Authenticity and its Link to Creativity

I work a great deal with people who have compromised themselves in an effort to fit in and to feel like they have a sense of community ad belonging by being what someone else expects them to be.  For most it becomes a point of friction at some point because they cannot maintain a mask in all these different areas when they converge for some reason, whether that is with work people meeting their college friends at a party thrown by their significant other with family in attendance or even if just running into someone in an unexpected place.  They may have sacrificed some of themselves for a relationship, thinking that if they can be the “perfect partner” they will not be dropped, abandoned or in some way made to feel the sting of rejection when the person they have feelings for changes their mind.  While that strategy may work in the short-term, long-term the wind eventually leaves the sails because we simply cannot be someone we are not, the truth will surface and leave us feeling exposed, vulnerable, and very possibly judged or rejected.  The people we pretend to be someone we are not with, will have us in their lives, but not the real us.  Instead, they will have a version of us that is not the true version of ourselves, and after some healing time from that sting of a failed relationship, we may be filled with regret about the changes we made in ourselves, the things we gave up or missed out on.  I talk a great deal about this area normally, so today I want to focus more on the impact this all has on creativity and how we can see the detrimental effect this has on both creating and finding our audience.  Buckle in, we are going to talk about wrestling and wrestlers.

The wrestling world is as divisive as the political world these days it seems.  At its core you have two main groups both with their flaws and their benefits, both promising to deliver something that in theory should be focused on making our lives better.  Both are more about business, making money, and staying in their own sense of power, while not losing power to the other side of things.  All of this to say, people can be pretty contrarian and it seems like rather than seeking to find common ground (oh cool, you like wrestling too?!?) it turns into factions angry at the mere existence of each other (I CANNOT BELIEVE you like and support the other one?!?!).  Wrestling, despite what the uninitiated may think, is a creative expression.  There is a plot and storylines (when done right) that spans weeks, months, and sometimes even years.  Not only is there a physical performance piece, but often there are massive speaking parts sometimes done as a soliloquy or monologue and often done as a dialogue between two (or more) parties.  The best at the performance pieces are able to mix the two in a way that can create an emotional response from the fans both in the crowd and watching at home.  People will have favorites and will root for their favorite to win over and over, making their choices with their money and their attention span.  How a wrestler does that is where authenticity comes into play.  In the current times, everyone; except maybe someone’s grandma who believes wrestling is real and the moon landing was fake, (shout out Lewis Grizzard) is in on the fake that wrestling is a scripted performance, and while the physicality is quite real, the outcomes are booked in advance.  The way wrestlers in the current climate best connect with their fans is through being a closer version of themselves, and this trend started to catch on in the late 90’s (don’t worry, I won’t go into the whole history lesson today).  

As this weekend is winding down a particularly heavy news cycle around professional wrestling, I wanted to highlight the impact that specific individuals’ creative choices have had on them, and how that is proof of concept in the world of being authentic.  I want to start with the person whose title defense will close out the weekend.  Orange Cassidy has, in my opinion, had the most enjoyable and entertaining title run of anyone recently in wrestling.  There have been some great runs that have soured because of storyline, but his has shown a depth of character that many did not give him full credit for before.  His gimmick was always one that seemed like he did not care, and he described as sort of a middle finger to professional wrestling, where he was lackadaisical in his performance at times.  Arguably, his character work is not what most are accustomed to seeing on national television broadcasts, but he found his niche.  While not everyone “gets” it, he has steadily become more and more of a crowd favorite.  I would argue that him believing in himself as well as the character he created and leaning into that has made him stand out and find a steadily growing contingent of fans.  Not only is his character fun and irreverent but the man can go in the ring and knows how to sell pain and injuries while performing too.  He could easily have let someone tell him his character was too off-the-wall to connect with people, or he could have altered himself to fit more in the style of traditional wrestling, but he remained true to himself and is succeeding in ways I think many people four years ago would have doubted. 

Along the same lines, is Danhausen.  Danhausen is someone who created a character and has made slight alterations along the way, but who has really at this point found such a niche that he transcends professional wrestling.  His character can be comedic, jovial, and entertaining, but just as easily can be something closer to nightmare fuel if he leans more to that side.  This is why he is described as “Very Nice, Very Evil”.  While Danhausen has not yet in his current role won a title, he has developed a rabid following, big enough that I would not even deem it a “cult” following at this point.  Looking at wrestling history, a character like Danhausen would be someone used for comedic interludes exclusively and would likely have had a relatively short run.  But because of him being authentic in his presentation, and staying true to the character, he has created something that resonates to fans of wrestling and even those outside of wrestling.  I can’t speak to his finances, but I would bet he makes more money from things outside of his wrestling contract than he does from actually wrestling.  All on the back of a character he conceptualized that was authentically him, and the intersection of the things he loves.  That is the very definition of betting on yourself and seeing it pay off.

I could go on and on about both Cassidy and Danhausen as well as countless others, and even cite examples from other creative pursuits too.  But I try to not be too verbose and make these relatively digestible.  The fact is that when we are true to ourselves, and when we stay within what makes us uniquely ourselves, we can find our audience.  It may take a good bit of patience because finding our audience can take time, especially if we are starting from zero.  That is not to say that we may not have a stroke of luck, but we cannot bet on luck, only ourselves and who we really are.  As long as we do that, we will find people who genuinely value and support us, not merely who we pretend to be for their benefit.  Your time and energy are things to value, make sure you are not wasting those things pretending to be someone or something you are not.