Spectatorial guiding seemed much less complex– wrestling almost always goes for the simplest emotions and for the biggest and easiest “pop”– although no real research has been done.

Still, in the long shots that tended to lead into the broadcast, one could see, tucked into the corner of the frame now and then, a stage manager of sorts twirling a towel around, and pumping his hands to get the crowd “revved up” as the broadcast began. The raucous nature of the crowd– and the often creative, even off-color, chants it would slip into– made this one of the wildest atmospheres ever for a mainstream wrestling show. Here, too, I suspect, the audience was encouraged to “neutralize” its inhibitions, and to indulge in the spectacle.

I doubt that the producers were looking to propose a moral stance to the audience, however. Nonetheless, the conditions, apparently cued by the producers, encouraged overblown responses to misogynist, gutter-level attractions between and sometimes even during the matches.

This was a far cry from the “quality” broadcast (relatively speaking) that was WWF’s SATURDAY NIGHT’S MAIN EVENT on NBC.

Perhaps slightly off-subject as an example, but I thought I’d share it.