Flexing and filmmaking

Being a favoured form of entertainment before cinema, physical culture became a ready subject for some of the earliest films globally

The hairspray-caked, spandex-skinned world of women’s wrestling in 1980s America is the home of GLOW, a fictionalised history of the low-budget show Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling which once ran on cable TV there. Since the series debuted on Netflix in 2017, its creators Carly Mensch and Liz Flahive have used a high-octane sport often accused of being “fake” to bring up very real stereotypes including of race, gender and sexuality. The ringside view is of exaggerated rivalries and make-up, while backstage there are subtler conflicts and the debris of fatigued bodies. 

“(It’s) hot and family-friendly, Glen,” reasons the fictional wrestling