Useless Muscles

Paul Roma was the epitome of male strength — vascular and absurdly massive. He was so huge, it was implied that he should be able to dominate any man.  His showy display of over-inflated brute strength epitomized the American cultural ideals in the 1980’s: the desire for power and wealth, conspicuous consumption, megalomania, and domination through excessive force.

Here, Roma has been pitted against his opposite.  The contrasts are obvious: where Roma is fit and muscular, the Russian is fat and brutish.  Roma’s face is chiseled and handsome like a movie star, and the Russian’s busted face looks like beast.

Roma shows us his torso in his black speedo, while the Russian covers his fat belly in a singlet.  Roma is a good American boy, while the Russian portrays the dreaded “Evil Foreigner.”

If we weren’t already rooting for Paul Roma based on his physical perfection, we sure wanted to see him win once we learned that his opponent is a Russkie — an invader — a Communist whom we were all taught to hate and fear.

The story of the match begins by confirming our world view that a muscle man can use his bulging biceps to crush and punish, and that America (represented by Roma) is of course stronger than, and superior to, other nations (represented by the fat Russian.)

But of course, we’re soon upset and outraged by the Russian’s cruel tactics and the punishment of our American hero.  We’re horrified by the possibility that the Russian may win — that our way of life and our ideals may not be superior.

Roma soon becomes deflated and weak, his huge body sagging as he collapses against the ropes and sinks lifeless to the mat.  The potential power in his muscles is portrayed as worthless and ineffective.

Roma now displays flimsy weakness in every body part — especially his arms.  He lets his wrists go limp (the traditional gesture of the sissy — the faggot — the weakling.)

Besides the two obvious themes being presented here — our worry that America will be defeated politically, and the homo-erotic appeal of muscle being violated — is there perhaps another sub-text to this symbolic defeat?

I believe the beating of a muscle man by a fat, physically weaker opponent (which is a common theme in 1980’s pro wrestling) is meant to symbolize that male strength and muscles are no longer important in our feminist, post-modern society.  The Strong Male (the He-Man) has become irrelevant.  Thanks to robots and modern weapon systems, we clearly no longer need muscular strength.

The suffering Muscle Man is therefore depicted, at best, as an anachronism from the past (when you still needed to be physically strong to win wars) or at worst, as an over-inflated clown — a buffoon wasting his time in the gym and prancing around in black underwear as if his huge body will make him victorious.  We soon see his muscles are of no use against the crafty, but weaker, fat man.  The Strong Male is fun to look at (and exploit) but he has no power and no political relevance according to the action in the ring.

In ancient times, muscle men were revered as heroes (Samson, Hercules, Beowulf).  Even in the mid-twentieth century, we still grew up idolizing Tarzan, Superman, and Conan.

Now the heroes and power-brokers — the role models for our youth — are Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg.  They are cerebral and cunning rather than muscular and strong. Today’s most successful and popular pro wrestlers (CM Punk, Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes) are physically lean/ripped rather than beefy/muscular.  Are strength, power, and masculinity no longer considered relevant or important in today’s world — as dramatized by the long, humiliating punishment of the deflated Paul Roma?

On public radio this week, a group of experts debated whether “Men are finished” because women are taking over in education and professional jobs.  And the experts who argued for the proposition that men are, in fact, finished actually won the debate by a landslide.  Paul Roma’s humiliation — the beating down of the Masculine Icon by a weaker opponent — foreshadows the defeat and subjugation of men in modern culture by the weaker sex.

In the end, Roma does capture a lucky last-second victory, re-assuring us that America may still be dominant.  But the fact remains that everyone knows the event is staged (not a true physical contest, but merely theater), which still leaves the Strong Man out of power and reduced to eye-candy.  He can “win” at a fake contest like pro wrestling, but is still being exploited for the masses of consumers, paraded around in his black underwear by the promoters and advertisers who actually control the purse strings and wield the true power.