Wrestling Literacy. The Diegetic World of World Wrestling Entertainment (PDF)

Examination Thesis from the year 2009 in the subject American Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,0, TU Dortmund, language: English, abstract: This book gives an up-to-date insight into the world of professional wrestling, its history, its mechanisms, and its cultural importance both globally and nationally in the US. The author depicts the diegetic world of the WWE as a genre of its own, a genre that requires expertise from the viewer in order to be interpreted accurately. Accordingly, this paper analyses the way the WWE makes use of semiotic tools and narrative elements. Moreover key issues concerning gender, sexuality, authenticity, politics, ideology, and the fans' role and perspective are addressed. There is also a special focus on how the WWE has been playfully dealing with reality / real events within its fictional, diegetic world since the legendary Montral Screwjob from 1997 - the latter being an aspect which sets professional wrestling, which is widely regarded as part of postmodern "trash culture", apart from other, similar sorts of entertainment. All in all, "Wrestling Literacy" is a wonderful guide for anyone who happens to switch to one of WWE's weekly TV shows (such as Raw, Smackdown, or NXT) without having the slightest idea of what he sees. "Wrestling Literacy" is also a good read for all academics of culture and media studies in general. But "Wrestling Literacy" is a must-read for all wrestling fans, especially those with some degree of academic interest in the subject matter.