“Ringmaster” is a colourful biography of a wrestling impresario
But Abraham Riesman overstates the spectacle’s place in modern America
PART-WAY through “Hannah and Her Sisters”, Woody Allen’s film of 1986, a dyspeptic artist played by Max von Sydow has been flicking through the television channels and grumbles: “Can you imagine the level of a mind that watches wrestling?” Apparently the character labours under a common snooty misconception. He seems to grasp that professional wrestling is fake—meaning the outcomes of the matches are predetermined—but assumes its fans do not.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Making it by faking it”
Culture March 25th 2023
- A museum on a Kenyan island glosses over slavery
- “Ringmaster” is a colourful biography of a wrestling impresario
- When in Mexico City, try pulque, a local tipple
- The narrator of “Chlorine” longs to escape her human body
- “Beyond the Wall” adds depth to caricatures of East Germany
- A bold “Guys & Dolls” holds lessons for the future of theatre
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