tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546665963755719151.post4234499355425095275..comments2023-07-15T07:17:49.535-04:00Comments on Professional Wrestling in U.S. Popular Culture: Drawing the right kind of heatSam Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17233749268141980625noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546665963755719151.post-140737446747390992007-03-07T23:41:00.000-04:002007-03-07T23:41:00.000-04:00I think you have all made some important points he...I think you have all made some important points here, but I am going to make a clear distinction...<BR/><BR/>I think everyone here is writing about The Sheik, uncle of Sabu, who is just "The Sheik." He was the owner of the Detroit territory and was the villain who used weapons in almost every situation, the star of <I>I Like to Hurt People</I>, etc. Sheik is supposedly from Lebanon, perhaps, since his manger said in one of the clips he had returned to Beirut on business.<BR/><BR/>The Iron Sheik is a former WWE Champion, from Tehran, Iran, with the big moustache. We saw a clip of him when watching the early WWE stuff, with manager Classy Freddie Blassie, when The Iron Sheik had won the title from Bob Backlund. Hulk Hogan defeated him for the title. The Iron Sheik is another legendary figure in wrestling and makes an appearance early in <I>Drawing Heat</I> on the Tunney card.<BR/><BR/>While most of you are talking about THE Sheik, some of the comments seem to be directed at The Iron Sheik. But the two are very different, although both important, figures in wrestling history.Sam Fordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17233749268141980625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546665963755719151.post-26563079632710544312007-03-07T11:47:00.000-04:002007-03-07T11:47:00.000-04:00Largely I agree with Deirdre on this -- that The S...Largely I agree with Deirdre on this -- that The Sheik manages to be a fantastic heel with his "cheating" angle by itself.<BR/><BR/>I think the ethnic angle serves to <I>enhance</I> his character, but doesn't stand by itself.<BR/><BR/>In other words, if you just show someone a character of some race associated with trouble right now, and have them start badmouthing America, they haven't really demonstrated that they're actually a bad person. However, by adding in a seperate gimmick (the cheating) you know they're already bad, and <I>then</I> you can associate that with the race.<BR/><BR/>In short: ethnic boundaries alone doesn't make someone bad, but adding ethnic boundaries to an already bad character makes them badder.Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09192417519752522289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546665963755719151.post-84951139055154849022007-03-07T04:08:00.000-04:002007-03-07T04:08:00.000-04:00I think the Sheik's gimmick worked as opposed to o...I think the Sheik's gimmick worked as opposed to other characters based on racial stereotypes is that the crowds hater him not only because he supposedly from Iran and there were troubles with Iran at the time, but because he was truly a good heel on his own. He was a cheater, he was a coward, he was a dirty fighter, and he always seemed to get away with either a win or a DQ. That in itself is sufficient to draw heat from a crowd. Then throw in the Iran angle, the praying beside the ring, the costuming, and so forth, and you have an automatic spark to kick off heat for an already decent heel. <BR/>The negative ethnic angle has been tried many times with mixed results, and I think this is mostly due to relying too much on the stereotype, and not actually developing the character to go achieve the ends. For example, the Unamericans were heels, and they did ok, but eventually faded away. What did we know about them? They were French-Canadian, and didn't like America. Ok, well at the time cultural wisdom in the US didn't like France much either, so that's your easy heat right there. But what else? They were good wrestlers, not exactly cheaters, or cowards, but decent enough, who were cocky and antagonistic, and that's about it. They were able to get the cheap heat due to their ethnic angle, but they couldn't sustain it, as their heel characters just were not sufficiently developed to last long as heels. This may explain why such stereotypes tend to have a hit-or-miss record over the years.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com