Comments
by Java Mann...
Attentive
readers may recall that in a prior column (Olive Oil) I mentioned I frequently
watch professional wrestling. I will confess that this is one of my guilty
pleasures. I don’t discuss this publicly as people either love it or hate
it, and those who hate it automatically assume you are brain dead if you
admit to being a fan. There is no gray area.
I know it’s fake. I know
the outcome is predetermined. I can usually predict in the first few minutes
who will win. Admittedly the plots are simple, even juvenile, the action
is often cartoonish and the dialogue makes me cringe. I watch it for one
simple reason: Oiled muscle men in skimpy costumes rolling around on the
floor for my entertainment.
Wrestling is inherently homoerotic.
The fact is Ted Turner and Vince McMahon are making big bucks off pro wrestling,
and I’m sure the gay community is Not their target audience,
but I know neither of them will refuse a buck, be it from a gay or straight
fan. Recently both wrestling organizations have added scantily clad women
to their repertoire, either to attract a bigger straight audience, or to
keep their existing straight audience happy. I don’t care. They get minimal
camera time and keep the ratings high. It’s also amusing to monitor the
progress of their breast augmentation surgery.
When I was younger wrestling
played to smaller venues, and my widowed aunt would take me to the local
live events. I suspect we enjoyed it for the same reasons. She would buy
the tickets, and we were always seated at ringside. If it looks faked on
TV, seeing it live is positively surreal.
I’m actually kind of a curious
about the resurgence in pro wresting’s popularity. Previously it had peaked
in popularity in the 50’s, a simpler time when good guys were always good
guys and bad guys always cheated. This was prior to Vietnam, Watergate
and the sexual revolution. I suspect that a good portion of wrestling fans
of that time were closeted homosexuals, and that wrestling along with physique
mags, were the closest thing to gay erotica available.
There are, ironically, aspects
of contemporary wrestling of which I cannot approve. Sexual innuendo has
become more blatant. The WWF has Val Venus; an alleged former porn star
turned wrestler. I personally feel he has all the sex appeal of a cord
of firewood. His closing move is the "Money Shot". On TV broadcasts he
is never seen before 10 PM. WCW is not much better. Norman Smilely’s
victory dance, "the Big Wiggle", oy… you just have to see it for yourself.
They have also brought back
(female only) mud, Jell-O, and gravy wrestling, and evening gown matches,
which are just an excuse for female wrestlers to tear each other’s clothes
off. They have introduced the "broncobuster", an attack that blatantly
pantomimes oral sex/rape.
I guess, in my way, I’m just
a prude. I like my homoerotica the old fashioned way: implied, not in my
face.
|
