Released in December 2023, The Iron Claw chronicles the tragic story of the Von Erich brothers as they navigate the world of professional wrestling in the early 80s. The film explores themes like toxic masculinity, brotherhood, and overly obsessed dreams of triumph. The story is based on a real family of wrestlers that were supposedly “cursed”, but the film leads us to believe that this “curse” was likely just the work of an abusive father overly obsessed with success and masculinity. The main character is Kevin Von Erich, the oldest of four brothers, and the favorite of their father. One by one each of Erich’s brothers is lost in a series of tragedies all in some way caused by wrestling, but more accurately by the pressure of their father's dreams.
I saw the movie in theaters in December and went in knowing very little about it. I found the film incredibly sad, but overall I enjoyed it because I thought it was really original and had some solid acting.
One way I felt that The Iron Claw (2023) related to our course was the theme of authenticity versus manipulation of media that we explored with Portrait of Jason. A huge part of the movie is about professional wrestling, which particularly in the early 80s was highly dramatized, to the point where it is obviously fake. All of the wrestlers have exaggerated characteristics and storylines to make the events less of a sport, and more of an exciting spectacle. All of the Von Erich brothers vary in their abilities to embody their wrestling characters and work the cameras compared to their actual wrestling ability. Kevin is the likely best, most committed fighter of the brothers, but his brothers David and Mike are more talented at performing for the cameras. By including many aspects that are just unbelievable, professional wrestling makes very little effort to hide the fact that it is fake. In Portrait of Jason, it is much more subtle, but Shirley Clarke very intentionally leaves in snippets that make it clear she (and Jason) are both artists who are manipulating the film.
Both films have a balance of very raw, seemingly authentic emotions and an acknowledgment that there is heavy manipulation involved in order to appeal to an audience. This is more of a central theme in Portrait of Jason, but it is undeniably present in The Iron Claw as well. While Jason is vulnerably recounting some of the most tragic parts of his life while subtly hinting that he is a performer that know how to work an audience. Kevin Von Erich is living through the tragic loss of his brothers and trying to maintain his public image as an unrelenting, very masculine wrestler. After his brother, Mike, has suffered serious brain damage, Kevin appears in a press conference and must maintain the family's image as unflappable fighters claiming that Mike will be back in the ring in no time even though realistically, Mike will never be able to fight again.
I think this comparison helps me understand the question of why we as people love stuff like reality TV and down-to-earth, authentic celebrities so much. Even though we all know that reality TV is heavily manipulated by producers and most celebrities are fiercely media trained, etc, both of these films start to get at the fact that regardless of authenticity, we enjoy a spectacle of any kind. It's almost like playing make-believe. If you can make yourself forget that you know better, it's pretty fun to imagine a world where these things exist, especially under the pretense that it is real. Something like fake wrestling is pretty polarizing, as some people, myself included, find it stupid because it is so obviously fake, yet there is no denying that it draws a huge audience. So maybe in some ways, we care less about actual authenticity than we would like to admit.
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