and for audience members who are truly disempowered by this bigotry in their everyday lives to perform as the oppressing power . I would only make a slight distinction to Mazer ’ s point , that wrestlers don ’ t simply liberate spectators , but that spectators actively liberate themselves from these social proprieties by performing as white American nativists .
By looking at professional wrestling ’ s connections to Brechtian and camp aesthetics , it is possible to explore how the wrestling spectacle presents just such a form of resistance to hegemonic social forces . Again , I would argue that this is due to an ideological shift , in which Latinos have been afforded inclusion into the United States ’ mainstream culture , yet only as commodified Others . The Real Americans ’ reappropriation of the Latino Threat Narrative is evidence of this change in cultural production . In “ Uses of Camp ,” Andrew Ross examines how camp aesthetics derive from this change . Once hegemonic forces lose their power , he writes , “ to produce and dominate cultural meanings , [ they ] become available , in the present , for redefinition according to contemporary codes of taste ” ( 58 ). Although the WWE still relies heavily upon racialized stereotypes in their representations of Latinos , their representations of racism and exclusion in American constructions of whiteness are a veiled ( or open , depending on the audiences ’ disposition ) mockery of U . S . nationalism and patriotism .
Similarly to the concept of defamiliarization in Brecht ’ s alienation effect , camp is also a method in which “ the whole relationship of form and content within a cultural setting can be seen with new eyes ” ( Long 79 ). Camp accomplishes this through its type of humor , “ a system of laughing at one ’ s incongruous position instead of crying .
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