Independant Study Proposal

Independent Study Proposal

Title:
How and why have the representations of women changed in ‘WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment)’?

Hypothesis:
The representations of Women have developed and changed over time due to the changes in society. However WWE still conveys traditional stereotypical views of women – sex objects. On the other hand, there are some females within the WWE who are solely there to wrestle.

MIGRAIN:

M:
1.) Medium / long shot used to show the majority of her body.
2.) She is wearing provocative clothing to attract men – male gaze (seen from the three male wrestlers watching her)
3.) The female is wearing gold which connotes wealth and perfection. She is being represented as someone who is almost perfect.

I: World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) who aims solely to entertain.

G: ‘Sports Entertainment’ – professional wrestling. Conventions consist of: women’s roles are simply to entertain men by wearing provocative clothing (sex objects – male gaze).

R: Within the WWE, women are represented in one of two ways. Either as a sex object who tends to participate in bikini contests, water fights and photo shoots rather than wrestling and the other way is simply being a wrestler and nothing more. In present day wrestling, its a lot more common for the majority of the female wrestlers to appear in photo shoots and participate in bikini contests as well as wrestle, however some do not wrestle at all. They are usually represented in a promiscuous way.

A: It is targeted to everybody – family show however professional wrestling appeals mostly to younger audiences, especially males. Some may argue that it is inappropriate for them to watch as it contains too much violence and sexual content.

I: She is who every man wants.

N: After losing in a match, Matt Hardy wishes his brother, Jeff, luck in his upcoming match. They then notice the beautiful; Candice Michelle enters very hot after competing in a match. She then cools off by soaking herself in cold water. The Hardy brothers watch in disbelief and then Ron Simmons enters and says “damn!”. There are narrative roles e.g. Hero (often referred to as a “goody”) and Villain (often referred to as a “baddy”), Narratives often have a cliff hanger until the next episode where they are resolved. The storylines within WWE are quite similar to what you would see within a drama or soap opera.

Wider Contexts:

In order to look at why and how the representations of women have changed I would be studying things such as: Feminism, the Women’s Movement of the 1960s, the War and the impact on Women, women gaining the vote, communities, suffragettes, the education of girls and women, domestic life, birth control, women’s service in world war 2,equal pay, education of girls and women, women and human rights, marriage, motherhood and divorce, women and work 1900-1939,women’s work in the post-war era, women’s fashion statements, women’s rights into the 21st century. I will also briefly look at the history of women within professional wrestling.

Theories/theorists:

I will be making reference to some of the theorists I already know such as Laura Mulvey and Propp. However I will also be researching some new theories and theorists that would relate specifically to my topic.

Other texts relevant:
I will also be relating WWE to other sports such as UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) and professional boxing, in order to help develop my arguments.

Where to and what to research:
In terms of research I will be mainly looking at books to do with the representation of Women, internet websites, and watching other sports in order to build my argument up. I would also be researching things such as the changing roles of Women, theorists relating to my topic, professional wrestling in general, facts and figures about pro wrestling etc.