January 2016
sports / features
the stentorian | ncssm
Panthers roll into Superbowl
riding franchise best 15 wins
By Andy Hoang
Sports Editor
Ron Rivera, the leading
candidate for NFL Coach of
the Year, is leading his 15
regular season win Panthers
team into the Superbowl
against the Denver Broncos,
after achieving the Panthers’
third consecutive NFC South
Division Crown.
The Panthers’ previous
mark of twelve wins was the
franchise record. This year, the
development of key players
on defense coupled with the
elevation of MVP-candidate
Cam Newton’s play has made
the 2015-2016 season one
for the history books, but the
season isn’t done quite yet.
The Panthers’ path to the
Superbowl went through
Charlotte, where the Panthers
were undefeated this year.
In the playoffs, they first
defeated the Seattle Seahawks,
who represented the NFC in the
Superbowl the last two years.
They defeated the Seahawks
by a touchdown, 31-24.
They then dominated the
NFC West Champions, the
Arizona Cardinals, in the NFC
championship game, 49-15.
The Panthers have gotten
little respect from members
of the media and other teams.
Even during the 14-0 start
to the season, many people
claimed the Panthers “hadn’t
played anybody challenging.”
It’s not the Panthers fault
- they play the games on the
schedule. Phrases such as
“worst undefeated team” and
Members of the Panthers football team celebrates after consecutive wins
“worst 8-0 team,” were used
by ESPN sports commentator
David Newton and statistics
website FiveThirtyEight, but
isn’t 14-0 better than 13-1 on
any given day?
The National Football
League is a money-making
league. Don’t be fooled by its
“non-profit” tag - it’s just a
way to avoid taxes. The league
is fixated on making money
as evident in its lucrative TV
contracts.
The NFL would rather have
a large-market team like the
Dallas Cowboys, New York
Giants or Jets, Chicago Bears,
etc. to be'the best teams in the
league because those teams
bring more viewers.
In their defense, the NFL
is smart to prioritize the
monetary benefits of the “big-
market” teams but not at the
expense of demeaning the
accomplishments of another
team. The Carolina Panthers
had a record-breaking year for
the franchise - but also for the
league.
Even with all the outside
noise, Ron Rivera has kept
the Panthers focused. Critics
rejoiced when the Atlanta
Falcons beat the Panthers in
week 16 but Ron Rivera and
the Panthers went out the
next-week to crush-the. Tampa
Bay Buccaneers '38-tb en
route to clinching the league’s
best record and home-field
advantage throughout the NFC
playoffs.
The Panthers have a
strong locker room and a
strong fan base. The “next-
man up” mentality shows the
integrity and character of the
team, especially considering
the injuries the Panthers are
enduring to their top running-
back and top wide-receiver.
Did fans abandon ship when
...the Panthers lost... to the
Falcons?
No. Instead, another sellout
crowd packed Bank of America
stadium in the final game. 16-0
would have been great but
there is no point in waddling
over “what could have been.”
The grand prize is still
ahead - a Superbowl ring.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens enters
cinematic history
By Max Nobel
Staff Writer
Is The Force Awakens
culturally significant? Short
answer: No, it isn’t. Long
answer: It still isn’t, but the
movies that follow could be.
According to the Australian
International Council on
Monuments and Sites
(ICOMOS) Burra Charter of
1999, “Cultural Significance”
is defined as “the aesthetic,
historic, scientific, social, or
spiritual value for past, present,
or future generations.”
But to fully comprehend the
cultural significance of Star
Wars, we need to travel back a
long time ago to a galaxy far,
far away.
The year was 1977. Jimmy
Carter was President, the first
Apple computer was sold,
and George Lucas had made
a low budget, pulp space
opera heavily borrowed from
Metropolis (1927), The Hidden
Fortress (1958), and The Hero
with a Thousand Faces (1949),
and save for maybe Steven
Spielberg, no one believed
in the film, least of all Lucas
himself
That film was called Star
Wars, later given the subtitle
“A New Hope" in a 1981 re-
release, and it would go on
to gross over $775 million,
becoming the second highest
grossing film of all time after
adjusting for inflation, being
surpassed only by Gone with
the Wind (1939).
It was nominated for ten
Academy Awards, winning
seven, and forever changed the
face of modem cinema. Star
Wars singlehandedly brought
an end to the golden age of 70s
film whilst ushering in that of
the blockbuster.
A majority of its successes
came from its time of release.
Watergate and the Vietnam
War had left the nation without
a moral compass.
People needed a return to the
classic tales of simpler times,
tales of good in its continuing
conflict against evil. Star Wars,
with its progressive retelling of
Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s
Journey, presented a welcome
return for modem myth.
The bad guys wore black,
the good guys wore white, and
a young man uncertain of his
future discovered his destiny.
While its prequels and
sequels are forever embedded
in our pop culture canon, their
cultural significance is derived
entirely from that of their
predecessor.
That is not to say that they
haven’t been high influential
in their own right. It suggests
instead that their influence
never rose enough above that
of technical, corporate, or
popular culture to be deemed
culturally significant.
For a film to be culturally
significant, it must make a
marked impact on how films
are made and what stories
they choose to tell. It has to,
in some way, upend or change
the status quo, progressing - or
regressing - the entire industry
as a result.
Few films manage to earn
this lofty certification, and
failure to do so is in no way to
The Force Awakens’ detriment.
The Force Awakens was
never a film designed to
push boundaries. It was a
meticulously-calculated
artistic endeavor designed to
win back fans who felt betrayed
by the prequels by convincing
them that the new Star Wars
films were wholeheartedly
rooted in the original trilogy
these fans hold so dear.
Impressively, this was done
while simultaneously attracting
new fans and winning over
casual moviegoers for the
Star Wars films in the coming
years, ensuring that Disney’s
$4 billion purchase of the
franchise in 2012 was money
well spent.
Despite this, its influence
most likely won’t be seen
outside of popu
lar and corporate
culture, with little
to follow but a se
ries of ill-advised
rebootquels and
next year’s Hal
loween costumes.
In essence,
there is nothing
wrong with The Force
Awakens not changing the
very face of the film industry
as some expected it should.
Its biggest cultural
achievement will be that it was
the first Star Wars film for an
entire generation of new fans
to see in theatres.
The Force Awakens
successfully re-confirmed Star
Wars’ status as a commercial
and cultural superpower,
leaving the door open for its
upcoming spinoffs and sequels
to possibly earn a coveted
place in our cultural pantheon.
If you are an eager Star
Wars fan, be on the look out for
new Star Wars films arriving in
2017, 2018, and later. May the
force be with you.