Exploring The Fiend
If you're not a wrestling fan, this all might fly right over your head, and I apologize...but bear with me for a minute.When I was a kid, I was a huge wrestling fan. But, back in the 80's, I don't think I knew a kid who wasn't a wrestling fan. We all ate our vitamins and said our prayers, and marveled over Hulk Hogan's 24" pythons. We all were terrified of Jake "The Snake," and felt the power of the Warrior as he raced to the ring and demolished his foe.Time passed, and my interests ebbed and flowed. I watched religiously during the Attitude Era, and was enthralled during the Monday Night Wars. I smelled everything the Rock was cooking, and hoped beyond hope to hear some shattering glass, watch Stone Cold kick some ass, and down a few beers. And time passed, and eventually so did my interest in pro wrestling.Until a few years ago that is.With the advent of "shoot" interviews, I was finally privy to all the behind the scene stories, and get the dirt on so many people and events that punctuated my childhood and teen years.This prompted me, very randomly, to watch Wrestlemania that year. The year was 2016. WWE broke their Wrestlemania attendance record with 101,763 people in attendance at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas. And this was my introduction to Bray Wyatt. Once his theme music started, and he walked to the ring, I was once again, enthralled.It's hard to describe what I saw, without sounding batshit crazy I suppose. Thousands of "fireflies" dancing in the darkness of the stadium. It was an amazing sight, and it particularly piqued the sociologist inside of me.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIXpKmKBQCs?start=338]"Look at all of those people, all on the same page," I thought to myself.Of course it was visually stunning, and I suppose as an activist, it slapped my mind in another way, since getting large groups of people on the same page is always the goal. And it got me thinking, and I immediately began looking up Bray Wyatt.Now, sports entertainment, done right, does an amazing job of character development and storytelling. By giving people good characters, not to be confused with believable characters necessarily, and telling a solid story, pro wrestling has the power to captivate the mind and imagination.Even knowing that much of the content is in some form or fashion scripted, and the match conclusions preordained, it only takes a few moments before you're yelling a the TV and are a part of the emotional journey...sometimes of a single match, but often over months, when done well, or masterful storytelling.So, let's talk about Bray Wyatt. After several shots into the well, he emerged as the incarnation of a cult leader. I really don't want to explore his characters evolution beyond that, because it is quite groan inducing. I'm not a professional in the industry, but after years of enjoying various sports entertainment products, I have a general idea of when it's being done right, and when it's being done wrong.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgdwZ90V6fY]Worst concept ever!I found his character generally captivating, but felt the writing was awful, and WWE was shitting on a golden egg.And then I saw Firefly Funhouse...and The Fiend.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgHWQONYLDY]I was intrigued. I kind of got Firefly Funhouse instantly. It conveyed the broken psyche of a lost man. I encourage you to watch some of the episodes in their entirety. They are so weird, and oddly funny.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwtEqmUBzvY]I am captivated equally by the Fiend, and the character is generally all the rage if YouTube and social media is any indication. It's all that people want to talk about. The Fiend is thought provoking in all the tastiest ways.I think most people shy away from the darkness that dwells inside of each of us. We want to believe we are beings of effervescent, unending light...but that simply isn't true.We are complicated, with the equal measure to be angel, or devil. This is why I become so vocal in the face of the fairly regular dehumanization of people who do the detestable.They are not monsters.They're human, perhaps exceptionally so.As I've matured, I've learned to embrace my darkness, and yes, sometimes it's scary. I am oh too aware at how close I can be to becoming the opposite of everything I've worked in life to be...all in one hasty decision. How close are we all, day after day to becoming fiends?As the classic TV saying goes,
"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?"
Well, I know, and it's terrifying. However, I've learned not to cram my darkness into a closet, or some deep, dank, basement. Much like Bray Wyatt, it festoons my minds hallways. No tthe rooms that I visit every day to endure a 9 to 5 gig in corporate America, or to fit in with the well-to-do of Chicago, but the back hallways...the ones I have to walk sometimes to clean the cobwebs, or get out of the sunlight for a bit, or just to remind myself they are there.I think that's what makes the Fiend captivating...he forces us to face a darker us. And often even scarier, we like it.Stone Cold made us all want to be ass-kicking, beer swilling, hell raisers...So what does The Fiend make us want to be? What would your fiend look like? How would they manifest themself?[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCKRI2wEw7I?start=245]This is why "let him in" strikes an emotional chord I think...because the reality is we spend so much time double checking the locks, and keeping the shudders closed, to keep him out. The reality is we are all horrified at the thought of our fiend seeing the light...right?On a professional note, I hope the WWE does right by Bray Wyatt & The Fiend. If they slot him in the sweet spot between The Undertaker and Finn Balor/Demon King, they are sitting on at least a decade long train, full of evolution.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx6ohfn_3VE&w=560&h=315]