up.
Instead, Santiago's father delivered a voice of adherence to an inherent value system.
Santiago from the beginning of the discomfort to the final full integration of Newcastle Club reflects the value identity after the collision of multiple values.
"One Goal Fame" conveys its value expression through character symbols, loves football, and resolves the gap between rich and poor, race, class, and religion.
After the collision of different values, the cultural values of football unify these.
In addition to giving different values to the characters in the film, the movie "One Ball Fame" also took great care in the selection of props.
As part of the physical image, props are everywhere in the film, and in semiotics, the meaning of physical props can be both the background foil in the film, the clue to the development of the film, and even the main performance object of the film.
Daily necessities such as footballs, asthma spray and necklaces with a unique Mexican meaning in the movie "One Goal Fame" have become clues to the development of the film, but also have symbolic meanings beyond the scope of their physical form due to their special environment.
The film begins with a flashback of a San Diego family smuggling ten years ago, and it is in this situation that the protagonist appears holding a football.
While the close-up of the smuggling of the soccer ball falling in an emergency expresses the tension in times of danger, the saber ball as a special prop is also a metaphor for Santiago's hobbies and dreams.
The football prop serves as an important foreshadowing for the entire narrative of Santiago's insistence on going to England to achieve his dream and finally his ability to become a professional player.
The prop of asthma relief spray appears frequently in the narrative of the first half of the film, from the amateur game to Newcastle, and before each game in San Diego, the director uses a separate shot to show the scene where he is relieved with the asthma spray.
It wasn't until Newcastle's reserve match against Manchester United that the player deliberately stepped on the asthma relief spray that Santiago had dropped on the ground, giving the destroyed spray a close-up.
At this point, the narrative in the first half of the film becomes extremely clear, and the fact that Santiago concealed his condition and used asthma spray to ensure his fitness and endurance in football has also surfaced.
As a special prop symbol, the spray promotes the narrative of the film, and Santiago does not flinch in the face of the game without drug support, and the bravery, fearlessness and pursuit embodied in him are precisely the spiritual qualities that football wants to express and transmit.
Santiago's grandmother has been a supporter of his dreams, and when Santiago went to England, his grandmother gave Santiago her necklace.
In addition to the meaning of religious amulet, in the author's opinion, the necklace that Santiago has been wearing on the body also symbolizes the grandmother's companionship and support for Santiago.
The meaning of certain object symbols in film, in addition to the original medium on which their symbolic carriers themselves are based, also depends on their place in the narrative structure of the film.
The symbolic significance of the necklace, which is a prop symbol, is also reflected in the scene at the end of the film, when Santiago puts the necklace given to him by his grandmother on his forehead to pray after winning a free kick in front of the decisive three minutes.
The main reason why the Hollywood movie "One Goal Fame" can be used as a classic film to express modern football is that the creators can skillfully use visual symbols to accurately express and purposefully extend sports culture.
Combined with the fact that domestic sports films have paid more and more attention to spiritual and cultural expression in recent years, we believe that when exploring the cultural meaning of sports films, taking the image expression of movies as an entry point, and thinking about the expression of sports films to their unique cultural spirit, will provide reference significance for the future development and research of Chinese sports films.
