Today I stumbled upon something I never thought I would find: a course dedicated to professional wrestling! MIT offers a program entitled Comparative Media Studies in which last year a course was offered called Topics in Comparative Media Studies: American Professional Wrestling.
I was excited about this discovery because it shows that professional wrestling, a topic that holds such a stigma, can be taken seriously enough for a certified post-secondary institution to grant its students credit for learning about it. Out of all of the potential topics regarding the media, professional wrestling certainly holds enough of an influence to be a prime candidate for discussion.
As a wrestling fan I was very intrigued to find out exactly what would be taught in a course about wrestling to a class of university students. The introductory blog posting mentions that the course examines the evolution of pro wrestling style and promotion and "how shifts in wrestling characters demonstrate changes in the depiction of American masculinity". Wrestling style and the characters wrestlers portray are undoubtedly the main aspects of the industry, or at least that is what the typical bystander tends to see. This leads me to question whether or not someone who has never been a fan of professional wrestling can be successful in a class dedicated to it. There is a lot about the industry that those who aren't fans would not have a clue about, yet actual fans would think that same information is mere common knowledge.
I believe that it would be beneficial for students to take the class, even if they aren't fans. Sure, fans would already be familiar with many of the topics and would probably have an advantage, but for those who were never fans, it would be an exciting learning opportunity. The world of professional wrestling has a lot to offer, it just takes some time to gain an understanding of why it appeals to millions of people around the world.
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