The narrative structuring and interactive narrative logic of televised professional wrestling

摘要

This paper investigates the ways in which the narrative structure of televised professional wrestling is structured and composed using the basic formal logic of certain new media forms. It is a speculative attempt in developing a generative theory of a particular type of narrative structure found in certain modes of presentation in television, a structure which is more readily identified with new media compositions such as computer and videogames. The majority of the paper is a descriptive adduction that establishes a typology of the narrative components of televised professional wrestling by exploring key components and dimensions of narrative including formal structure, characterization, and spectator/user reception and interaction. This typology shows the way in which a form of popular culture that began as a fairground event, which eventually became a successful mainstay of television programming, is a structural antecedent of the interactive new media logic common with the interactive and narrative logic of current computer and videogames today.View full textDownload full textKeywordsnarrative, interactivity, spectatorship, wrestling, characterization, videogames, television, multiform / multistrand / network narrative, WWE/WWFRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17400309.2010.514666