DrakkenZero

DrakkenZero, 2 days ago

The PPV itself is usually a mix of narrative things all happening at once.

You've got the climax of some storylines, which frees up those wrestlers to take a break and then come back to be in new stories

You've got the evolution of other storylines - a betrayal, a new alliance, a surprise return - the overall story continues, but now in a new direction

Occasionally, you have the dreaded continuation - where a storyline ISN'T resolved, or even changed, and just continues.

🧵 continues

DrakkenZero, 2 days ago

All this plot development and dénouementing is great, because depending on the company and their writing structure, some of those storylines that needed their climactic finish have been...

...sort of...

...circling the drain, waiting for someone to put them out of their misery for a while. You can only NOT finish a story so many times before people get fed up, after all.

🧵 nearly done

DrakkenZero, 2 days ago

But all that plot resolution and change leads to an interesting reversal of fortunes.

Following the PPV and the massive upheavals in the narrative flow, the first couple of regular tv show episodes afterward wind up being PLOT HEAVY and often really exciting - BUT fairly light on the wrestling, as most of the stars are tired and/or injured after the PPV matches

🧵 almost there

DrakkenZero, 2 days ago

So here's where it gets interesting:

Overall, wrestling follows the normal narrative structure of rising action and mini-peaks and all that building up towards grand climaxes.

But the actual PLOT elements of wrestling don't. The ACTION parts do, but the plot follows a different path.

The thing they most closely resemble is - and this is weird, but if you think about it, very true - Zeno's Paradoxes of Movement

🧵 one more?

DrakkenZero, 2 days ago

Zeno's paradoxes (well, the movement ones, he had many) were all about movement from a start to a finish.

Basically, in order to go all the way to something, you have to go half the way first.

Once you're half way there, you have to go half way again, leaving you at 3/4 of the way there.

Then you have to go half way again, so now 7/8, then 15/16, then 31/32, and so on, never being able to actually get to the goal.

Also, all movement is an illusion and arrows don't work.

🧵 ok, NOW one more

DrakkenZero, 2 days ago

The first episode after a PPV, when all the narrative resources are in flux, they can really progress the stories far and fast - and need to, in order to set up the new narratives that will play out over the next few weeks.

But, the closer to the PPV you get, the less you can advance, the more diminishing your returns because you want to get those stories as close to 100% as you can without hitting it.

🧵 over, thank you for attending my TED talk