Carl Robinson Abstract

Chasing The American Dream: A Chubby Fan(atic) Recalls His Favorite Professional Wrestlers.

Aside from the occasional fan-inspired biography or mainstream rejection of its “reality,” literary scholars have, for the most part, ignored the impact which professional wrestling has had on contemporary society. Critics have continued to label professional wrestling as a lower-class morality play and even the most sympathetic of reviewers seem reluctant to interpret it as anything more than a (potentially harmful) soap opera for men. Yet, increasingly, academics from a wide range of disciplines have turned to professional wrestling as a way of digging more deeply into the populist strata of cultural experience. The purpose of this autoethnographic study is to examine the impact that professional wrestling has had on the author from childhood through the present day. Emphasis is placed on characterization, the author’s personal connections to the wrestlers, as well as professional wrestling as cultural phenomenon.