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THE EFFECTS OF WRESTLING ON SOCIETY |
Modern day pro-wrestling is a very popular staple in society. While it emerged from both entertainment and the drive to show brute strength, it has changed in many ways to integrate more into society as we know today. Though at the same time, they have added an almost animated side to it that helps many to see how unrealistic it is, but with the action that still keeps their attention.
Technology has revolutionized the reach this entertainment has to the point where it’s global. Where it used to be local auditoriums, and slightly later television with limited advertising proceeds, has been replaced with pay-per-view at a level where it can reach nearly any home in the world. It’s grown up.
Modern day pro-wrestling is showbiz plain and simple. While it has sporting tendencies, it’s a major production of many scenes and actors that really know what they are doing. With that comes a lot of abusive acts, strong words, and other violent activities, combined with an element of fantasy that seems to make it clear to most that it’s showbiz. If they really did this sort in public though, prisons would get filled. However, some young watchers do find direction from it in life.
The wrestlers and the rest of the personnel around them practice their roles better with each event. And their own custom moves and techniques sometimes. It’s the result of a well concerted production along with excellent promotion, and a large fan base looking for this.
One area that many simply blame on the entertainment industry though, needs to be addressed more thoroughly. There isn’t enough parental guidance along the way, and some children do take up acting it out in real life. They watch, listen, and act it out on their own in real life. While the entertainment industry does provide the means, it can be a tool for parents to also explain the difference between wrestling and reality, especially with the very unreal backdrop behind modern day pro-wrestling. It’s just as much a responsibility for parents to instill good values in their children.
One such case was when a 12 year old boy in Florida copied a wrestling move and killed a 6 year old girl. There was a lot that could have been done to prevent that incident; however it needed to be in the home as much as it was on TV. Adolescents in higher population areas are more prone to this, as they have more violence in society every day. Sad to say, enough isn’t done to flush it out at that level, and rather just blame one element that probably wasn’t as much influence.
Wrestling has come up to be a household tradition. People watch it religiously just like Monday night football. Many others blame it alone for society’s problems, which while it might hold a little weight, so do many other elements. And if all of them aren’t addressed, nothing is accomplished anyways. The news has a lot of the same elements covered with even more reality.
At the same time, society has become much more detached from itself than ever. Many are left in corners watching themselves. You have big corporations watching their bottom line, parents caught up as much in that as they are in raising their families, and children as much watched by the TV set as they are by reality, while the reality on the street is often hardcore and violent, with even the officials participating. It’s easy to blame one thing.
Wrestling these days is in a context that isn’t that close to the reality. If used right it can be used to show the difference between what is real, and what is simply comparable to an action movie (one in a very wacky setting at that).
Not to say that the wrestling industry can’t help too. Actually it seems they may be, as they get wackier by the year, though it remains entertaining. They can go further too.
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