The article Wrestling with Masculinity: Messages about Manhood in the WWE was designed to look at the messages that are implied about manhood by television professional wrestling with the 118 WWE programs. Going off that, the article is looking at the masculinity and the way in which manhood is accomplished. What was found is that WWE in fact support does support the opinions of manhood (dominant hegemonic of masculinity). The dominant hegemonic of masculinity means violence, aggression, success and achievement (Soulliere, 2006).
I would tend to agree with what was found. If this study was not done the opinions of people for the most part would not change. In other words they would not think that WWE was a non dominant hegemonic masculinity. When I and I am sure other think of WWE and anything to do with that, think of a big strong guys with very little weaknesses. They would still believe dominant hegemonic of masculinity is what makes WWE so powerful and so fun to watch for most people. It is so popular that fans of WWE will pay a fight on paper view television. The fight may cost $50 dollars, but last only about 10 minutes. The other reason a lot of people, manly males would watch WWE is for the women; males, like the fact of two girls fighting in their bras and underwear. As for me I was never a WWE fan, I never got into the whole fake fighting period. There was plenty of other television shows on T.V.
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I also read this article on the WWE. When I was younger, my brother was only two years older than me and for as long as I can remember he always had to watch RAW or Smackdown. I think they were called WWF and something else back then. Nevertheless, I always watched with him and my dad would usually order the pay-per-view events for him when a really big match was supposed to be on. After reading the articles I can definitely see how they could draw the conclusion of those 6 messages from the WWE broadcasts. I even remember my brother mocking the wrestlers he saw on TV and fighting his friends on our trampoline for the championship belt... The idea of masculinity was all over the screen in front of me for years and I would have never saw it that way before. I also agree with the study.
ReplyDeleteTim,
ReplyDeleteAfter talking about this in class and reading the article Im beginning to think that the WWE doesn't really represent a form of masculinity. I do agree that giant muscular guys fighting each other can be masculine. But as a long time wrestling fan when I was young I think that men rolling around fighting each other in there underwear just comes across as weird. If this wrestling were real I would agree its masculine but since the WWE is a fake form of fighting I believe its sole purpose is for entertainment.
The entertainment aspect I think today is coming around more and more. When I was growing up I thought of the possibilty that it was real, but a friend of mine says that today they don't hide it as much and are open to the fact that they are not real. I don't think the WWE means to be a representation of masculinity. There main objective is to keep the fans happy and the storylines that are written do just that. Obviously it has been on television forever and I don't see how people can get mad at them being a bad role model. They say they are entertainment and if people don't like it they shouldn't watch it.
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