Steel Chair to the Head: The Pleasure and Pain of Professional Wrestling

380 Pages·2005·5.35 MB·English

by  Nicholas Sammond (editor)

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The Pleasure and Pain of
Professional Wrestling
EDITED BY NICHOLAS SAMMOND
DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS
DURHAM AND LONDON 2005
©2005DukeUniversityPress
Allrightsreserved
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Acknowledgments•ix
NICHOLASSAMMONDIntroduction: CATHERINESALMONANDSUSAN
ABriefandUnnecessaryDefenseof CLERC‘‘LadiesLoveWrestling,Too’’:
ProfessionalWrestling•1 FemaleWrestlingFansOnline•167
S
ROLANDBARTHESTheWorldof LAURENCEDEGARISThe‘‘Logic’’of
Wrestling•23 ProfessionalWrestling•192
HENRYJENKINSIII‘‘NeverTrusta LUCIARAHILLYIsrawWar?Profes-
Snake’’:wwfWrestlingasMasculine sionalWrestlingasPopulars/mNar-
Melodrama•33 rative•213
SHARONMAZER‘‘RealWrestling’’/ PHILLIPSERRATONotQuiteHeroes:
‘‘Real’’Life•67 Race,Masculinity,andLatinoProfes-
sionalWrestlers•232
CARLOSMONSIVÁISTheHourof
theMaskasProtagonist:ElSanto DOUGLASBATTEMAANDPHILIP
versustheSkepticsontheSubjectof SEWELLTradinginMasculinity:
Myth•88 Muscles,Money,andMarketDis-
courseinthewwf•260
HEATHERLEVITheMaskofthe
Luchador:Wrestling,Politics,and HENRYJENKINSIIIAfterword,Part
IdentityinMexico•96 I:WrestlingwithTheory,Grappling
withPolitics•295
NICHOLASSAMMONDSquaringthe
FamilyCircle:wwfSmackdownAs- HENRYJENKINSIVAfterword,Part
saultstheSocialBody•132 II:GrowingupandGrowingMore
Risqué•317
Glossary•343
Contributors•345
Index•347
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DougBattemaandPhilipSewell:
TheauthorsthankNicSammond,edi-
torofthisanthology,forhisrigorous HeilandandPeterFalkenbergforkeep-
andinsightfulcritiquesoftheiressay. ingmeonpoint.Allerrorsoffactand
TheauthorsalsothankKimBjarkman analysisareevermoremyown.
forherscholarlyinputandsupportin
formulatingthisproject. LuciaRahilly:ManythankstoChris
Straayer,ChairoftheCinemaStudies
LaurencedeGaris:Iwouldlike Departmentatnyu,andtomycol-
tothankeverybodywhoevertooka leaguesCarlaMarcantonioandArash
bumpforme.Iappreciateitandhope Hodafortheirinvaluableinsightsand
tosomedayreturnthefavor. supportintheearlystagesofformulat-
ingthisessay.
HeatherLevi:HeatherLeviwould
liketothankthefollowingpeople:My NicholasSammond:Theeditor
generousandpatientteacher,Professor wouldliketothankHenryJenkins
LuisJaramillo;VíctorMartínezofDe- III,AnnaMcCarthy,MargaretGarb,
portesMartínez;andAnneRubenstein, TimothyParsons,CynthiaChris,
VereniceNaranjo,andIsabelPinedo KevinDunn,AnnaCreadick,Chandra
fortheirongoingassistanceandsup- Mukerji,andEricSmoodinfortheir
portwiththisproject. invaluablefeedback.Thanksalsoto
KenWissokerandtheeditorialstaffat
SharonMazer:ImustthankJohnny DukeUniversityPressfortheirsupport
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RodzandthewrestlersatGleason’s andencouragement.Specialthanks
Gymfortheirgenerosity;inparticular, toEmmaBianchiandNeonWeissfor
LarryBrisco,withhisacademicalter- theirimmoralsupport.Finally,my
ego,andLaurencedeGaris,whohas thankstoAmyGreenstadt,U.S.A.,who
lookedovermyshoulderthroughout patientlyabidedwhenIchangedthe
thisresearch.ThanksalsotoDonna channeltodoresearch—andreadand
reread—myundyingdevotion.
PhillipSerrato:Mythanksgoto
LauraE.Ramirez-Diaz,Dr.MikeLano,
BrianBukantis,andArenaPublishing.