Wrestling On One Of My Finals

[The Greater Power]

Well, I'm in college and today I had a final in my Popular Culture In The Media class.

Anyways, the first portion of it was a video we all watched in the class, and then there were four questions about it.

Well, the video was from the latest Smackdown (JBL on commentary, Rey vs. Khali). It was weird watching wrestling with people that really have no idea what it's all about, etc.

Anyways, we had to analyze shit like "What does JBL mean by "underdog" and "these people"", "What's the significance of Mysterio (mexican) standing face to face with the giant freak from India", "Talk about how Rey's social class is portrayed here especially with JBL's commentary....etc."

May not be interesting to you, but I thought it was weird/funny....

[The One]

That is kind of interesting, I would also be interested to hear what you said about it.

[TerranRich]

Seems like you have an advantage over the rest of your class. I would've killed for a wrestling reference in any of my college courses.

[SammyG]

That is kind of interesting, I would also be interested to hear what you said about it.

[The Greater Power]

I totally forgot what exactly I put, but I know I put shit on there relating to immigration and how JBL is the rich "cowboy" type of guy which is the direct opposite of Rey's mexican, "small" (in stature and sterotypically, that's how we see minorities). Kinda like a cowboys v. indian type of thing.....Khali was the opponent to exaggerate Rey's size even more and make him more of the underdog like "his people".....etc. Half of what I said probably doesn't make sense, but that's the kinda stuff i put.

Yeah, we also watched a video earlier in the year from what seemed to be a Bret Hart biography show....it had him "turning bad" and become a fan favorite in every country EXCEPT the United States. Then Austin came along and the American fans related to him.......etc...

Yeah, the class was called Pop Culture in the Media. We basically talked about how things in the media is connected, what do they mean in a deeper sense, what things represent. You name it and it was probably covered in the class.

[Rob]

Wrestling and Popular Culture don't mix.

[jindrak]

I think Penn State offers a course in pro-wrestling studies.

[Kane Knight]

Wrestling and Popular Culture don't mix.

more specifically, trying to analise the specifics of the undertones in wrestling just doesn't work. It sounds nice, but the significance is really that Vince likes hosses who sound retarded, and Rey rode the wave of his dead buddy's memory. These two things collided and have no other cultural significance.

[DaVe]

This is true... but regardless, that is pretty awesome.:D

[Boondock Saint]

lol, nice.

Your professor a fan by any chance?

[The Greater Power]

I don't know.

He had the clip (this was the latest edition of SD remember) on a DVD. So I'm not sure if he quick saw it on TV and recorded it and though "Hey, I could use this for class" or whatever........

The top of the sheet it said RAW, so that part was wrong.

[Kane Knight]

Odds are he just taped a bunch of pop culture stuff and chose something specific.

[Londoner]

This is why i like doing Media.Fuck i wish I could do something wrestling related like that.It's funny how they look too deep into it though, i would've love to of seen the reactions from the people who haven't watched it before.They probably take wrestling too seriously now.:D

[The One]

It has been my experience that most professors have little to no interest in the wraping paper of which they are teaching, but rather only that you rise up in pious anger and frustration with the never so subtle context they are trying despratly to spew on to the next generation. I am all but 100% certain that he or she not only doesn't watch wrestling, but finds it to be tastless exploitation of accepted sterotypes, both in terms of race and sex (while sex wasn't the particular topic at this current juncture).

[The Greater Power]

but finds it to be tastless exploitation of accepted sterotypes, both in terms of race and sex (while sex wasn't the particular topic at this current juncture).

My teacher really isn't like that, sometimes I think he is racist and very stereotypical.

Like, one day, our topic was porn, and we were talking about the Money Shot (no, we didn't talk about Val Venis lol) and etc. Then he's like, yadda yadda, nowdays the man pulls out and cums on her face or tits....I dunno, he just doesn't seem the type to be offended easily by anything. BTW, he's british, so he sounded funny saying that.

When he taught at UW Madison he would show full length pornos, straight and gay.

But yeah, when we first started talking about sports (them moved onto WWE), he pointed out how it's always Vince (the "business man") always having issues with a current wrestler (he brought up Stone Cold). He mentioned how wrestling is a "man's soap opera" because we see stuff that we apparently would like to do in real life but can't, in terms of "Austin sticking up to Vince" (like you sticking up to your boss), saying what you want, doing what you want, etc.

I thought it was funny how he basically brought up how the WWE recycles storylines withouth really knowing it.

[Kane Knight]

It has been my experience that most professors have little to no interest in the wraping paper of which they are teaching, but rather only that you rise up in pious anger and frustration with the never so subtle context they are trying despratly to spew on to the next generation. I am all but 100% certain that he or she not only doesn't watch wrestling, but finds it to be tastless exploitation of accepted sterotypes, both in terms of race and sex (while sex wasn't the particular topic at this current juncture).

Race, sex, size, religion (That one's less common, but this isn't the first time we've seen it in action).

I just want to point out that if you're big, it means a lot. It's one of the most prevalent things. Khali? Pushed because he's big. It'd be interesting to actually study wrestling from an actual psychologist's standpoint.

[tucsonspeed6]

Yeah right. Like Smackdown had some deep underlying meaning...


If a professor could seriously convince me that beating down the current champ in a squash match has some deep philosophical meaning that we can all learn from and admire I'd probably be so sick of myself I'd drop out of school and become a crack ho

[Kane Knight]

Yeah right. Like Smackdown had some deep underlying meaning...


If a professor could seriously convince me that beating down the current champ in a squash match has some deep philosophical meaning that we can all learn from and admire I'd probably be so sick of myself I'd drop out of school and become a crack ho

It's unintentional social commentary. While Vince isn't trying for the deeper meaning of life, he really is touching upon some seriously heavy elements involved.

[Rob]

If God himself came into my living room and tried to convince me that anything Vince McMahon does is due to anything other than satisfying his own ego, I'd be like "get the fuck out of here big man".

[tucsonspeed6]

A letter I sent to Vince McMahon:

Dear Vince,

Recently the question of Smackdown's true meaning has come up, and I wanted to get the information straight from the source. Is Smackdown simply a mottled together series of poorly written angles and promos that would make Loren Michaels blush, or is there really a hidden meaning about society, philosophy, and life hidden in each and every JBL promo, Matt Hardy squash match, and Khali mumblefucks? Please try to get a response back as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
TS6

PS. Stevie Richards is awesome. Let him have a championship run for at least 2 solid years.


**** And the response, which has just come in:

Dear TS6,

It has recently come to my attention that Smackdown has not yet been canceled, as was previously thought. We at the WWE appreciate your continued interest in our storylines and characters. Please continue to show your support in the coming years.

Sincerely,
Shelly, Shelly Pink-belly (Personal Assistant to Mr. McMahon)

P.S. Stevie Who?

[Kane Knight]

If God himself came into my living room and tried to convince me that anything Vince McMahon does is due to anything other than satisfying his own ego, I'd be like "get the fuck out of here big man".

That's only because you'd think He was bitter after Vince out-politicked him in the match results. ;)

[Pepsi Man]

That's only because you'd think He was bitter after Vince out-politicked him in the match results. ;)
Vince needed the win more. God's already insanely over. What's one loss gonna hurt?

[JT]

Yea...I remember taking Mass Media and Broadcasting, and wrestling popped in once or twice. Was really awesome. :cool:

[Kane Knight]

Vince needed the win more. God's already insanely over. What's one loss gonna hurt?

Yeah, but God's a little upset. He thought He could actually out-politic the contract. Oh, if only he knew where Vince got his power...

[mrslackalack]

On a Lit final I had there was a MC question on who wrote the Left Behinds series and one of the options was Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler.