Wrestling and socialism: predestination and collectivism
Barthes relates the theatre of wrestling. Wrestling differs from boxing in its entertainment primacy. Wrestling unlike its counterpart sports attempts to achieve a positive result. Players wish to win and stats are everything. This is not the case for wrestling. Wrestling is a spectacle, scripted from the onset. Wrestlers have a role to play. Theatre actors displaying their excellence in entertaining the crowd. The role playing model harkens to ancient antiquity and the marxist ideals.
Sports are democratic. Classically restrictive and conformist. Inside the language game there is much movement. There is a liberation to achieve the greatest peak. Inflating statistics and winning championships primarily fuels the athlete to perform. Players are out to perform to succeed to accomplish. They rack up trophies to gain appreciation. Content creators spend loads of time compiling the excellence of players and their prestige. Constant murmurs about who is the greatest, whether LBJ or MJ, Renaldo or Messi, encompasses the media arena. It is not just analysts and youtubers making countless content on the same issue. Even the players themselves voice their opinions. They wish to gain the respect they believe they deserve. They work tirelessly for fame and fortune. To win at all costs and to be hailed supreme. Those who cop out with “I play for the love of the game” according to Nietzsche is a slavish response. Jealous of the master’s excellence, he alters his confidence to a new mission. Answer deceptively to avoid his true intent.
Love of the game is a common trope but it is all behind the escalating accomplishments. There is a truth in the highest level of competition but the privileges that accompany the big pay day is a deep aggressive spirit. There is a deep level of competition that like any other job compels outlasting opponents. Besting them adds more fuel to the fire. It is all about climbing the ladder. Whether that is the player’s initial rationale it becomes a revolving lifestyle. Survival in the league is through perpetuated success. As long as results are high, the love for the game is immaterial. It matters little. It may empower production but it is the end not the means that really matter. While these slogans capture fan approval and respect, it is those with heart and also excel that are most noticed. Not being able to achieve the expectations at the end will draw hate and potential firing. The thought doesn’t count insofar as level of playing must be sky-high.
Stooped in the capitalist market, players compete for their high paid salaries. Players make a half a million plus. With relatively limited roster spots available, securing a spot on a team is difficult. Like any business, if effort is not up to the team’s liking they can drop you from the team. Achieving awards for fame is parcel of the totality of the business. Winning awards attracts more cash like signing bonuses. More awards more notice and more potential money. Attractive offers flood excellent players to show off to inspire their fans to buy the advertised merchandise. Growing influence adds personal prestige but also adds opportunities. It is climbing the ladder in the basketball word and the corporate world. For example, LeBron James’ excellent play on the court got him a higher salary from the team, a shoe deal with nike as well as making profit from other endorsements like AT&T. His influence runs deep into politics as well preaching on twitter to his followers. He is not only a basketball player but an icon.
For someone like LeBron James, his talent and work ethic ensured his success. He has reaped much reward for his effort. Yet though speculative, what has inspired James to keep buying stock in different sectors and owning different branches? The first answer is because he enjoys it. The second is the ever-growing fame and fortune. This is not to say that James is greedy or a bad person but it does acknowledge the persistent amassing of fortune and expanding influence. Is this so wrong? James has donated more than one hundred million dollars to charity as well as building a school in his hometown. He is nothing short of philanthropic. Playing in the system he still manages to personally give back over the governmental taxation promise. If he is giving back that much, is his three mansions worth a total of sixty million dollars? Additionally, the teams make money from merchandising sponsorships and tickets. The fan gifts him a large portion of this money.
At the end of the day it is a day in day out competitive business. Wrestling is indeed a competitive business. It is not in the statistics that other sports are. There is a level of performance in the ring. Yet it is more the entertainment. More of an actor than a stockholder. Any actor can be fired for his lacklustre performance but because it is rigged it is playing a role formidably. While LeBron James also technically needs to play a role effectively, that of a superstar ballplayer, it is not in the same realm. Efficiency is obviously important but it is the means in the latter than the result. Wrestling is about collective spirit. Team chemistry and audience fascination. These elements exist in other sports but winning usually tramples them. A player may be problematic but if isn’t truly intolerable and wins then keep him around. There is a point of no return but the primacy is not the teamwork. For wrestling it is. His skills are useless if he cannot work with others.
Wrestling is a play in stages in real time. Weekly events tell the tale of this journeyman. His popularity is considered and contemplated by the audience for each periodic scene. It gives the audience time to sink into the character’s routine. A live television show where the character is praised or booed. The audience’s engagement fuels the storyline impassioning the plot. The result is not individual accolades but a collectivist dream. The wrestler is not judged by his personal accomplishments but his team work in the overall scheme. Wrestling is still in the capitalist world trying to make money but it is a production for the fans. It is a fan service to enjoy the theatre not to display personal skill. People don’t count numbers but remember events. Recalling experiences in personifying the wrestler’s purpose to the plot. The moment is not at the expense of another as it in sports. Most recall the moment of individual players in their outstanding shots forgetting the defender while the wrestler recalls the match both opponents.
Moulding an experience that expels the greedy singularity. Those who go off script are fired. Individuality is toxic. The team effort to create a beautiful storyline carries the crowd with them. The audience is part of the experience. They observe but cheer and jeer at the wrestlers. They demonstrate their praise or contempt for the story. The dialectical order portrayed is a cinematic fashioning. Fans disliking ball players is from their troubling incidents with teammates. The media storm that capitalises on useless commentary. Wrestling creates its own drama. It does add a second layer to discuss afterwards to orchestrate its preeminent disclosure. Wrestling is a participatory climate. An engaging manifestation of simple cohesion between the audience and professionals. A linkage in a mutual experience. The ring is the centre of the action but the stadium is a participant in the plot. The audience’s voice is central to the journey empowering the the thematic storyline.
Its unique standard in the all inclusive experience entails a deep encounter between wrestler and audience. They are not mere bystanders but coaches in the corner. The audience recognises the fiction before their eyes but to them it becomes more real. The professional excellence pulls off a beautiful artistry of scripted acting without technological guises used in cinema. Wrestlers are placed on the spot to exact their role. They are playing for the audience. In a sense it follows the colosseum model of becoming a fan favourite. There is a measure of individualism. That autonomy is working hard and working well. Showing the audience you belong and completing the scenes properly with coworkers. The goal is to finish the scene with positive reaction from the audience. The good/evil binary inevitably will have the protagonist meet the antagonist. Cheering and jeering is the monument of respect to the antagonist’s successes and failures. Even the youth can see their importance to the plot. Getting the crowd to dislike without disregard is a successful villain.
Values emanate from the plot. Its themes point to an impactful realisation. The storyline is educational in its action packed thriller. Its fiction purports a realism unable to attained in daily life. A spectacle of drastic messaging. There is a purpose for each side to persistently develop. A group effort for the betterment. Rejuvenating the merit in the fight. Characters play various roles as they fight in the ring. The drama exudes and audiences marvel. Wrestling is more akin to a family. The entertainment is a group effort. Wrestlers need to key in on their roles with little arrogance. Their pride will be their downfall. It is the humility of the group and collective innovation that empowers the impact of the plot and its life messaging. A role is enshrined to a specific character to act in a specific way, for a sequence to play out accordingly. It is not up to chance but sketched out in harmonious revelation. Wrestlers may play characters morally grey but it is their commitment to their craft and ensuring their excellence in their role. They are positional pawns to create majestic mastery.
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