Is Wrestling a game?

Is wrestling a game?

Is wrestling a game?

After reading "The World of Wrestling" by Roland Barthes it is clear that wrestling is both an art-form and a game that mix with each other in more ways than one. 

The idea behind Wrestling is to beat your opponent to the best of your ability whilst being able to avoid being beaten yourself. Not only this but people also bet on the outcome of the fight. This makes it seem to be a game to those who believe games are something to be either won or lost. Respectively that's how games are depicted as now-a-days but some people believe that games can be made different to this, so who are we to say whether or not wrestling is a game. The idea behind wrestling just like Barthe suggests is that the game is based around "Suffering, Defeat and Justice." which leads us to believe that he suggests it's a game. 

Barthes understanding of the 'game' is something unique though, he suggests that peoples morality comes into play by saying things like "cruelties and acts of cowardice" are the "display" or "outcome" of most fights. I believe that he is somewhat correct in his statements, I agree the mind is something that can control the outcome especially if something is on the mind it is very hard to remove it, but to lose a battle due to moral status is somewhat incorrect. I believe dependent on the issue at hand whether it be killing an innocent bug to stealing, one you're defiantly going to remember because it's objectified as something you shouldn't do whereas the other is something that is completely "normal" thus not effecting the mind as much and "morally" not changing a standing in the matter at hand. 

The idea behind Barthes work is brilliant, but also a little crazy.


The photo below shows the idea behind the art in wrestling and how theatrical it can be, but without the idea of winning neither would be doing this thus making it a game in the eyes of most people.

(Credit: Reuters/Toru Hanai)