COP3 Tutorial 2

Main Points from tutorial

• New question title:

'To what extent do trends in post-1980's wrestling reflect current social, cultural & political values?'

• The practical brief is clear & concise. Well focused and in a good position to move forward into design & development work

• Need to stop the research into my dissertation as I now have enough to go on.

• Focus chapter 2 on; How wrestling has changed 1930-1990 - good vs evil (characters)

  Focus chapter 3 on; How wrestling has changed 1990-2016

  The increase in violence,merchandising, adult themes,female athlete involvement. PG-rating a possible return to family values? 

• GET WRITING! 3000 words max. Start structuring, including quotes.

• Start sketchbook development works for the practical response.

DO NOT RESEARCH ANYTHING NEW!!!!

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Revisions to practical response proposal & brief, based on the peer feedback from last week.

In regards to the practical proposal, I was aware that I was possibly giving myself a bit too much to make, but I did want to consider a range of different tangible mediums to produce the work on. So rather than proposing 5 different character print designs, with 5 different laser-cut keyrings, with 5 different wall hanging designs etc, Fred suggested I develop and propose all 5 different character packages, but only physically make one of them. The 'package' idea is a great shout, and has already given me ideas for other items of merchandise I could add to each Luchador character package, including stationary and action, prints & figures, exactly the sort of thing I'd get hyped about shopping for, or ordering from the WWF catalog when I was a young fan in the 80's/90's. 

I'm probably getting a bit ahead of myself with the action figures mind you, but also not.I'm looking into it!

Aztek Glyphs/Symbols

Continuing to look at traditional examples of Aztek/Mayan art and symbols. They had a the most complicated symbol/glyph system to represent their days,months,years & numbers that i haven't a clue how to work out. Did find an online generator that did the work for me,but was attracted to the combos of graphical looking animal icons, dots & bars.

The aztec calendar works with 20 signs related to animals or elements, and 

cycles of 13 days called Tercena.

The tonalpohualli ("day count") consists of a cycle of 260 days, each day signified by a combination of a number from 1 to 13, and one of the twenty day signs. With each new day, both the number and day sign would be incremented: 1 Crocodile is followed by 2 Wind, 3 House, 4 Lizard, and so forth up to 13 Reed, after which the cycle of numbers would restart (though the twenty day signs had not yet been exhausted) resulting in 1 Jaguar, 2 Eagle, and so on, as the days immediately following 13 Reed. This cycle of number and day signs would continue similarly until the 20th week, which would start on 1 Rabbit, and end on 13 Flower. It would take a full 260 days (13×20) for the two cycles (of twenty day signs, and thirteen numbers) to realign and repeat the sequence back on 1 Crocodile.

Simple, right(!)

(my own birth date)

Calendar Stone

The image carved on the Calendar Stone shows a face surrounded by a series of concentric rings. The figure at the center has been identified as either the sun deity Tonatiuh, the earth god Tlaltecuhtli, or some hybrid of the two. The Aztecs believed that they had been ordained by the gods to keep the sun moving across the sky by feeding it with the hearts and blood of warriors. The earth also required similar sacrifices. The claws we can see to the right and left of the central face probably originally grasped human hearts, today much eroded or damaged.

The central face and the X-like form around it together present the Aztec hieroglyphs for the five successive creations of the world, from the earliest to the present (or at least the present in 1500). The first creation, or Sun, as the Aztecs called them, is shown in the box to the upper right of the central face, and was named Nahui Ocelotl, 4 Jaguar, for the day in the Aztec 260 day calendar on which it ended. Continuing counterclockwise, with the upper left box, the next creation was Nahui Ehecatl, or 4 Wind. Then at lower left, Nahui Quiahuitl, 4 Rain, and at lower right, Nahui Atl, or 4 Water. The Jaguar Sun was destroyed by giant jaguars; the Wind Sun by terrible hurricanes; the Rain Sun by a rain of fire; and the Water Sun by a great flood.

All this is interesting, if not super complex to read about - how beneficial to any practical work i produce it will be i'm not too sure, but i feel if i'm going to base my practical response around aztek symbols i should at least have a vague clue about what it is i'm drawing.

Homosexuals in Professional Wrestling…

Times Have Changed for Gays 

in Professional Wrestling

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pollo-del-mar/times-have-changed-for-ga_b_6176854.html

“Back in the old days...I think you could get away with whatever you wanted to do,” said World Wrestling Entertainment legend Jimmy Hart of the professional wrestling industry, “Now, you have to watch what you say, watch what you do.”

We’ve been around the locker room and people coming out,” he said during a recent telephone interview. “What’s so funny, outside, everybody makes such a big to-do of it, but inside, we’re just brothers and sisters, having a great time, and everybody just overlooks those things and goes about their business.”


Still, this newfound sensitivity toward diversity is a far cry from industry practices early in Hart’s decades-long career. In the ‘80s, during its boom days, the then-WWF frequently keyed into society’s hot-button topics. Seen as an easy road to creating “heat” (in layman’s terms: animosity) or affection for its competitors, pro wrestling was rife with one-dimensional caricatures.


Notorious for racial and minority stereotyping, villainous Cold War-era Russians, Jive-talking pimps, evil Iranians, savage Africans, “man-eating” Samoans and more ran roughshod through WWF. All of these characters reflecting “society’s ills,” of course, ultimately fell at the hands of “The Real American” Hulk Hogan. During this time, Hart was instrumental in the rise of perhaps pro wrestling’s most infamous character reflecting to the LGBT(lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community.

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In late 1985, under Hart’s tutelage, New York-born Adrian Adonis began an abrupt on-air transformation. After giving away his signature leather jacket (itself a gay stereotype, which the WWF might not have recognized), Adonis began to host a talk show segment called “The Flower Shop” and project an increasingly feminine character, both through mannerisms and attire.

“We didn’t try to make him any particular character, one way or another,” Hart said of Adonis. The manager, best known for carrying a mega-phone to the ring, insists the intent was never specifically to imply the former WWF World Tag Team champion was gay. He said instead: “We just wanted to make sure he was flamboyant.”


According to Hart, he and the now-deceased Adonis — who was heterosexual — drew inspiration from the legendary “Gorgeous” George. The 1950s-era grappler innovated a style of showmanship standard for many of today’s wrestlers. Accompanied to the ring by a female valet, he wore flashy clothes and primped in-ring before matches.


“What a draw, what a great person he was!” Hart said of the trend-setter, “Just by the way he curled his hair, had bobby pins and walked to the ring with a little swagger and threw them out there, people responded to him so unbelievably and packed the place.”


But if “Gorgeous” George was the mark for which Adonis and Hart were aiming, the duo overshot it by miles! With newly-bleached hair and insistence the ring be sprayed with perfume (both trademarks of his predecessor), “The Adorable One” sported absurd make-up and pink ring attire including scarves, legwarmers and, on occasional, dresses. By WrestleMania II in 1986, the once tough-as-nails Adonis’ transition (so to speak) to full-blown cross-dresser was complete.

Adonis’ effeminate demeanor and dress roused audience ire and bigotry — and was a frequent talking-point, often laced with homophobic overtones, among his macho opponents and announcers alike.(example below)

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Adrian Street

52 Events That Changed Pro Wrestling History…

WWE Panorama: 

52 Events That Changed Pro Wrestling History

(By Chinmay ,Jun 21, 2012)

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/978047-wwe-panorama-50-events-that-changed-the-pro-wrestling-history

3. Discovery of "the Fake"

Until the 1910's, it was a common belief that wrestling was as legitimate as any other sport. Therefore, kayfabe nature of the business was a carefully guarded trade secret.

Somewhere around 1915, it was revealed that wrestling was "fake". The hostile media campaign was carried out to highlight its illegitimacy. The mistrust among the people led to massive decline in the popularity of pro wrestling.

This was the first scandalous jolt wrestling had experienced. However, as we will see, the business used this to its advantage in the coming years.

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7. Ali Baba

The whole concept of wrestling gimmicks started with the gimmick called “Ali Baba.”

The name is suggestive, is it not? It was a gimmick based on an Arabic individual, which was played by Harry Ekizian, a great heel of the 1930s.

Alibaba is considered to be the first ever gimmick to be utilized completely in pro wrestling. It was his unique in-ring identity which shot him to the pinnacle of his career. It was his success that led to all anti-USA heels and all-American heroes of many eras.

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8. The T.V. Revolution and the First Golden Age

Thanks to the TV revolution, matches began to be aired nationally during the 1950s. It took wrestling to a larger fanbase than ever before. This was a time of enormous growth for professional wrestling, as increasing fame and national expansion made it a marquee form of entertainment.

This period is billed as the first "Golden Age" for the wrestling industry. It was also a time of great change in both the character and professionalism of wrestlers as a result of the appeal of television.

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13. Blood

It was in the 1950s that the blood made its foray into the wrestling.

During this period, hundreds of new wrestlers began fresh without any professional training or apparent wrestling skills. They began with dreams of becoming televised superstars. It affected the industry, as the product began to lose athletic talent. So, increasingly, these performers began to use blood as their USP.

The second factor was the slow decline of industry in late the 1950s. Due to the loss of high ratings, blood was a desperate attempt of many promoters. It became a niche for some, and the tradition still continues.

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15. Bobo Brazil Wins the NWA Title

In 1962, Bobo Brazil created history by winning the NWA heavyweight title, although the landmark is riddled with ambiguity.

He was the first ever African American wrestler to win the world title. Bobo was enormously popular with the crowd, and he feuded with the likes of Killer Kowalski, Dick the Bruiser, Johnny Valentine, and The Sheik during his career.

Bobo Brazil is often credited for breaking the glass ceiling that prevented minority wrestlers from becoming successful in pro wrestling. He paved the way for a better future for superstars like Harlem Heat, Ron Simmons and The Rock.

Considering how even today race is treated with a distant hint of social stigma, the feat of Bobo Brazil can never be overestimated.

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19. Superstar Billy Graham

Superstar Billy Graham debuted in 1970. He was the great heel of his time and a multiple time WWF champion.

His glamorous persona and that beefed up physic paved the way for almost all wrestlers we have seen. He could easily be the source of Vince's ideal image of a "WWE Superstar."

Hulk Hogan modeled himself on the footprints of Graham. Even Triple H acknowledges that he is influenced by Graham's persona.

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24. Hulkamania

The first half of 1980s was marked by the patriotic charisma of then U.S. president Ronald Reagan.

Vince traced the pulse of the society. He therefore gave the WWF belt to Iron Sheik, a great "foreign heel."

The moment Hulk Hogan beat Sheik, the ultimate American hero of the WWF was born, and "Hulkamania" had begun.

Hulk Hogan became a name that eventually reached every doorstep in the U.S. He became a cultural icon. The gate sales, the TV ratings and the WWF's popularity shot to the sky. 

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31. The Steroid Scandal


The steroid scandal rocked the industry in early 1990s. It profoundly affected the social and political standing of the industry. It put a huge question mark on the already fragile legitimacy of the WWF.

It clouded and tarnished the legacy of legends such as Hulk Hogan. It created a massive stir that led to the acrimonious trial of Vince McMahon.

The Steroid Scandal threatened to almost shut down the WWF. It would have probably been the biggest blow to the U.S. pro wrestling industry.

The immediate outcome of the scandal was intensified scrutiny of the company, and introduction of a short-lived wellness policy that lasted until 1996.

Wrestling article notes/excerpts (cont)…

(taken from 'The Guide to United States Popular Culture' By Ray Broadus Browne, Pat Browne)

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Professional Wrestling 

Has Been Ruined By Ego and Bureaucracy
By James Nolan (2015)

In the 1970s and 80s, professional wrestlers lived in a world of blood, brutality, and bad paydays. They adhered to a territory system that divided the country into 20 distinct parts, each of which they would tour until their act got stale. They traveled by car, splitting beer, gas, and pills, before arriving at shit-box motels to pass out in beds too small for their 300-pound frames.

Nowadays, pro-wrestlers are paid eight-figure sums, tour the country in plush tour buses and break character to console teary young fans at ringside. Back in the days of The Sheik and Tex McKenzie, tears were encouraged. It was a Wild West of greedy promotors and bitter veterans. The holds were hard and the blows were stiff, and with exposés yet to reveal the reality of the ring, the business was strictly "kayfabed" (protected) in fear that no one would pay to see a fake fight. Bill Watts, a promotor from Louisiana, told his wrestlers that if they ever got into a bar fight and didn't win, they were fired.

WWF was owned by Vince McMahon, a man whose tastes were softer-edged than the territories. He called his product "sports entertainment," not pro wrestling, and admitted quite openly that it was staged. Regardless, on Hulk Hogan's giant back, he propelled WWF to unheard-of heights.

Hogan, a flag-waving tank who told kids (his "Hulkamaniacs") to take their vitamins and say their prayers, was a long way off the territories' blood and guts. Wrestling remained serious there, but in WWE it became embarrassing and cartoonish, with personas including garbage men, dentists, hockey players, prisoners, and clowns.

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With WWE  Network subscriber numbers in the US well below anticipated, and with pay-per-view buy-rates inevitably down, all WWE has achieved—along with losing McMahon a third of his fortune—is allowing their hardcore fan-base, who were happy to buy high-priced pay-per-views in the first place, access to them at a lower price.

This is indicative of WWE since they bought WCW, of not just the slide back toward the infantilism of the 90s, but of the mismanagement and bureaucracy now rife in its own ranks. Though McMahon still runs things, he's joined at the helm by his son-in-law, Triple H, a wrestler with the reputation of not letting others beat him.

The product has become stale—it lacks diversity and is again disconnected from the world around it, with wrestlers being taught to look the same, work the same, and act the same in their training camps (a far cry from the territories), and then by a team of writers.

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When my parents told me that wrestling was fake, it phased me for a second, but ultimately the dynamic of good vs. bad pulled me back in. This dynamic is everywhere: the Bible, Shakespeare, Greek myths... We identify with it so strongly because it simplifies life into the perfect equation of good equals us and bad equals our pain—and when good inevitably wins, we feel like we've beaten our pain, even if only fleetingly.

As fans get older and become more knowledgeable, this dynamic remains: there's always some wrestler who we feel is deserving of more—the hardest worker, the nicest guy—who we identify with in the hope that, one day, he'll get what he deserves.

Wrestling allows us to hope, to escape. And if it does die, we can replace it. But I still can't help being sad at the prospect of something that captured so many minds staying down for the 1, 2, 3.

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Top 15 Ways WWE Has Changed In The Last Decade

(Matthew Byrd  2016)

WWE’s promo team may never shy away from reminding fans that the company has no offseason (they’re also particularly fond of reminding you that WWE is, in fact, not ballet), but you really do have to respect that the world’s largest wrestling company is indeed a 24/7, 365 brand of entertainment. Hardly a day goes by where they are not putting on one kind of show or another.

Among the many, many demands that come with putting out that much entertainment, the biggest among them may just be the need to stay fresh in an ever-changing world. If you think it’s tough for a wrestler to go out there nearly every day of the year and have a match, just imagine what a burden it is for the WWE creative team to somehow come up with new material when it’s all seemingly been done before.

But when you’re talking about comparing where WWE is now to where it was 10 years ago, you might as well be talking about different shows. WWE has changed so much in the last decade that it’s almost not even fair to compare the two eras. Then again, since it is fun to look at how different things really are, here are the 15 biggest differences between then and now.

full article>> 

http://www.thesportster.com/wrestling/top-15-ways-wwe-has-changed-so-much-the-last-decade/

15. WOMEN’S WRESTLING INVOLVES A LOT MORE CLOTHING

While WWE didn’t sexualize their women’s wrestling matches 10 years ago quite as much as they did during the Attitude Era (let’s not forget that we were treated to quite a few “full flashes” back then), you could still expect the majority of women’s matches to feature someone losing their clothes. That’s not the case anymore. Not only has WWE moved away from mostly hiring women with “Wet T-Shirt Contest Champion” on their resumes, they’ve actually started to let their female performers wrestle long matches. No doubt some miss their weekly lingerie match fix, but this one is probably a change for the best.

9. THERE ARE MORE PART TIME STARS

It was never unusual for WWE to bring in a big name for a one-off appearance or short comeback tour, but you never really saw those part time guys actually play a major role in the championship picture. That certainly is not the case anymore as guys like Brock Lesnar and The Rock have had championship runs despite not being full-time members of WWE, and stars like The Undertaker continue to be main draws despite only working a few times a year at most.

7. THERE ARE LESS RIDICULOUS SEGMENTS
Modern WWE television may not be perfect – it never is – but if there is one thing you can take comfort in, it’s that there is a far less chance of tuning into an episode of Raw one week and seeing a storyline involving one wrestler sleeping with the elderly in order to convince another to have a one night stand. WWE was still trying to ween themselves of the Attitude Era 10 years ago, and the result of their efforts was a host of awkward storylines modified for a more PG era. You still see this occasionally, but thankfully not near as much.

6. GIMMICKS ARE MORE DOWN TO EARTH

Similar to how WWE used to have a lot more love for completely absurd storylines, they also used to be a lot fonder of assigning performers with the most outlandish gimmick they could possibly come up with. Whether it was Chavo Guerrero parading around as a stereotypical white man by the name of Kerwin White or the uncomfortably homophobic tag-team of Billy and Chuck, WWE used to be a wasteland of truly awful character ideas. Again this isn’t completely gone, but gimmicks are far more toned down these days, and mostly allow wrestlers to just be a version of themselves.

5. BLOOD IS ALMOST COMPLETELY GONE

The PG era of WWE has been in effect for some time, but 10 years ago WWE was willing to do things with a more PG product that you are less likely to see now. Along with the use of the aforementioned bra and panties matches, the most notable new taboo in WWE is blood. Maybe a couple of times a year you will see someone bleed during a match – usually Brock Lesnar – but blood is not nearly as prevalent as it once was when you could expect to see a little bleeding on a monthly basis, at least.

4. WWE PUSHES DIFFERENT KINDS OF WRESTLERS

As a rule, if you didn’t look like you could win a bodybuilding competition there was very little chance of you becoming a WWE champion 10 years ago. It was an era where you could accurately order the card standings simply by arranging the performer’s max bench press. While WWE will likely always have a fondness for the biggest kid on the block, it’s hard to deny that this current era allows for a greater variety of stars than ever before. Guys like Seth Rollins and Daniel Bryan would have never gotten a title shot 10 years ago, and are now some of the most beloved champions in recent memory.

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(Why WWE & Wrestling Isn’t What It Used To Be)

WWE is no longer a professional wrestling company with a professional wrestling ring. It is an entertainment brand using a wrestling ring as a stage. But so much more than wrestling happens there. Comedy skits, monologues, arguments, even dance contests can occur at any moment.

Wrestling article notes…

HOW PRO WRESTLING REFLECTS AND DEFINES AMERICAN CULTURE

by Randy Shaw on March 22, 2007

(From a review of 'Wrestling Babylon: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death and Scandal' by IrvMuchnick)

In my day, there would be a Texas Death Match, or a cage match, maybe once a year. McMahon puts on such matches almost weekly, catering to the audience’s continual need to keep their adrenalin flowing. McMahon understands that people now have much shorter attention spans, and puts enough action and plots in each match to ensure that viewers do not switch channel, and attendees keep buying tickets.
Muchnick ends the book on a sad note, listing the many wrestlers whose reliance on pain-numbing drugs brought them early deaths. Many wrestlers are mere cannon fodder for the McMahon empire, and while pro wrestling has always had its share of victims, the age of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs has caused too many wrestlers to jeopardize their lives.

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Pro Wrestling and The End of History
The traditional heroes and villains of the ring have disappeared -- replaced by hulks who construct postmodern identities

(Paul A.Cantor. 1999)

When the great Parisian Hegelian Alexandre Kojeve searched for an image of the end of history, he finally hit upon the Japanese tea ceremony. Coming from Brooklyn, I am a bit less sophisticated and turn to American professional wrestling instead. For wrestling has been as much a victim of the end of the Cold War as the military-industrial complex. It is not just that the demise of the Soviet Union deprived wrestling of one set of particularly despicable villains. The end of the Cold War signaled the end of an era of nationalism that had dominated the American psyche for most of this century. Like much else in the United States, including the power and prestige of the federal government itself, wrestling had fed off this nationalism. It drew upon ethnic hostilities to fuel the frenzy of its crowds and give a larger meaning to the confrontations it staged.

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The state of professional wrestling today thus provides clues as to what living at the end of history means. It suggests how a large segment of American society is trying to cope with the emotional letdown that followed upon the triumph of capitalism and liberal democracy. If the vast wrestling audience (some 35 million people tune in to cable programs each week) is a barometer of American culture, then the nation is in trouble.

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The erosion of national identity in wrestling reflects broader trends in American society. If one wants to see moral relativism and even nihilism at work in American culture, one need only tune in to the broadcasts of either of the two main wrestling organizations, Vince McMahon's Worldwide Wrestling Federation and Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling. (It is no accident that one of the pillars of professional wrestling is Turner's cable TV empire, which also brings us CNN, the anti-nation-state, global news channel.) Both the WWF and the WCW offer the spectacle of an America that has lost its sense of national purpose and turned inward, becoming wrapped up in manufactured psychological crises and toying with the possibility of substituting class warfare for international conflict. And yet we should remain open to the possibility that contemporary wrestling may have some positive aspects; for one thing, the decline of the old nationalism may be linked to a new kind of creative freedom.

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The history of pro wrestling as we know it begins after World War II and is roughly contemporary -- not coincidentally -- with the rise of television. Wrestling provided relatively cheap and reliable programming and soon became a staple for fledgling television stations. By the 1950s -- and well into the '60s and '70s -- wrestling was filling the airwaves with ethnic stereotypes, playing off national hostilities that had been fired up by World War II and restoked during the Korean conflict. Wrestling villains -- always the key to whatever drama the bouts have -- were often defined by their national origin, which branded them as enemies of the American way of life.

Many of the villains were at first either German or Japanese, but as memories of World War II faded, pro wrestling turned increasingly to Cold War themes. I wish I had a ruble for every wrestling villain who was advertised as the "Russian Bear," but the greatest of all who bore that nickname was Ivan Koloff. Looking for all the world like Lenin pumped up on steroids, he eventually spawned a whole dynasty of villainous wrestling Koloffs. The fact that the most successful of them was named Nikita shows that it was actually Khrushchev and not Lenin or Stalin who provided the model for the Russian wrestling villain. Time and again the Russian wrestler's pre-fight interview was a variation on "Ve vill bury you." Nikolai Volkoff used to infuriate American opponents and fans alike by waving a Soviet flag in the center of the ring and insisting on his right to sing the Soviet national anthem before his bout began.
To supplement its Russian villains, wrestling turned to the Arab Middle East, where a long tradition of ethnic stereotyping was readily available. During the years of tension between the United States and Iran, wrestling hit paydirt with a villain known as the Iron Sheik, who made no secret of his admiration for and close personal ties to the Ayatollah Khomeini. His pitched battles with the All-American GI, Sgt. Slaughter, became the stuff of wrestling legend. Not to be left behind by the march of history, during the Gulf War the Iron Sheik reinvented himself as Colonel Mustafa, and suddenly Americans had an Iraqi wrestler to hate.

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By the early '90s, the WWF even seemed to be testing whether it could capitalize on the new era of political correctness. With Russia and virtually every other country ruled out as a source of villains, Vince McMahon and his brain trust searched the globe to see if any ethnic group remained an acceptable object of hatred. The result was a new villain named Colonel DeBeers -- a white, South African wrestler with an attitude, who spoke in favor of apartheid during interviews.

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But can we confidently say that wrestling simply mirrors broader movements in our culture and politics? It is difficult to look at developments in politics and culture today and not see them as in turn mirroring developments in wrestling. Was Hulk Hogan, who dominated the 1980s, perhaps our first taste of Bill Clinton? The Hulkster -- who could never talk about anything but himself, his own career, and his standing with his Hulkamaniac fans -- was the model of a roguish, narcissistic, utterly unprincipled performer. While changing his stance from moment to moment, he was never held accountable by his adoring public, to the point where he seems to have gotten away with anything. 

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With its underpinnings in traditional notions of morality, heroism, and patriotism eroded, wrestling has turned to new sources to hold the interest of its fans. Generally these sources have been found in the dramas of private life. Televised wrestling has always had much in common with soap operas. Fans identify heroes and villains and get wrapped up in ongoing struggles between them and especially the working out of longstanding and complex feuds. Throughout its history, pro wrestling has occasionally sought to involve fans in the private lives of its warriors. Once in a while a wrestler has gotten married in the ring to his female manager or valet. (More recently -- reflecting a loosening of morality -- female companions of wrestlers have been at stake in matches, with the winner claiming the right to take possession of his opponent's woman.) Personal grudges have always been central to wrestling, but over the last decade they have gotten ever more personal, often involving family members who somehow get drawn into conflict inside or outside the ring.

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Wrestlers used to get angry with each other because one represented the Soviet Union and the other the United States, and the two ways of life were antithetical. Now when wrestlers scream at each other, dark domestic secrets are more likely to surface -- sordid tales of adultery, sexual intrigue, and child abuse.
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Here a wrestler with the evocative name of Kane is emblematic. Kane was introduced in the WWF as the counterpart of a well-established villain called the Undertaker, who often punishes his defeated opponents by stuffing them into coffins (a nasty case of adding interment to injury). Kane's aptly named manager, Paul Bearer, soon revealed that Kane is in fact the Undertaker's younger brother. Kane wears a mask to hide the frightening facial burns he suffered as a child in a fire set by his older brother, which killed their parents. Thus the stage is set for a series of epic battles between Kane and the Undertaker, as the younger brother seeks revenge against the older. Paul Bearer then reveals that Kane and the Undertaker are actually only half-brothers, and that he himself fathered the younger boy, though he neglected him for years and is only now acknowledging paternity. With its Kane story-line, the WWF crafted a myth for the '90s. All the elements are there: sibling rivalry, disputed parentage, child neglect and abuse, domestic violence, family revenge.

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No one ever felt a need to explain the evil of Russian wrestlers -- they were presented as villainous by nature. But unlike his biblical counterpart, Kane is supplied with motivation for his evil, and therefore inevitably becomes a more sympathetic figure. After all, his problems started when he was just a little kid. Kane is in fact a huge man named Glen Jacobs: six-feet seven-inches tall and weighing 345 pounds. Yet when he climbs into the ring, he stands as the poster boy for the '90s -- the victimized wrongdoer, the malefactor who would not be evil if only someone had loved him as a child.These storylines have become increasingly bizarre, with McMahon's son Shane first seeming to betray him and then revealed to have been secretly acting on his behalf all along, and his daughter Stephanie set up for a kind of wrestling dynastic marriage and then kidnapped under weird circumstances. Who would have thought a century ago when wrestling began with a simple full nelson and a step-over toehold that it would eventually culminate in a proxy fight?

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Every time I think wrestling has reached rock bottom, either the WWF or the WCW finds its way to a new moral depth. A recent plot line culminated in Austin holding a gun to McMahon's head in the center of the ring, as the nattily attired owner/operator of the WWF appeared to wet himself in terror. When one looks at wrestling's "progress" from the 1950s to the 1990s, one really has to be concerned about America's future. If wrestling tells us anything about our country -- and its widespread and sustained popularity suggests that it does -- for the past three decades we have been watching a steady erosion of the country's moral fiber, and America's growing incapacity to offer functional models of heroism.

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On the other hand, perhaps we should cease being moralistic for a moment, recognize that wrestling is only entertainment, and try to look beyond its admittedly grotesque antics. Though it is tempting to become nostalgic for the good old days of American patriotism in wrestling, let's face it: The traditional national stereotypes did become tired, overused, and predictable.

Luchador mask/art research (cont)

Excerpt from 

The World of Lucha Libre: 

Secrets, Revelations, and Mexican National Identity

By Heather Levi

Also had a search for some examples of how luchadors have been illustrated.There's no shortage of it, so i just need to try and avoid merely replicating it all, and somehow put my own stamp on the popular theme.

Simple, papercut-style vector graphics. 

Screen-print 'style' poster art

Mid-90's cartoon series 'Mucha Lucha'. 

I remember watching it at the time and thinking, I'm probably a bit too old to be watching his (and i was), but all the different masked characters were fun, and is what initially attracted me to watching WWF wrestling in the first place.

Beer Labels inspired by Gods and Creatures from Mexican culture

Peer session/ Proposal refining & feedback

Going into this peer session and trying to explain out loud what my dissertation is about has caused me to think that it's maybe not quite as focused as it should be, and that I'm not entirely sure what it is about hypermasculinity/pro wrestling/gender roles/changing perceptions of masculinity that I'm actually going to be writing on. The practical response side of things has also been pretty vague but has recently been following my research into Mexican wrestling and it's origins towards the theme of Lucha Libre masks. What i do wth that theme is still up in the air, but the peer feedback has helped me to at least realise that i was proposing a bit too much.

Initial proposal with peer notes

Looking back at i can see they might have a point, especially if i was looking into producing work that involved laser cutting wood. But i was just trying to branch out a bit, and try something i wasn't even aware about - rather than just proposing to make some poster prints,which i always seem to be proposing (not that posters aren't acceptable).

There's also a part of me that wants to hold back on the woodcut investigation and use it as one of my Extended Practice projects after Xmas, in the 2nd/3rd semester, when I'd possibly have more time to experiment and get it wrong before submitting.The possible subject matter for that (80's pop culture characters) would possibly also give me more material to play with than trying to work with just Luchador/Aztek god mask designs. 

Aztek resaerch for practical response

Delving deeper into the origins of Lucha Libre, and specifically where the wrestlers got the inspiration for their masks and costumes from has lead me to investigate into Aztek Mythology,Gods, Creatures, supernatural beings and traditional tribal masks - which is what the Luchadors would often base their ring attire around.Branching away from the research for my dissertation, this has given me some initial ideas on producing the practical response.

(info from http://www.dorsetgrove.co.uk/AztecGodsGoddesses.htm )

The Aztec Gods and Goddesses

It is estimated that the Aztecs had over 1,700 gods and goddesses, many of whom required human sacrifices.

Based on the number of sacred temples located, scientists have estimated approximately a quarter million humans were sacrificed every year, roughly equivalent to 1% of the population.

Here is a partial list of the Aztec gods and goddesses.

CENTEOTL, the corn god. He was a son of Tlazolteotl and the husband of Xochiquetzal. 

CHALCHIUHTLICUE: The goddess of running Water. She was the sister of Tlaloc. 

CHANTICO: the goddess of Hearth Fires and Volcanoes. 

CHICOMECOATL: the goddess of Corn and Fertility. 

CIHUACAOTYL: a goddess whose roaring signaled War. 

COATLICUE - She of the Serpent Skirt. 

EHECATL, the god of wind. 

HUEHUETEOTL, "the old, old deity," was one of the names of the cult of fire, among the oldest in Mesoamerica. The maintenance of fires in the temples was a principal priestly duty, and the renewal of fire was identified with the renewal of time itself. 

HUITZILOPOCHTLI, below (the war/sun god and special guardian of Tenochtitlan) the deified ancestral warrior-hero, was the Mexica-Aztec patron par excellence. 

ITZPZPALOTL: a goddess of Agriculture. 

IXTLILTON: the god of Healing, Feasting, and Games. 

MACUILXOCHITL: the god of Music and Dance. 

METZTLI: the Moon god. 

MICTLAN: the underworld and home of all the dead except warriors and women who died in labor. 

MICTLANTECIHUATL: the lady and goddess of Mictlan and the Realm of the Dead. 

MICTLANTECUHTLE, god of the dead. 

OMETECUHLTI and his wife OMECIHUATL created all life in the world the god of Duality. 

PATECATLl: the god of Medicine. 

PAYNAL: the messenger to Huitzilopochtli.

QUETZALCOATL,below (the god of civilization and learning) "quetzal (feather) serpent," had dozens of associations. 

TEOYAOMQUI: the god of Dead Warriors. 

TEZCATLIPOCA below, (god of Night and Sorcery) "Smoking Mirror" (obsidian), characterized as the most powerful, supreme deity, was associated with the notion of destiny. His cult was particularly identified with royalty, for Tezcatlipoca was the object of the lengthy and reverent prayers in rites of kingship. 

TLALOC, (below) the rain deity, belonged to another most memorable and universal cult of ancient Mexico. 

TLALOCAN: Tlalocan was the earthly paradise of Tlaloc, located in the East, the place of Light and Life. It was where the souls of those killed by lightning, dropsy, skin diseases, and those sacrificed to Tlaloc went. 

TLAZOLTEOTL: the goddess of Licentiousness. 

TONACATECUHTLI: the creator and provider of Food. 

TONATIUH (below), the sun  was perceived as a primary source of life whose special devotees were the warriors. The warriors were charged with the mission to provide the sun with sacrificial victims. A special altar to the sun was used for sacrifices in coronation rites, a fact that signifies the importance of the deity. The east-west path of the sun determined the 

principal ritual axis in the design of Aztec cities. 

TONANTZIN, "honoured grandmother," was among the many names of the female earth-deity. 

XILONEN, "young maize ear," and Chicomecoatl, "seven serpent," were principal deities of maize representing the chief staple of Mesoamerican peoples. 

XIPE TOTEC, the god of springtime and regrowth.

XIUHTECUHTLE the fire god. 

XOCHIPILLI: the god of Feasting and young Maize

YACATECUHTLI: the god of Merchant Adventurers.


I found more detailed descriptionshere>>
http://archaeology.about.com/od/aztecarchaeology/tp/Aztec-Gods.htm


I had no idea they had sooo many gods, all with near-unpronounceable names. I wanted to try and get my head around some of them, and to learn a bit more about Aztek mythology/ creation in general. I stumbled upon this animated film from back in the day. It's all pretty bloody weird, in fact I'm not sure if what I just watched was actually real, or just a strange hallucination?I'm still baffled, but it was interesting to see the traditional 16thCentury native-style paintings used to illustrate the story, and got me thinking about the typical color palettes and linework i could incorporate into my practical response.I'll give it another couple of watches too let it sink in.

Legend of the Five Suns

MYTHICAL CREATURES

The Ahuizotl - "spiny aquatic thing" or ‘Thorny One of the Water...’

The doom of many a fisherman, this creature was thought to murder those who ventured too far into the water’s depths. This animal has been the centre of much speculation. Was the Ahuízotl real or mythical or does it have relatives that still survive today?

It has short fur, small, pointy ears, a smooth body and black tail, at the end of which sprouts a hand much like a person’s. This animal inhabits the depths of watery springs and if anyone reaches the edge of its domain, he is dragged by the tail’s hand and taken down to its depths... (Book XI, Florentine Codex.)

"very like the teui, the small teui dog; small and smooth, shiny. It has small, pointed ears, just like a small dog. It is black, like rubber; smooth, slippery, very smooth, long-tailed. And its tail is provided with a hand at the end; just like a human hand is the point of its tail. . [When the body is retrieved] the one it has drowned no longer has his eyes, his teeth, and his nails; it has taken them all from him. But his body is completely unblemished, his skin uninjured."

Chanekeh, are legendary creatures in Mexican folklore. They are conceived of as small, sprite-like beings, elemental forces and guardians of nature.

By tradition, these beings would attack intruders, frightening them so that their soul would abandon their body, which the chaneques enclosed in the depth of the land. If the victim did not recover their soul through a specific ritual, he or she would become ill and die soon after.

In some contemporary legends, chaneques are described as children with the face of old men or women.

In Catholic beliefs, the chaneque are the souls of the children who died without Christian baptism, and may be from precolonial times, they are a sort of violent child demon who prey on people who wander in the forest or jungles of Mexico, they confuse people to make them lost and prey on them at night, eating them, to get rid of them you have to turn your shirt inside out or yell Juan 3 times to break their spell 

Cipactli - 'Crocodile' or 'Caiman', was a primeval sea monster, part crocodilian, part fish and part toad or frog, with indefinite gender. Always hungry, every joint on its body was adorned with an extra mouth. The deity Tezcatlipoca sacrificed a foot when he used it as bait to draw the monster nearer. He and Quetzalcoatl created the earth from its body.