Things may have not changed as much in the past two thousand years as we think.
Styles change, trends evolve, but there are always things that will be present in life- art, music, theatre- even if their specifics change.
But sometimes, new art forms will emerge that look eerily similar to ones of the past. Sometimes, it is possible to look at an episode of "Smackdown Live" and see the spitting image of Roman theatre.
Roman outdoor theaters, like many Roman theatre practices, were inspired by the Greeks. They were large structures enclosed on all sides, with a stage surrounded on three sides, and sometimes all four sides, by the audience. These theaters held thousands of people, similar to the stadiums today that hold many professional wrestling events.
The large crowds of people themselves were loud and rowdy, often difficult to control. Mix this crowd with a crowd at a WWE event today, and no one would be able to tell the difference. Chants and crowd response, whether good or bad, are a staple of WWE and other profressional wrestling events today.
The audience of Roman plays also had an influence on what kind of plays were put on. In Roman theatre, comedy reigned king over tragedy, and spectacle and violence were encouraged. In some instances if a play scripted an actor's death, the actor would temporarily be replaced with someone sentenced to death, and the person would then actually be killed on stage. Violence was glorified. Transition to modern times, and you have professional wrestling. Wrestling's scripted violence may not be quite as graphic as a real death onstage, but real blood and grown men being chokeslammed onto a bed of thumbtacks point to a certain love of brutality.
Flipping the script to the ones putting on the performance also reveals a cross-millennium similarity. Actors in Roman theatre were forced to exaggerate their physical movements and emotions in order to accommodate the large crowds. Similarly, pain is often exaggerated in WWE in order to sell the violence to the cheap seats. So while it may look exaggerated to people watching at home, those people in row 542 D are thanking John Cena for his over the top pain demonstration.
But the performer similarities do not end there. actors in Roman plays also sometimes wore masks during performances, so they could morph into multiple characters and easily show their emotions. Lucha Libre, a style of wrestling originating in Mexico, also incorporates the use of masks. In modern lucha libre, these masks emulate animals, gods, ancient heroes, or other archetypes whose identity the lucha libre embodies during their performance.
And like much of classic theatre, women did not play a major role in Roman theatre. Women were often portrayed by men, however as time progressed, women played a larger role in Roman theatre. They were eventually able to play non-speaking roles. Just as women's role in Roman theatre increased, so has their role in professional wrestling. The early portrayals of women in WWE were misogynistic and largely demeaning, and they were always seen as inferior to the men's division. However, with the recent women's revolution, women in the WWE have made serious progress in staking their claim in professional wrestling.
Some may argue that professional wrestling is not an art form like theatre, being instead mindless entertainment for the barbaric. But like Roman theatre, and like all theatre, professional wrestling tells stories. Look past the muscular men in spandex, and you will find stories of heroes (faces) and villains (heels). You will see inspiring stories of comebacks and devastating stories of losses. Stories that are not always good, but at least always have a semblance or reality. That is theatre, and that is art.
So next time you see two sweaty people hitting each other with folding chairs, remember the Romans, and remember the people who were watching nearly the same thing two thousand years ago.
