The Hammerlock of the Gods – Pro Wrestling and Horror – Conclusion
Conclusion
Horror and wrestling are comfortable bedfellows because they are both outsider narratives. Both genres have always dwelt on the fringes of polite society. Tolerated, but never welcomed into the fold of mainstream acceptance. It is rare that the major awards in the literature and cinematic fields acknowledge a horror story. Horror is politely ushered off into a corner and encouraged to organise its own set of awards. Most horror writers whose name isn’t Stephen King struggle to make a full-time living from the profession.
Pro wrestling when it first started to appear on television in the post-second world war era enjoyed the same level of infamy as the horror movies and comics which gained notoriety around the same time. Tolerated, but shuffled off into the margins of acceptability. Horror fans and wrestling fans risked being considered social pariahs. Many were proud of this outsider status.
Horror as a genre is posited to shock, thrill, and scare its audience. It can be presented in many ways, but there is usually a central figure, a monster or villain, around which the narrative is built. This is where wrestling finds fertile field in the horror genre. The central horror villain is often a reflection of contemporaneous social fears. Some examples being invasion, disease, nuclear war, and so on.
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