When I was eleven years old and I heard the words "Are you ready?" I couldn't help but get excited. I knew one thing and one thing only Degeneration X (a team in the WWE) was going to go to the ring and kick ass. Did I think it was real? No I didn't. Hence the word entertainment. I knew there was no possible way a guy could have a sledge hammer hit him in the face and the next week he be perfectly fine to wrestle again. However, when I was little I thought it was awesome that you could run someone over with a car or sneak attack someone and take there title away from them and not have to worry about getting into any major trouble. As my grandpa would say "It was a soap opera for guys."
First hearing that statement I didn't understand it. But, thinking about it after reading this article it makes sense. Any person I know that watches soap opera's, like All my Children, are women. My mom can't get enough of it. And when you watch WWE it is all about masculinity. Girls dancing almost completely naked, constant violence, and the competition to all ways be the best. It may not intend too, but has away of teaching kids into what a real man should grow to be. I'm not saying we should all be able to bench 300 hundred pounds and run around in tights and try to become the next champion. It just that the WWE puts a stereotype of what a man should be like. Here are some links that show what they think is male humor and how you should treat someone if they mess with you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHhNbxTrBck and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEHUmALGha0&feature=related
Going back to that eleven year old me, I thought it would be a great job to become a wrestler. So much so that me, my brothers, and lots of kids from my school would go to the park or to a friends trampoline or even recess at school and wrestle. There is a part in the article that mentions the six important messages being that real men are aggressive and violent, men settle things physically, a man confronts his adversaries and problems, real men take responsibility for their actions, men are not whiners, and finally they are winners (Soulliere, 2006). Being little I would agree with that this makes you a man. Of course, I didn't know better. Yes, sometimes there is a time where standing up and fighting should be the right thing to do. But, really wouldn't the bigger man be the one who walks away from the fight. Just because someone accidently runs into you doesn't mean you should have to challenge them to a steel cage match.
2 comments:
Did you watch the WWE with your grandpa? Wow! I cannot imagine doing that with mine. It seems like you have made some great observations about what you learned from watching WWE. Did your parents approve of you watching it at 11 years old? Apparently you were not alone!
Nicl,
its funny to read your imagination of an eleven year old boy. I do not have a brother and my father wasn't really into the whole WWE phase in the 90's however one of my good freinds growing up, older brother was always teasing us and beating up on us. I can remember the line as well. I also remember the female who was quite possinly the only acceptable female to act as she did. Its funny how in different times different sports influence children.
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