This research presentation situates the concept of homoertoic racism within the sports documentary genre in order to demonstrate its impact in the representation of the black male athlete. The increase in sports documentaries on streaming platforms, such as Netflix, demonstrates the seemingly unlimited access to consume this spectacle of blackness. The award-winning docuseries Last Chance U, first premiering as a Netflix Original in 2016, documents student-athletes at a community college who have dreams of playing at Division I schools and ultimately going into the NFL. The docuseries reveals how the concept of homoerotic racism within sports documentaries domesticates blacks by positioning them as objects of the male gaze, under the control of white supremacy. Using Season 1 of Last Chance U as a test case to investigate the larger presence of homoerotic racism in sports documentaries, this presentation employs media theorist John Fiske’s conception of television codes alongside feminist theorist Laura Mulvey’s concept of the male gaze. Ultimately this presentation advocates for more black filmmakers to make sports documentaries in order to reconstruct the way black male athletes are represented.
