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Semiotics of wrestling characters
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The semiotics of wrestling characters is the use of semiotics (the study of symbols) to analyze the characters featured in professional wrestling. There are two primary types of character archetypes in professional wrestling, the face and the heel. These characters respectively represent the good versus evil dichotomy, a primary narrative of professional wrestling. Wrestling characters use semiotics to portray their character in explicit fashion. Over the course of a storyline a face and heel battle repeatedly. Wrestling matches have standard metanarratives, or semiotic structures, that help audiences to "read" the characters like a text. The personalities of a particular character can change over time. For example, the babyface in the ring can become a heel by doing actions considered illicit or cowardly by the audience. Semiotics Semiotics is the study of 'signs' that take the form of words, speech, images, sounds, gestures, and objects. The hero The hero is the hero wrestler in the ring. The hero is also known as the "babyface" character, or "face". The hero is considered to be fair and virtuous. He obeys the rules. The hero also holds the fans in high regard and revels in the opportunity to communicate with the audience. The hero’s moves inside the ring focus on disabling their opponents, rather than inflicting pain. The hero is also patriotic to the politics of the nation. The heel will taunt his opponent after the match with a victory pose over his opponent, tarnish the patriotism of the opponent’s character, or continue to physically assault the opponent. The heel has stereotypical character paradigms. You can see these paradigms in the wrestling ring at any given time. The "foreigner" heel will represent enemies of America, its values, ideals. For example, a Japanese wrestler will enter the ring with the Japanese flag waving.<ref name=autogenerated2 /> The "foreigner" will then disrespect their opponent’s nationality by placing their nation’s flag on them after their opponent has been defeated.<ref name=autogenerated2 /> The "manager" character will not wrestle in the ring; they will however assist the wrestler they are managing by interfering in the match illegally.
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