Convergent Wrestling

<p>This book examines how the current era of convergence has affected and is reflected in the world of professional wrestling which combines several different genres including drama action comedy horror science fiction and even romance. Professional wrestling’s business practices exist at the intersection of bottom-up fan-centric strategies and strict top-down corporate control. Meanwhile the wrestlers themselves combine aspects of carnival hucksters actors/actresses comedians superheroes martial artists or stuntmen and the narratives consist of everything from social critique to geopolitical allegories and from soap opera melodramas to stereotyped exploitation. Bringing together the latest scholarship in the field <i>Convergent Wrestling</i> analyzes various texts business practices and fan activities to explore the commonalities that define professional wrestling and consider how it exists in today’s new media ecology. In addition the book considers the professional wrestling industry from several different angles from massive multinational conglomerate World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to local indie federations. As such it will appeal to scholars with interests in popular culture media and cultural studies and fan practices. </p>