Coming Soon! — Behind the Shield: The Cultural Politics of NFL Football

Behind the Scenes

We just finished filming acclaimed Nation magazine sports editor Dave Zirin for our upcoming documentary on the National Football League’s emergence as a dominant cultural and political force.

Behind the Shield: The Cultural Politics of NFL Football will explore how the NFL’s stunning popularity and unrivaled commercial and economic power have made it ground zero for understanding some of the major cultural and political battles of our time. Ranging from the origins of football in the midst of a full-blown crisis in masculinity in the late 19th century to the league’s deep associations with militarism, patriotism, and American manhood today, Zirin shows how the NFL has helped shape dominant ideas and national debates about everything from gender, race, and class to nationalism, war, and the politics of resistance.

This marks our third collaboration with Zirin, who was featured in our bestselling film Not Just a Game: Power, Politics & American Sports and our video Race, Power & American Sports, and has written extensively about the collision of sports, politics, and activist-athletes like NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

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