tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546665963755719151.post8241971416352213352..comments2023-07-15T07:17:49.535-04:00Comments on Professional Wrestling in U.S. Popular Culture: Logic, Street Fights, and MetagamesSam Fordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17233749268141980625noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546665963755719151.post-17646714805629831992007-04-25T21:35:00.000-04:002007-04-25T21:35:00.000-04:00Interesting points from Peter. I also think his a...Interesting points from Peter. I also think his arguments are valuable when considering wrestling's competition with ultimate fighting. For myself and other wrestling fans I know who had a passing interest in UFC, interest was lost because there never did appear to be any semblance of rules, much less any dramatic arc to the matches.<BR/><BR/>It's very interesting to consider the appeal of a pro-wrestling street fight or cage match and the overall malaise brought forth by a "real" ultimate fight in the octagon. The pro-wrestling cage match is a simulation of what the ultimate fight would be and with it comes its own dramatic archetypes. Watching the ultimate fight often makes me feel like Mick Foley's family every time.The Louxchadorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05658903615792145127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1546665963755719151.post-56420786061886516272007-04-25T09:46:00.000-04:002007-04-25T09:46:00.000-04:00Peter, I think that pro wrestling as metagame is q...Peter, I think that pro wrestling as metagame is quite a useful approach. Sports itself may be constructed, but wrestling abstracts even farther because it is dramatizing a game that would be awfully brutal if it were "real."<BR/><BR/>Over time, especially, you are right that "pro wrestling is approaching a fourth-order simulacrum: a simulation that refers to nothing but itself." That is why it makes sense that "using the ropes" only evolved over time, as wrestling began to create its own logic no longer tied to the need to see as authentic as possible. Now, there is still just as much a concern with being authentic, but the narrative rules one has to uphold in the ring has shifted as wrestling has developed its own logic, which is of course a plug for the reading for today from Larry DeGaris.Sam Fordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17233749268141980625noreply@blogger.com