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Life in the Upper Midwest

Anthropology and Wrestling
by Brady Lewis

For my Anthropology class my sophomore year of college, we had to make one last final project to end the class.  It had to be a brochure, a poster, an ad, a commercial, or something similar.  The main point was to make people aware of anthropology by some sort of media. 

I have always loved these projects.  I always have because I understand that teachers' jobs are sometimes pretty monotonous.  With papers and projects, they seem to get the standard responses year in and year out.  What I try to do is to break that monotony by giving them something unique.  I love making projects and papers that give a new view or a new concept to what we are being asked to do. 

So for this project, I decided to mix anthropology with what I know best.

Professional Wrestling.

My instructor liked my video enough to ask me if it can be used as an example for others to see.  This is high praise for me, and one of the best compliments I can think to receive.  If you are reading, I am glad you approved of it.

Here is the video.  Underneath that is the one page summary I also had to write to help explain my project.  Enjoy.

Anthropology Video

This project indeed made me think a little.  I wanted to make some sort of video, and when I saw that I could create a short commercial for anthropology, I jumped at the chance.  My friends and I have been making videos for the website (www.psychonoble.com) for years, so I figured I’d be able to come up with something.

Ideas did not come as easily as hoped.  So, I made this.

Mr. Wrestling II is the symbol I used, as is professional wrestling.  These symbols are fairly universal in North America.  The masked wrestler is rather cliché, but everyone has seen one.  Not only in the United States where Rey Mysterio is a huge star, but in Canada where wrestling is well known, and Mexico where masked wrestlers first came from.  Mr. Wrestling II helps bring in the older crowd who watched when they were kids and remember him, and The Crusher, and Verne Gagne, and The Assassin. 

The fact that I had the Mr. Wrestling II mask comes to mind as well.

While a lot of wrestling fans are actually quite intelligent and know what anthropology is (I’d like to think I’m in this group), the majority are not that smart.  This commercial puts anthropology into terms that they would understand.  In fact, I’d like to think that most people could understand what anthropology is based on how universal professional wrestling is, and that is how it is explained. 

So, the main demographic that this commercial tries to target is wrestling fans of all ages.  However, again, due to the universal nature of wrestling, it can target just about anyone.  While they may not find it interesting, they would at least sort of understand the message.

Obviously, the main message presented here is a very quick and brief summary of anthropology.  Examples of each type are given.  However, I also tried to leave the ad open-ended.  At the end, with the “Anthropology is everywhere” thing, I wanted the person watching to think about how it indeed IS everywhere.  Maybe even do an internet search on the subject.  Something.  I’d like to think I accomplished that goal.

I can see this commercial as the start of a campaign for anthropology awareness.  In fact, that’s kind of how I imagined this.  The Mr. Wrestling II commercial would be the first one to air on all the different TV stations.  The next one would be made in a similar manner.  For instance, the next ad could be Patrick Stewart talking about acting (I choose Mr. Stewart because I could have made that commercial with a guy I know who looks like him).  Someone from CSI could also do one.  The possibilities are endless for this kind of commercial.  Just keep the format the same, with the whole look and feel of an interview, and the opening and closing parts.