Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 09:52:28 -0700 From: Steven Barr <lapuppet-AT-gmail.com> To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] theatre of Wrestling I can't let this thread go on too long without adding my 5-cents. Disclaimer-- I was a collegiate wrestler and have been doing cultural art for almost 30 years.I know what Andrew is impressed by with the WWA and such sports-- the spectacle and the nature of escapist theatre, the shear effort to put on a good show-- to allow for a release, a catharsis.... by any means necessary. But the question must be raised "to whom are you communicating and what is the message". I always liked Puppetry Art because it usually stayed on the fence between LOW-BROW and HIGH-BROW art (de l'art (pronounced lard) ou du cochon (pig)? is a popular French question in this regard. It could travel through a grotesque Punch and Judy moment and finish with an exquisite Bruce Schwartz Doll puppet piece that defines beauty and transcendence as nothing before. But this HYPED FALSE PLAY THEATRE (WWA type Wrestling) is playing on some dangerous turf. It presents itself as Real yet it is (75%?) staged or predetermined-- more so even than what they call Reality shows. So a big part of it is that it is a hoax clothed in sport. Part of its allure is the shear conscious DENIAL of this fact by its spectators. Whipping people into a frenzie with self-destructive acts is not much of a noble endeavor, no matter how much effort you put into it. Kind of like admiring the Jihadists because of their shear committment to their cause in spite of the bad side effects. The germans used this kind of Theatre in their presentations of their main man from about 1935 until his disappearance in 1945. Huge audiences swooned for him. As they have been doing, more recently, in France for Jean Marie LePen, and presently, in Isreal for A. Lieberman. It is a kind of sensationalist emotional theatre-- these politically staged events-- that bypassed the questions, -- What is the message and to whom are we doing this for-? Doesn't the mention of the WWA in the same sentence as Puppetry Arts disturb any one but me? I did like Celebrity Death Match, which I would think had much more in common with anything PUPPETIC than the WWA. -Steven Ritz-Barr Classics in Miniature, inc, www.classicsinminiature.com LA puppet, a non-profit, www.lapuppet.com _______________________________________________ List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit Archives: http://www.driftline.org
Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005