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ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4339-1887
Access Type
Open Access Thesis
Document Type
thesis
Degree Program
Japanese
Degree Type
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Year Degree Awarded
2021
Month Degree Awarded
May
Abstract
Professional wrestling is a performance art in which the line between fact and fiction is often obscured. Much of the existing scholarship on the medium that examines its dynamics regard reality and artifice focuses on the role of the artificial, analyzing pro-wrestling as primarily a form of heightened spectacle akin to passion plays or soap opera. However, professional wrestling in Japan, particularly that found in the country's largest promotion, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, features many elements that resemble real sports much more closely than many American promotions. These elements include fighting styles, wrestler injury, characters that do not fit easily into defined archetypes, stories focused on win-loss records, promos that resemble press releases, and audiences who react to the show not only like a performance, but also as if it were a real sport. At the same time, it does still feature many spectacular and heightened elements found throughout the pro-wrestling world, resulting in an overall aesthetic of qualified realism. This realism is a defining element of promotions like New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and it serves to make characters and their stories relatable to audiences in ways that are more difficult for other promotions. This reveals unique thematic qualities of Japanese pro-wrestling, in addition to demonstrating the aesthetic diversity of the genre as a whole.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/22480629.0
First Advisor
Bruce Baird
Second Advisor
Amanda Seaman
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Marino, Clara, "Real Fake Fighting: the Aesthetic of Qualified Realism in Japanese Professional Wrestling" (2021). Masters Theses. 1061.
https://doi.org/10.7275/22480629.0
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/1061
Included in
Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Japanese Studies Commons, Other Theatre and Performance Studies Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Sports Studies Commons