Peripheral Post II -JAE-

*Disclaimer* Nothing polished, or fully formed, over here to be found haha 

Recent whispers and rumors about the status of the now 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo Japan have got me thinking about what can be read from global simulcasts like the Olympic Games? The parade of nations at the start of the games is a site of nationalisms, histories, cultures, technology, languages, and more colliding in a nexus of consented conflict. Questions of “will the People’s Republic of China march together with Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau?” or “will North and South Korea march together?” foreground major societal concerns. Additionally these events can be interpreted against theory and contemporary events as reflecting political tensions across these regions, just as much as the harmonious displays of allied marching can be approached through futurist readings of reconciling collective traumas. 

However, the attire worn by the athletes during the parade of nations is a site of cultural conflicts and celebrations too. Cultural dress and fashion aesthetics are always remarked upon by broadcast commentators. Athletes like Pita Taufatofua, a skier from the island nation of Tonga, who made headlines in 2016 as Tonga’s flag bearer in a traditional outfit, where he was shirtless, come to mind. Much of the continental North American and Western European commentary about his appearance focused on his physique as a symbol of virility and arguably fetishized by allusions toward island savagery and barbarism. But coverage of the skier, dressed similarly in Pyeongchang Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics, across the state of Hawai’i celebrated the athlete’s display of island dress, especially because of the winter conditions, and argued how it has a place in formal spaces like the Olympics.

The Olympics are a prime site for the flexing of soft power by major political regimes and corporate interests. Yet I also am curious what small nations and the global south gain and contribute to the Olympics as a socio-cultural and televisual event? There are competing countries that rarely garner medals and even those that have never won a medal. I think the history, logic, and desires of these nation’s participation are ripe zones to explore the event of the Olympics beyond corporate capitalist paradigms, which could yield interesting information about understudied cultural experiences in this global simulcast arena.