Term paper help... kind of :)

[cappyboy]

[QUOTE=Grudge;523984]My more pessamistic side is with wilts on this, I said earlier I thought it would be difficult. The ONLY thing I think wrestling has done that will be considered as any part of american history is the whole steroids thing. But then you have a paper about steroids and not about wrestling. So if you are trying to find a "direct" connection, I honestly don't think your going to find it. But like I said that's my pessamistic side. I am curious to know what this paper is suppose to be on though. Are you suppose to find something that reflects american history? Hey you could compare the lousiana purchase to the WCW :P[/QUOTE] Dude, it's there. Like I said, the first thing that came to mind was the carnival age and how it reflected Gilded Age America. He could play up the role of Bobo Brazil in the civil rights movement. Bobo was the first major wrestling champion of African American descent and he attained this in the heart of the movement. Surely there could be a killer history paper there. Also if memory serves from my reading of wrestling history sites, the transition from carnival style of promotion to the more modern booked style we know today began in the late 30's toward the end of the Great Depression. Play up the ways the events of that age changed the face of how wrestling was promoted. With what he's seen first hand he's going to have a tough time making it relevant. But if he's willing to do some research on times past, this can definitely work. WeeMan, help us out here some. What is the framework of this assignment? What limitations do you have? What type of person is this teacher? I've just had another brainstorm that might score you huge brownie points with the teacher if she's of a feminist bent. The more you can tell us about this assignment the more we can help you.

[WeeMan]

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[cappyboy]

Okay. Even though you didn't mention whether she's into gender politics and that stuff,, since it does sound like you're a college student, I'll give you that latest brainstorm. It does strike me as it would require college level research. The women's wrestling circuit of Billy Wolfe. Wolfe's was the first troupe that promoted strictly female talent. Seem to remember reading it started in 1939. Would be right in the late Depression/ World War 2 era at any rate. Some ways you could tie it in would be to demonstrate how Wolfe's tactics and treatment of his roster represented gender attitudes of the time. (Hint: he was a noted chauvinist). Play up how it foreshadowed modern feminism. You'd have a still famous figure to serve as a thread linking present with that early past in Mae Young. Don't know if the suffrage movement could be tied in as having inspired the girls on the roster. But it wouldn't surprise me. MAn, wish I were a screenwriter, Wolfe's circuit could also be made into A League of Their Own with ring ropes. :)

[WeeMan]

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[scorpion]

One part of wrestling history that I didn't see brought up is the connection between wrestling and the growth of television. Most of the early TV stations aired wrestling and it was usually one of the most watched programs. As far as to how to connect wrestling to American history, I don't remember off the top of my head who said it, but pro wrestling has been called the one "true American artform." What that means is that it is the only art that was created in America and spread elsewhere. (While wrestling did not originate in America, the art form did) Someone can correct me if that's not true, but I believe that to be the case.

[BurningHamster]

Hmm I like this idea, wish I saw it sooner. I'll throw in some random disorganised ideas .... Didn't Abraham Lincoln wrestle in his younger days? Might be worth throwing in a nod to that. Also if you can, work in a quote from Roland Barthes article he wrote about wrestling .... more a sociology type of article based on France so not sure how helpful that will be but teachers seem to love namedropping those old skool bastards. I like how people connected the WWF/E expansion and the death of the territorial system with the corporatization of America. I'd use that. I like what a lot of people have said about connecting wrestling to the spirit of the times .... So many characters are built on what is happening at a particular time ... Evil Russians during the cold war Evil ****s Evil Arabs Evil Hippies mainly in the '70s Evil Gays up until recently ... now occasionally good gays Evil Racist South Africans like Col. DeBeers during the Apartheid era Characters which dealt with racial equality and characters based on popular archetypes from America's past (how many damn wrestling cowboys were there? How about Native Americans? Lumberjacks? Hillbillies? What about teams like The Southern Boys which if I recall would come out waving a confederate flag and were often babyfaces, reflecting a contempory schism between north and south based on events of the past that are in some ways unresolved? Does that even make sense? I don't know. How about the popularity of "outlaw" figures such as Steve Austin, relate his public perception to outlaws of the past such as Jesse James and Billy the Kid? What about ECW during the '90s and the close link they had with counterculture in regards to their presentation, finance, storylines etc. I think if you look at Raven there could be something worth mentioning about his representation of the disaffected youth of the grunge era etc. Sorry for having a rant and repeating a few ideas from other people, just felt like brainstorming and am too tired to organise my thoughts any more clearly.

[WeeMan]

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[scorpion]

I think someone brought it up already, but I'll bring it up again. We always talk about the stereotypical characters in wrestling, but what about wrestling helping to break down racial barriers. Guys like JYD, Iceman King Parson, and Tony Atlas were all huge babyfaces in the south. And, their popularity crossed racial barriers. I think Ernie Ladd was a heel, but he was also the booker at a time when companies didn't have African-American bookers.

[cappyboy]

[QUOTE=scorpion;524280]I think someone brought it up already, but I'll bring it up again. We always talk about the stereotypical characters in wrestling, but what about wrestling helping to break down racial barriers. Guys like JYD, Iceman King Parson, and Tony Atlas were all huge babyfaces in the south. And, their popularity crossed racial barriers. I think Ernie Ladd was a heel, but he was also the booker at a time when companies didn't have African-American bookers.[/QUOTE] You know I hadn't thought about guys like these but you're right. They could good expansions on the point I was making earlier about Bobo Brazil. Especially Ladd considering what you mentioned about him crossing over into the front office.

[WeeMan]

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[Thomnipotent]

Connect professional wrestling to stereotyping (gimmicks such as the ones listed, Evil Arab, Evil Russian, etc) as a form of propaganda and explain instances of it in American history (McCarthy's red scare, war on terror, etc). Pro wrestling plays off of almost bigot-like perceptions of others, and people embrace that kind of stuff sometimes. Even people who normally wouldn't. But the most important thing is that wrestling plays off of [i]current[/i] stereotypes. You have 9/11, then you have the Middle-Eastern terrorist characters. Gulf War, you have Sgt. Slaughter, Iron Sheik, etc. Cold War/Red Scare, you have big evil Russian types. Punk rockers, goths, preppy types, rappers/thugs, almost any gimmick you can think of has social implications... even Asian redneck.

[WeeMan]

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[cappyboy]

[QUOTE=WeeMan;527172]Okay, so I gave my teacher the topic and she was pretty excited about it, I called it: Professional wrestling as a reflection of US Society. As I said, she liked it, but said that I should try to go in another direction, can anyone maybe help me with this? Here's what she's written in an e-mail to me: What do You guys think she means by that? I'd be thankful for more advice, brothers - as I said, I'm great in wrestling, but not that good in the US history part.[/QUOTE] You know the way she framed it for you it does sound kinda of expansive a topic. The ideas I was giving you would have been pretty full papers in themselves. The way the teacher frames it, it sounds like the best thing you could use to make the subject and your passion for wrestling intersect would be a title belt. And I would probably lean to the WWE women's title as you could use key champions like Moolah, Wendi Richter and Mickie James to demonstrate what statements they make about the times in which they held the belt. The conservative stability of the era when Moolah won and her 27 year title reign. The brashness of Richter's 80's. And so forth. Techincally each of these ideas could probably be a paper unto itself. But with the page range you've noted you could probably do decent summaries of each champion's reign you could merge together for a solid paper. If you took it this route, I'd be especially curious to see you compare the foodstuff defenses of the late 90's with today's more open-minded bookings. There's a great shift in attitudes between Moolah's big win and Beth Phoenix holding the belt now.

[WeeMan]

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[NickC13573]

i wouldnt put Wikipedia as a source, unless your university sees wikipedia as a legit source, which most (if not all) Colleges and universities dont. i am thinking of something else, but cant phrase it right. will the Wrestling vs. Society go through history of wrestling? Iron Shiek vs. Sgt Slaughter during Desert Storm; Road Warriors vs. Koloffs during the cold war, that kind of stuff?

[WeeMan]

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[Lt. Lucrativo]

After reading the last reply from your teacher that you posted, I definitely think that you need to work on focusing your paper. What she seems to be looking for is an academic discussion of what a particular primary source can tell us about the time and place from which it comes. Like she says, you don't seem to have selected any specific primary source to discuss. I do think that choosing a primary source from the world of pro wrestling could make for a great paper. At its root, American pro wrestling is about faces against heels--which means that in order for wrestling to work it has to set up stories about characters that Americans love fighting against characters that Americans hate. This sets up perfectly for your paper, as you can use a particular wrestling character, storyline or feud to illuminate what America loved and/or hated at a particular time and place. But I definitely think you ought to choose one specific character or story that you think is particularly reflective of some aspect of American society. If it were me, I think I'd write about "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes feuding with Ric Flair in 1985. Why was Dusty the face and the American Dream while Flair was the heel and was absolutely hated? What made Dusty's character the perfect good guy in 1985 America and what made Flair's character the perfect bad guy? Here's where you bring in your secondary, academic sources--what was going in American history in 1985? What was the political situation? The economic situation? The social or cultural situation? How can Flair and Dusty help us understand America in 1985? If you wanted, you could even narrow the focus even further and deal with one particular angle (Flair breaking Dusty's leg?) or one particular promo (Dusty's "Hard Times" interview?), although I don't necessarily think that you'd have to. It sounds like you're more familiar with modern-era WWF/E stuff, so you might naturally want to choose a character or feud from that promotion and time frame. Stone Cold's feud against Mr. McMahon seems like a fertile paper topic to me. Obviously, that was a huge storyline. What made it work so perfectly? Why did America absolutely love Austin and absolutely hate McMahon? That feud seems like an ideal vehicle to get at class and class consciousness in America at the end of the 20th century. I don't know how strict your teacher is going to be about requiring one discrete primary source. If she wants you to have one particular document or image to point to, I'm sure you can find one that will allow you to discuss any particular wrestling character or story that you wanted to talk about. If you wanted to write about Stone Cold and McMahon, you could just find a still picture of Austin giving Vince a Stunner with the crowd going crazy in the background--it seems to me that that would pretty much tell the story of the feud in a nutshell.

[WeeMan]

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[Hyde Hill]

Ok it sounds as if you really need to narrow it down a bit. As your teacher said primary source she mentions a tv show so why not just use raw? In an earlier one she mentioned a specific moment/piece of american history. Well seeing as you are from poland the Cold War is the obvious choice. So focas on how wrestling reflected/influenced american views on cold war people/countries. And even how it persists today (Khozlov). Tying it in on the American dream well the wwe alwasy acknowledges Hulk Hogan vs Iron Shiekh as the start of Hulkamania wel Shiekh was allied with the russians (maybe tie in Iran). Or make it a bit more general about xenofobia in US culture. I know it is viewed as a negative aspect (by some) of wrestling but it really illustrates the larger then life and deepseeted albeit subconsious xenofobia or inorance about the world outside the US within the US society. I dont think being from Poland puts you at a disadvantage actually as an outsiders view can be more analytical. Just pitch this and some of the other ideas here and see how your teacher responds even tough there is no term about it etc many teachers are willing to communicate alot anyways. General info I would like to know what field are you studying? (History/Sociology/Anthropology/Political Science) and what is the specific course title? Also try and find out what your fellow students are doing and what is the speciality of your teacher and what is the style she prefers (ask ppl who have done courses under her in the past). Good luck and hope to be of help. I tried to pitch Politics in wrestling vs Political theory as a bachelor thesis but was shot down on it. Still aplying to TNA for an internship tough but getting zero responses.

[WeeMan]

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[Hyde Hill]

[QUOTE]Filology[/QUOTE] Cool Tolkiens field hehe. Well ya can do same study of the oral word then maybe link phrases that originated in wrestling and are now part of the general canon of american society. Jobber, Kayfabe etc

[Lt. Lucrativo]

[QUOTE=WeeMan;551213]Thank You for a great, helpful response man. So what You're saying is I should write the whole paper [10 - 15 pages] about only one feud, or circle around it? I know what You mean with the focusing stuff - after I read my outline to myself I knew it was not bad, but chaotic and could be done better... As for the primary source, what would be other suggestions You'd give me? The picture of SCSA stunning Vince is worth more than a 1000 words so probably I will use it - thanks for that suggestion, maybe You have more? It really helped me, bro.[/QUOTE] Hey, glad you thought the suggestion was helpful, WeeMan. It seems like I must have written a million papers like yours over the years, and believe me, it's a lot more fun to be able to just think of ideas and make suggestions from the outside without being the one who has to actually do all the work. But anyway, I'd definitely advise choosing just one source to write about--meaning a picture or other representation of just one wrestling character, storyline or feud. I'd also suggest choosing a really big, really successful character or story--one that you can convincingly claim really affected people. I mean, the feuds and characters that really get over are the ones that tap into the feelings, emotions and values that are really important to people, right? That's a major reason that the Austin-McMahon story could be the basis for a great paper--the story really spoke to a whole lot of people, even people who had never before followed or cared about wrestling at all. The question would be why. What was it about Austin that made him a hero to millions of Americans in the late 90s? To me, there are a lot of possible answers to that question, so the question would allow you to talk about any number of aspects of American society. Think about the implications for labor relations (the story captured the resentment that many working class Americans feel toward their bosses), class relations (similarly, the story was about conflict between the working class and the wealthy upper class in America), or American history in general (I think that there's always been a heavy strain of distrust of, and rebellion against, authority in America that can be traced all the way back through the American Revolution to colonial times--and Austin was nothing if not an anti-authority character). You could write hundreds of pages about this stuff. I think other people have made a bunch of other good suggestions, too. Using a female wrestler like Fabulous Moolah or a women's belt to get at gender and gender relations in America like cappyboy suggested could probably work really well. That's not an area I know a whole lot about, so I'll leave it to someone else to elaborate. Alternatively, you could use an effeminate male character to talk about the ideas of gender roles and "manliness" in America. Gorgeous George, maybe? Adrian Adonis? Even Rick Martel might work? You could use a race-based character or story to get at racial relations in America. I think I remember someone suggesting Tony Atlas. Wasn't Rocky Johnson recently inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame? A picture of Johnson and Atlas working under the name "Soul Patrol" and becoming the first black WWF tag champions in 1983 would allow you to talk about the state of race relations in America at the time and what it meant to have black champions. This might be a particularly timely subject given that America just elected a half-African American president. That's a hugely important event in American history. Also, like Thomnipotent and Hyde Hill suggested, using wrestling to get at Americans' feelings about the rest of the world at a particular time could be the basis for a strong paper. Pick a foreign character like the Iron Sheik, Nikita Koloff, or Muhammed Hassan and discuss why Americans reacted to those characters at the time they were popular and what that says about America's approach to and attitude about the rest of the world. In any case, I'd pick just one idea, whatever seems most interesting to you, and stick with it. I think there's plenty of material in any of these suggestions to fill 15 pages.

[WeeMan]

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[Lt. Lucrativo]

[QUOTE=WeeMan;551371]You've actually made my work even harder, giving so many awesome ideas to choose from, now I can't decide :P But all jokes aside, I have one question for You: It is my first paper of such proportions, and importance, and this might sound really stupid, but... is a picture [or couple of pictures] enough to be a primary source? Should I just print it and give it with my paper to the teacher? :) Thanks for help, I'm getting closer and closer to the solution, I can feel it :)[/QUOTE] Well, if I were teaching the class, one picture or one film clip or one interview would be perfect for a primary source. And if you were to use a picture, it seems like having a printed copy of it to go with the paper would be ideal. But you might want to make sure by asking your teacher since she'll be the one who'll actually be reading and grading your work. I'd say once you decide what you want your focus to be, run your idea for a source and what you want to use it to write about past her. Better safe than sorry, right?

[WeeMan]

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