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The Edge of reality

Like the participants of the carnival wrestlers straddle the fine line between reality and fantasy. In his book Bakhtin says:

they (the participants of carnival) were not actors playing their parts on stage, as did the comic actors of a later period- but remained fools and clowns always and whenever they made their appearance. As such they represented a certain form of life, which was real and ideal at the same time. They stood on the borderline between life and art in a peculiar mid-zone as it were; they were neither eccentrics nor dolts, neither were they comic actors.

This description could equally apply to the world of Wrestling many wrestlers, especially those of the old school, pride themselves in their total emersion in this "second life". Several wrestlers have gone so far as to legally change their name to that of their wrestling persona. Former body builder Jim Hellwig is now legally known as "The Warrior" while former NWA world champion Richard Rood now carries the name "RAVISHING RICK RUDE" (including capitalisation) on his drivers licence. Many wrestlers including Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper (Rodney Tombes) have carried their wrestling names into non-wrestling movies and television work and in Mexico where masked wrestlers are the stars, several wrestlers like the legendary El Santo were buried in their mask so as to maintain their air of mystery.

Another link with this carnival culture lies in the politics of pro-wrestling. The carnival celebrates and acknowledges many basic working class values. It triumphs in its vulgarity and holds those of power and privilege up to ridicule. Indeed the the carnival was a powerful tool for social change and as quoted in Fiske's book:

there were literally thousands of acts of legislation introduced which attempted to eliminate carnival and popular festivity from European life.

Indeed even today such celebrations can still be seen as a tool of protest such as Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. The politics of pro-wrestling is somewhat confusing. On the surface most would see it as right wing almost fascist in its vilification of various ethnic groups and it's racial stereotyping. Asian wrestlers are usually dishonest, sadistic and always masters of mysterious martial arts. Black and Polynesian wrestlers always seem to possess harder than usual heads which are used against opponents and in various comedy set pieces. Even sexuality gets a spot with a long history of gay or effeminate heels like the late Gorgeous George and Adrian Adonis. Once again this stereotyping caters directly to the prejudice of the predominantly white male blue collar audience. Many are racist and probably even more are homophobic and this provides the promoters with an easy means of generating heat. But while the text of American pro-wrestling seems so right wing, its sub-text is essentially left wing or even anarchic. Certainly most of the faces in pro-wrestling strongly reflect working class values.