Friday, April 18, 2014

Wrestling the identity

From Seiter’s book I was particularly interested in the chapter “Wresteling with the Web: Latino Fans and Symbolic Violence”. It is an interesting Anglo perspective the idea that wrestling consumption via Internet seemed at first sight a superficial consumption of a product that glorifies violence.

Wrestling consumption in the US comes from the Mexican tradition of Lucha Libre, which has been around for several decades and is an important component of Mexican popular culture. The understanding of this tradition is very important, because it is a cultural appropriation of the super hero figures in American culture. Luchadores or wrestlers are the Mexican super heroes, that also hide behind a mask. The article does a good job describing the historical context of Lucha Libre in Mexico and its importance as part of the popular culture that continues today.

In the effort to institutionalize cultural studies in Latin America, it has become important to study this phenomenon also. Lucha Libre and Luchadores portray the identity of the working class that emerged in a Neoliberal era. They are not only a consumption product, but they are also a component of the creation of family ties, gender identity, and class identity.


In a society so harshly divided by social class, Lucha Libre is the representation of the access to entertainment by “the people”, low and medium-low income families that have limited access to live entertainment. Lucha Libre also plays an important role on the relationships formed by the men of a family or social circle (compadres, uncles, godfathers), marking the difference between genders and the place each occupies in the community.

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