Conclusions...

This essay has explored many different academic theories on wrestling. Barthes saw it as theatre, as entertainment. Ball and Henricks argued that theatre is a reflection and in support of the establishment. It establishment- use of American/foreign to reinforce the status quo. Jenkins was, to an extent, in agreement with them but he felt rather than a reflection of society as a whole, wrestling was an expression of the frustrations, hopes and fears of working class men. Cantor places wrestling within the framework of a postmodern analysis, and argues that wrestlers and the stories they acted out had lost their clear ideas of the objective ‘good and ‘evil’- rather they were uncertain of whether there was such a universal truth. Feigenbaum sees wrestling as consumer driven, a ‘sport’ that challenges the establishment. Was, then, wrestling subversive as Feigenbaum claimed, or supportive of establishment as Henrick and Ball claimed? These arguments are not mutually exclusive. These critics were all examining wrestling during the era in which they were writing. The very fact that there interpretation of what the ‘sport’ meant shows how wrestling did change to reflect emerging social, political and cultural trends. Henricks was published in the 1970s, when wrestling was simpler, more of a straight contest between babyfaces- good- and heels- bad. America had a clear idea of who the enemy was, it was comfortable in its own moral superiority, and this was reflected in the ring .The huge majority of heels were foreign characters, usually ones America had international issues with- they were Russian or from the Middle Eastern. Ball, who largely side with Henricks, published his book in 1990- his analysis includes the 1980s,and it could be argued that he doesn’t fully reflect the complexities of the 1980s- commercialisation and consumerist changes within society that were reflected in WWF/E not examined.. There was a definite shift in the early 1990s which would support Feigenbaum, and post-dated Ball and Henricks work.

All different ideas- Barthes definitely right. Huge and enduring popularity of wrestling testifies to its entertainment value