I was watching Friday Night Smackdown this morning (I've already been over this, I'm on a multi-day delay here), and Jack Swagger (the current World Heavyweight Champion and the All-American American if you will) was being introduced. They mentioned in his intro that he had gotten a 1510 on the SATs, which struck me because that's what I got. It also struck me because even though I haven't watched Smackdown in forever, it was an absolutely undeniable sign that he's currently a heel.
For those of you who don't follow wrestling, heels are the bad guys. They succeed when they are hated. Faces on the other hand, are the good guys. They should be liked. When you switch from one to the other it's called a "heel turn" or a "face turn" depending on which direction you're going. When they start bragging about SAT scores? That's a heel turn for sure. Makes me feel a little insecure about myself.
On the other hand, that's not the only thing you can brag about that makes you a bad guy. Bragging about your hot wife? Heel. Someone else mentions that your wife is hot? You're a face, they're a heel (Rule #56,382 of professional wrestling - no one can innocently compliment your wife). Bragging about your workouts? Heel. Bragging about your effort? Face. Bragging about upper class upbringing? Heel. Bragging about poor and/or ethnic upbringing? Face. Despite the fact that they all make 6 figure salaries, only heels mention money. Mention your father? Face. Mention your famous father? Heel.
It's not just strengths that make a face or a heel though, it's also weaknesses. An entire Freshman Creative Writing class could be based on wrestling's use of the "tragic flaw" aspect of their heroes. Does seeing injustice or unfairness make you want to beat someone in a wrestling match? You're a face. Does seeing someone annoy you make you want to wrestle? You're a heel. Faces get in to matches when their family is threatened. Heels throw their family in the way of their opponents. Faces get forced in to matches when an evil authority figure wants to hurt them. Heels get forced in to matches when good authority figures have had enough of them.
Got all that? Good.
There's a couple exceptions to this rule. For example, the lawless Clint Eastwood type will always be a face (i.e. The Undertaker, Sting) no matter what he does. Playing to your own sense of justice will always be a face move. No matter how freakishly evil you are, if you don't cheat in a match, you will never be a true heel. Any heel who wins too many matches legitimately will cease to be a heel. Still with me?
Faces generally back up other faces, but heels may not back up other heels. However, if a heel mocks a face who secretly no one likes, the heel will cease to be a heel and become a face, and the face will cease to be a face and will now just be a tool. Anyone who you can't figure out is called a tweener.
Glad we had this talk.
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Wow. Once again a lot more to it all then I ever would have suspected. What I wonder about now is the nature of the heel and face turns. What tends to precipitate these turns? Would you say they are conversions?
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could do a little compare and contrast of the turn and religious conversion. Or maybe a little phenomenology of the heel/face turn?
Wrestling used to be a lot simpler with the whole good (face) vs. evil (heel) thing. Then, people started cheering for guys like Steve Austin and it all became kind of confusing. That whole tweener category never existed beforehand.
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