Jim, I'm making professional wrestling my summer sociology project. And the great thing (this being America) is that I just have to turn on the tv to do it.
Some quick observations from my ongoing endeavor--
A. The writing is much better on these shows than it used to be. The taunts are better, the props are better, the rivalries are better delineated, the double and triple crosses come faster and from more and more unexpected angles.
I'm also currently fascinated by the appropriation of names that is going on. Like comic books, pro wrestling likes to go gothic or use alliteration or animal names (Undertaker, Mark Mero, Sable, etc.). That's par for the course. But digging deeper, I'm very interested at how the wrestlers now have extra names with cultural resonance. I mean, it is bizarre to me that Stone Cold (a good enough name) also has the stage name of Steve Austin (think "Six Million Dollar Man"). And Diamond Dallas Page appropriates "Dallas." Hulk Hogan is now "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. Dennis Rodman is now "Rodzilla." I feel there is some kind of cultural double-dipping going on here which adds to the kitschy mythic effect.
Of course the writing is also interesting in that the shows must stick to the particulars of the genre. One never hits someone with a chair, but rather, always a "steel" chair.
B. The action is often plodding, but sometimes spectacular. And man, it sure looked like more than sixteen feet down from the top of that cage, geeezz.
C. It seems ironic to me that the biggest winnowing effect that separates the top wrestlers from the rest of the steroid-cases walking around is not strength and athletic ability, but the ability to talk. There are many big athletic guys around but that's nothing without charisma and the ability to remember one's lines. I really find myself wondering how often they must rehearse before going on.
D. I also find it very ironic that the THQ wrestling games are a pure contest (ie, programmed so that move A will cause effect A to happen, vs being counteracted by move B and so on) yet the "sport" the video games are simulating has nothing to do with real competition. As you pointed out, it is scripted.
E. So far as I can tell, there are three stages of wrestling "knowledge" that the postmodern man passes through. One, is when one is young or very, very naive and thinks it is real. At this stage, pro wrestling can be mindblowingly cool, working as it does on such base instincts. Stage two is when one outgrows it, finds out it is fake, etc. One then ridicules it as stupid and for morons. Stage three is when one revisits it when one is older and wiser and can see it for what it is (an American mishmash) and appreciate at least some parts of it. This is not to say that stage one will work on everyone.
F. The nice part is that the announcers are at some level totally in on the game and, despite an absolutely amazing ability to keep a straight face, sometimes slip in absolutely devastating commentary. It's like the Simpsons or Rocky and Bullwinkle, where adults can appreciate it on a separate level from the believers.
G. Goooooo THQ!
Next week, subtle and not-so-subtle differences between WCW and WWF.
Yours,
Marc |
