First of all, for those looking for a scholarly source, Wikipedia has an authoritative entry on WWE's Tag-Team Cryme Tyme, which many experts around the Beltway predict will be the next Tag Team Champions. Anyway, last night, these guys performed a response to Richards-Gate that Harrogate invites all to watch. Already the blogosphere is alive with commentary. Renowned wrestling scholar Todd Martin of Smashmouth Driving, for example, powerfully observes:They did a lame satire of the Michael Richards incident, with Cryme Tyme laying him out. It wasn’t funny, and WWE has some nerve knocking racism by having their racist caricatures beat up the racist
Harrogate tends to agree with this analysis on a surface level, although he suspects Martin might be joining the zillions who cannot find a shred of humor in serious things. Caricature and satire are longstanding American traditions, in politics and entertainment interchangeably. Does anyone really think Vince McMahon is taking "Cryme Tyme" and saying "look, here's how black people are"? Of course not! Instead McMahon is tapping into something, an archetype, a stereotype, whatever you wanna call it, and exploiting it for cash. What could be more American than that?
Anyway, thoughts on the clip?
Other than this skit, the other Rhetorically Provocative thing that went down in Pittsburgh was the bloody beat-down Ric Flair received at the hands of Edge and Randy Orton. Ostensibly a "message to DX," this beat-down nicely illustrates something Harrogate has been talking about for a long time. Readers, as you watch this excruciating clip, pay less attention to the actual event than to the expressions of the fans watching it. Indeed, consider the mood of the scene. It is the sublime artificiality of the thing that keeps us coming back for more, it is an example of what Theater can do better than anything else, including Live Music. Obviously, if the beat-down were really happening, people would stop it and thus get a kind of release. So it is the fakeness of the thing that ultimately freezes them. They are left transfixed before a horror they can barely comprehend. Only to witness the spectacle, that is the choice, the only choice. There is no asking the spoon to bend here. Pro wrestling does this as well as any artistic expression. Period.
Thoughts?
And for your viewing pleasure, Harrogate closes this post by presenting Readers with what it looked like when Umaga finally extended an official challenge to John Cena for the Championship. This scene Vince's writers handled well. The two stared each other down, talked some shit, but never came to blows. This rivalry continues to build, and Harrogate likes it. Indeed, Harrogate gobbles it up. If handled properly this rivalry might take WWE Raw to a whole 'nother level. Ciao.
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