In the first chapter of his book, Mythologies, famed critic Roland Barthes writes, “the virtue of all-in wrestling is that it is the spectacle of excess…a grandiloquence which must have been that of ancient theatres” (Barthes 15). By connecting the world of professional wrestling to that of the ancient theatre, Barthes clearly recognized the truly intrinsic artistic value within the spectacle of professional wrestling. Barthes penned these words in the 50s, and even though he saw the artistic merits of the performance within the squared circle, many people continued to deride professional wrestling for being lower-class entertainment and for its scripted performances, flamboyant characters, and simulated violence.. However, in contemporary society and its burgeoning digital culture, professional wrestling is beginning to find value as an artistic, athletic performance much akin to ballet. Older figures from the world of wrestling have started to voice their complaints on social media and in various podcasts about the “death of the business,” and the destruction of “Kayfabe”—the diegetic world of wrestling that treats everything as a real athletic contest. During the early years, professional wrestling was split up into territories across America, but today—thanks largely to the rise of the internet—wrestling can be viewed as a global form of entertainment. It is also thanks to the rise of the internet that wrestling is finally being accepted as the theatrical spectacle that it has always been, and now a new opinion is rising that wrestling is itself an art form. Through an analysis of the history of professional wrestling from its origins as a real athletic contest, to the modern examples of choreography and storytelling, it becomes clear that the digital age has influenced wrestling for the better and offered a new method with which to approach the study of professional wrestling.
About the presenterRichard Milligan
Richard Milligan is an adjunct professor at Camden County College. His research interests include Medieval Literature, Adaptation Studies, Digital Studies, Gender Studies, Queer Theory, and Feminist Theory. Richard just completed his master’s thesis, which is titled “We Other Chaucerians: Diverging Perceptions in Chaucerian Adaptation” and focuses on feminist and queer adaptations of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Richard is currently working on a book that analyzes modern adaptations of classic texts.