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THREAD: I'll be sharing some analysis and commentary videos that focus on influencer behaviour, stan culture and parasocial relationships. I believe these should be watched by anyone who works in or consumes wrestling as breakdowns of trust happen due to lack of awareness.
The videos will focus on high level celebrity or the beauty influencer space as these phenomenons are large enough for this analysis work to be done on them. However, they are very easily applicable to any influencer space: wrestling, streaming, sex work, social media etc.
On wrestling: there has been a MASSIVE breakdown of trust between content provider (promotions/wrestlers) and consumer (fans). This partly due to internet becoming a part of our daily lives, WWE's monopolization of the industry and social movements like BLM and Speaking Out.
My hope is through self-motivated education of influencer culture, we can all learn how we have manipulated others, where we have been taken advantage of, and how to set boundaries for ourselves while still being able to work in and consume wrestling in a way that builds trust.
Liam uses theories from anthropology and sociology to explore cult mentality within stan culture. I love how this video exposes that this "stan culture" isn't a new phenomenon at all, and you can track this behaviour all throughout our humanity
Tee expertly breaks down the Celebrity Attitude Scale (this is a real thing) and also what happens when people develop an addiction to conflict within the fan space.
Tee also shares a lot of anti-racism commentary on their channel, well worth a follow
Tee also shares a lot of anti-racism commentary on their channel, well worth a follow
If you're interested, you can have a look at and maybe complete the Celebrity Attitude Scale for yourself here: https://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/npb/people/jm148/scales/celebrity-attitude-scale
It's a good time to mention that small promoters, wrestlers and wrestling influencers as individuals may not realise they are taking advantage of stan culture in this way. They are more likely to just be copying what other successful peers are doing within their space.
Meanwhile, when we talk about a million (billion?) dollar company like WWE, the opportunism and reliance of stan culture is no accident. They have money, resources and specialists to develop and sustain parasocial relationships to squeeze cash and energy out of their audience.
So how are the lines being blurred from person and product to take advantage of caring fans for financial gain? Cruel World Happy Mind's channel is mostly focused on MLM's and scam businesses, but in this video she specifically focuses on influencer brands
At 18:05, she mentions how influencers will stir up controversy and drama for publicity for their brands. The wrestling equivalent to this is worked shoots. The butt of the joke for premeditated controversy and worked shoots is always the audience/fans and ALWAYS severs trust.
I engaged in a worked shoot with Underworld (where it appeared like I had been publicly fired from the company) because I thought it was a fun and immersive way to engage our audience. Surprise! People were really hurt by it because they genuinely cared about me and my wellbeing.
Tiffany Ferg created a video on Edward Bernays, who they call the "Father of PR". He literally helped shift America from a "needs-culture" to a "desires-culture". Influencer marketing that you see today evolved from Bernays' literal product propaganda
Last one for this thread: PIERRE XO explores the question "can you separate the art from the artist?", cancel culture and at what point can you overlook problematic behaviour when you really enjoy their work
The purpose of this thread is to not tell you how to think but to acknowledge that the enjoyment and growth of wrestling will continue to suffer if we do not examine the way in which it operates and makes money. These videos will make you uncomfortable and that is a good thing.
I quite literally built my platform on idolizing and stanning wrestlers and I have been losing followers ever since I examined that behaviour. My growth as a person has not been rewarded on social media! We have to break up with our addiction to the follower count.
Many of the videos provided share further watching or reading and I really encourage you to use this as a starting point to explore more into this phenomenon, how it relates to you and what potential ways you can adapt to protect yourself emotionally and financially.
Please share videos, books or thoughts below as I'd love to check them out and others can too. I may not have the energy to answer questions but do feel free to use this thread as a discussion space.
Thanks for reading
Thanks for reading
