September 21, 1999
Pro-Wrestling?
Well, I thought I really would like to have one of my friends do a guest entry for my journal. After all, Scott's wife has written some neat entries for his journal, and a few other journalers I know had some neat results, so why not me?
I learned to be careful what you wish for. *grin* Today's entry comes from the often discussed Brand, who demonstrates what happens when genius, a liberal arts education, and a truly warped mind combine. By the way, he also wrote the poem over on the sidebar. And forced me to put it up here. ;)
Well, Lisa asked me some time ago if I would do a little guest spot for her. I agreed, stupid fool that I am. She was delighted, silly fool that she is.
So as I lay unable to sleep I decided that I might as well get it over with, and write this damn thing. I cast the net of my mind far and wide for a topic, a topic that would delight, entertain, and inform. I came up with the perfect solution, if I do say so myself. Pro Wrestling.
I don't know how many of you have noticed Lisa's infatuation with the meandering poetics of that hack T.S. Eliot, but I found it unavoidable. Eliot, you see, is popular for one primary reason -- he is the leading angst magician and cultural elitist in the world. (Yes, I know he's dead. It just shows the extent of his angsting that he is still top dog, even in the grave). Eliot liked to go on and on at great length about how none of us had any common ritual or mythology anymore, about how the cohesion of society was breaking down into a unreal haze of alienation, isolation, and frustration. Well, not to deny him his ations, but it just doesn't work that way. Society is as stable as it's ever been, and it's all thanks to Pro Wrestling.
I hear you scoff. Well scoff away, for I shall now prove my point. Pro Wrestling, you see, is the mythic ritual of the modern age. It succeeds in giving us a common point whereby we can all feel united in group sympathies, one with each other and with the Olympians who perform upon the canvas stage. Have you ever been to a live Pro Wrestling show? Have you heard the thunder of the crowd, all calling out the ritual phrases with one voice? For a moment in time all the separation, all the walls built up by the individualization of the human as subject mentality, are torn down in the raucous calling of human chaos.
When you sit with 35,000 other human beings, none of whom you've ever seen before or will likely see again, and as one voice call out the invocation for the God of War (GOLD-berg, GOLD-berg), you know that you are not so different, so separate after all. When you all scream, "Rudy Poo Candy Ass" with The Rock, you all become one in the spirit of the fray. This, my friends, is connection. This is what it means to have the mythic connection of the elder days.
Now I know at this point you will be thinking, "You little twit, the myths of the old times were rich cultural tapestries, and Pro Wrestling is just shoddy pop culture junk." Well, the fact that you say that just shows your own culture biases. First off, the myths of ancient Greece, when you look at them, are mostly shockingly violent, egotistical, and borderline racist. What they did was not give people a deep understanding of how Athena was cooler than Aphrodite, what they did was make people feel a part of the same world, the same body politic. In ancient Greece religion was not considered a personal thing, it didn't matter if you believed or not. Religion had one purpose, to bind the people together as one. Wrestling does the same. And as for it being pop culture trash - well of course it is. It has to be able to reach everyone, if it is going to help bring everyone together. Only the elitist drive of pseudo intellectual America bourgeois society makes us look down our noses at things everyone can enjoy. Let's face it, we aren't all geniuses, and there is no way we are going to connect to each other through "Catcher in the Rye."
So, once we get over our notions of the innately epic nature of old mythic structures, and get the ivory tower out our bums, we can start looking at Pro Wrestling for what it truly is -- the bloody, chaotic salvation of our civilization.
So, to all of you lost in existential quandaries, brooding on the hopelessness of modern society and the inevitable collapse of all things, I have one thing to say, one saving Mantra that will show you the way.
GOLD-berg, GOLD-berg, GOLD-berg, GOLD-berg, GOLD-berg, GOLD-berg, GOLD-berg, GOLD-berg.
Yes, several of my friends are like this. Yes, I'm afraid. Questions, comments, psychological evaluations can all be sent directly to Brand, although feel free to send me a copy too. ;)
Posted by Lisa at September 21, 1999 04:05 PM
