“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
From the March 25th 2023 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from Culture
Sex, drugs or chastity?
Pope Francis has written the first memoir by a sitting pope. God help us
Backpacks are, surprisingly, in vogue
They are following in sneakers’ path and becoming more fashionable
Spotify’s playlists have altered the music industry in unexpected ways
A critical assessment of the Swedish streaming giant’s musical legacy
Henri Bergson was once the world’s most famous philosopher
He sought to reconcile science and metaphysics
Witty and wise, “A Real Pain” is a masterpiece in a minor key
Jesse Eisenberg’s deceptively slight film asks big moral questions
Now it’s all about TikTok. But Huawei led the way
The Chinese telecoms firm was the first to raise America’s hackles