Wrestler Discussion

Today in your groups, I would like you to compose some discussion points about The Wrestler. To prepare for this group work, please compose THREE debatable statements about the film on a separate sheet of paper. This film is, on the surface, a very personal examination of what might be unfamiliar types of characters. At the same time, I think the film has allegorical tendencies that make it somewhat familiar. What does that mean to you? How does the film tell a larger story using the particular stories of Randy (Robin) and Cassidy (Pam)? What can you propose that will challenge your classmates to look at the film more carefully? Once you are in your groups, take some time to articulate your ideas to each other, and then write the essential statements you'd like to debate in your discussion notes.

Some ideas to guide our discussion:

• performance and stardom
• artistic value
• decay and degradation
• names and identity

Some additional questions:

• Regarding the relative value of different types of art, I wonder how you feel about the distinction between art that EDIFIES vs. art that DEGRADES. Do some forms of art lift us higher and other forms of art pull us lower? Isn't the performance art of Randy and Cassidy degrading in some way, based on how it effects an audience and what it requires the performer to do?
• And a follow-up question: Does the film The Wrestler qualify as art the edifies or art that degrades? I mean, do audiences of this film have an opportunity to reach a higher plane of understanding, or maybe a more sophisticated level of insight into the human condition? Is this engagement worthwhile? Of course, the alternative is to look at the film as a type of pornography or base sentimentality that offers a quick and easy release of tension. How do you experience the film? Is director asking us to compare his own film with the type of art that his characters perform? Is stripping pornography? Is the crude ballet of professional wrestling a type of pornography?
• How do you take the ending of the film? Does The Wrestler qualify as a tragedy in the academic sense of the term?
• When Randy quits his job at the grocery store, is he really just quitting his job? What precipitates his outburst?