(Sports) Movies, Magic and More': (Re)Telling the Story of College Basketball's Integration in the Disney Sports Movie Glory Road

In 2006, Disney released the movie Glory Road to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 1966 Texas Western, the team who won the NCAA title while starting five black players - a first in college basketball history. While.based on a true story', this movie actually paints a signifying picture of both the event and time it was produced at. By proceeding to Disneyfy elements of the story, celebrate the American founding myths and ethos, deconstruct myths while building up others, and crystallize issues related to the representation of black athletes in movies, Glory Road reflects the use of sports films by Hollywood and Disney to convey political messages and build narratives which celebrate a certain view of America and its history, especially in regards to race relations. The analysis of the movie, compared with autobiographies by.true' actors of the event, underlines the politics of representation and Disneyfication of politically-signifying historical events, and sports films as tools to build and validate myths with a strong political dimension, while opening up on the rise of self-representation as a new form of empowerment on the field of representation and symbols.