Foley news from the Observer

[Guest Showstoppa Icon]

The Characteristics of an "Archetypal" Tragic Hero

 

1. Noble Stature: since tragedy involves the "fall" of a tragic hero, one theory is that one must have a lofty position to fall from, or else there is no tragedy (just pathos). Another explanation of this characteristic is that tragedies involving people of stature affect the lives of others. In the case of a king, the tragedy would not only involve the individual and his family, it would also involve the whole society.

 

2. Tragic Flaw (Hamartia): the tragic hero must "fall" due to some flaw in his own personality. The most common tragic flaw is hubris (excessive pride). One who tries to attain too much possesses hubris.

 

3. Free Choice: while there is often a discussion of the role of fate in the downfall of a tragic hero, there must be an element of choice in order for there to be a true tragedy. The tragic hero falls because he chooses one course of action over another.

 

4. The Punishment Exceeds the Crime: the audience must not be left feeling that the tragic hero got what he deserved. Part of what makes the action "tragic" is to witness the injustice of what has occurred to the tragic hero.

 

5. Hero has Increased Awareness: it is crucial that the tragic hero come to some sort of an understanding of what went wrong or of what was really going on before he comes to his end.

 

6. Produces Catharsis in Audience: catharsis is a feeling of "emotional purgation" that an audience feels after witnessing the plight of a tragic hero: we feel emotionally drained, but exultant.

NO! Flashbacks. Of. English. Final.

 

FUCK OEDIPUS!

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

The WWE should just dedicate a month to working each storyline to a Shakespearean play.

 

...That's right, CONCEPT SHOWS~! Drew Carey Season 3 ear-your-heart-out!

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

Benoits flaw would be Pride. It's only a matter of time until he's in a wheelchair, yet he doesn't stop...

[Guest Showstoppa Icon]

Hamlet Sr.- Flair

Hamlet Jr.- HHH

Ophelia- Stephanie

Claudius- Vince

Gertrude- Linda

Horatio, Laiertes(sp)- The rest of Evolution

 

Oh yea...smell the ratings

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

HHH: To bury, or not to bury, that is the question...

[Guest Showstoppa Icon]

HHH would at least now have an excuse for a 30 minute promo. He could call it a soliloquy.

[Guest Dangerous A]

Problem is a Tragic Flaw, in WWE's mind, would Benoit becoming an octosexual or something.

Now that was fucking funny!

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

And it also gives him an excuse to wear the homoerotic clothing that he's closely moving towards.

 

Vince: Uh, HHH, you didn't have to wear the felt cap, cape and knee high boots..

 

HHH: Anything for the character Vince, that's how dedicated I am to this business.

[Guest Showstoppa Icon]

sad thing is, Triple R, is that Howard Finkel is probably writing all this shit down in a notebook right about now.

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath bore me on his back a thousand times, and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now, your gambols, your songs, your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now to mock your own grinning -- quite chapfall'n?

 

Yeah, I'd manipulate this into a speil about Jericho being the one who's buried, but shit, it just speaks for itself

[Guest RavishingRickRudo]

Hey man, Concept Shows is the way to go man~!

 

Othello T, Vince MacBeth, Hunter Hearst Hamlet....

 

Hell, "A Comedy of Errors" describes the last 2 years of the WWE. They could make a whole storyline just on the Big Show, call it "Much ado about nothing".

[Guest Mulatto Heat]

I probably should just shut it because I've gone on the subject for months...they could do so much with Benoit and they don't, so I don't really see the point I guess.

I hear ya bud, I really do. All I asked for after the Rumble was to not fuck up the only good thing (IMO) WWE had in a long while, and almost immediately afterwards they did.

 

Now, as a result, I'm not saddened when I read WWE hatred.

 

I gave them a chance, and didn't even ask for much.

 

About Orton, I don't really see "it", but I guess he'll get the HHH treatment, where he'll be pushed and pushed and fed established star after established star until the fans buy him as a top guy.

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

Problem is a Tragic Flaw, in WWE's mind, would Benoit becoming an octosexual or something.

 

 

ok, I know I'm beating a dead horse here and there's no real answer, but I have to ask:

 

Why do they only push the bad wrestlers?

[Guest Eagan469]

The idea is they are goin to attempt to make Orton into another Rock level superstar.

excuse me for a moment...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Zero_Cool]

Say, why can't we have a Beowulf-ish character why runs around with a big plastic sword, and for some odd reason props a detached monster arm on his shoulder as if it were a championship belt?

 

And when is Brock gonna bust out some Lenny from Of Mice And Men shit and crush Nunzio's hand? I want some literature in my wrestling!

[Guest The Metal Maniac]

What gets me the most about this is that guys like Benoit, Jericho, Eddy, and all the other ignored guys have BUSTED THEIR ASSES for YEARS to get to the point they are right now.

 

Randy Orton LITERALLY walked into Titan Towers, said "I'm Bob Orton's son", and BOOM, HE'S the one that the WWF wants to be pushed to the moon.

 

This infuriates me to no end. For one, I think it's proof that Vince only wants home-grown guys on the top of the biz. I honestly can't see ANY other reason for giving this push to Orton over ANYONE else at this point.

 

Secondly, I think this also shows that the WWE's traditional "It takes time to build new stars" BS is just that - BS. When they WANT someone to be a star, 90% of the time, they WILL be. Look at Lesnar. Vince knew the second he put Brock on TV that he was going to be champ before the year's end, I'll wager.

 

All it takes is effort, for fuck's sake, but for some reason, they're ONLY putting in the effort where THEY feel like they should, not where the fans TELL them to.

 

I really wanna meet Vince someday, just so I can ask him if he's a TOTAL moron, or if he's just really stupid...

[Guest Ray]

This topic is FAR more entertaining than the last 6 months of WWE.

 

 

 

 

I like Randy Orton. I would love to see Michaels and Foley job to him.

Sometimes I think people expect too much. You can't expect every wrestler to be as good as Benoit.

 

I've given up on the idea of good, solid wrestling in WWE. It's not going to happen, so why bother hoping?

 

Orton is entertaining , and that's good enough for me.

[Guest The Czech Republic]

Have it all lead up to Orton vs. Hogan at WM 20, where Orton retires Hogan (which is such a natural fucking storyline given that WM 1 had Hogan and Bob Orton Jr. in it).

No we're not wasting Hulk Hogan's Wrestlemania XX match on Randy Orton.

[AnonymousBroccoli 0]

They could TOTALLY do an angle with Orton where he wants to destroy all the "legends" because he's sick and tired of living in his father and grandfathers shadow, and wants to carve his name into history as THE one and only Orton.

Maybe he could gain his own shadow first.

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

..."after WrestleMania 2000, I won't wrestle anymore"...

 

...looks like Foley's going to be just another old wrestler...

 

God fucking dammit, Mick. I held you in higher regards. I HELD YOU IN HIGHER FUCKING REGARDS.

[Guest razoredge450]

>34 years old vs. 21 years old.

 

Benoit is actually 36 (born May 21, 1967) and Orton is 23 (born April 1, 1980).

[Guest Vern Gagne]

What they plan on doing with Orton hardly ever works. It's usually the guy that come out of know where, or guys who rise up through the ranks.

 

Remember, when the Rock first arrived he was given a huge push, and it didn't work. He ended up getting over on his own and became a star. The only thing the initial push did was start the Rocky Sucks chants. That obviously wasn't the intention of the WWE>

[Cherry Blossom Viscount 0]

Hey guys, remember when Orton was just another vanilla OVW grad that was supposed to end up on Velocity?

 

Hey guys, remember when people were rejoicing because the prognosis on Orton's foot injury was that his career may be over.

 

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

 

I'd much rather Orton get pushed than Benoit. With Orton, you have no idea what he's going to do to enhance his character. With Benoit, it's going to be the same old, "I'm the best technical wrestler." Well that's great Chris, but why should we care?

[Gert T 0]

Benoit's Tragic Flaw: 5 feet 10 inches.

[Guest croweater]

HHH would make the perfect Macbeth.... Killing and burying everyone including his friends (Banquo = Nash) and doing so just because he's screwing Lady Macbeth....... now we just need a Macduff to bury the bastard.

[Cherry Blossom Viscount 0]

We read MacBeth last year, my senior year, and the teacher had this tape we could follow along whilst reading. The voice acting was supurb. That guy who played MacBeth had such a range of emotions from the cool and calm, "good" MacBeth, to the simpering and emotional "semi-evil" MacBeth, to the dastardly "HHH" MacBeth. After that guys potrayal of MacBeth, I shall never be satisfied by the play again.

[Guest INXS]

So why wouldn't Shawn Michaels be able to carry Orton to a good match?

[Guest TonyJaymzV1]

You know, where never going to get a batch of Guys like Benoit, Jericho, etc. for a long time, if ever. They had 1) what many consider the best Trainer ever in Stu hart and 2) They traveled around, went to japan, mexico, etc. Guys like Ranyd Orton are only exposed to one type of wrestling style, the WWE style. Jim Cornette, as much as I love the guy, likes things simple. Thats why the OVW guys all have simple movesets. Personally, i think the WWE should hire Rudy Boy Gonzales and have him and HBK start up their own training promotion.

[Guest ManKinnd]

How long will it take until people give up on Benoit? I've become content with his usual solid wrestling on tv, and his occasional ****+ match on PPV. I've wanted more, but now I just have to take what I can get. He's done a HELL of a lot in his career, so now he's in WWE to just plain wrestle until he can't do it anymore.

As for Orton, I'll accept it on the sheer fact that it'll be someone new on my tv. New stars are exciting. Look at Lesnar: Sure, we were a little peeved at how quickly he shot up the ranks, destroying everyone in his way, but look now 2 years later. He's totally established; everyone buys him as a top guy. We officially have a new superstar. Let them do it with Orton. In 2 years if we have another guy we can call a superstar, then great. Maybe the new generation is finally coming. The Hogans, Austins, and Takers are maybe, just maybe, almost done. You want a new generation, don't you? Well we already have Angle and Lesnar, so now maybe we can have Orton, too. To me, a guy like Benoit wouldn't really represent the new generation of WWE. Let the young guys in their 20s do it.

Good for Orton.

[Guest Lightning Flik]

Well we already have Angle and Lesnar, so now maybe we can have Orton, too. To me, a guy like Benoit wouldn't really represent the new generation of WWE. Let the young guys in their 20s do it.

Good for Orton.

Problem, Angle is like 30 years old and has at most a couple of years left. Like the others.

 

Not the greatest example if you wanna use the young guys in their 20s.