Yesterday (16/3/14) saw the closing of the 2014 Winter Para-Olympics and with it the final end of competition in Sochi, Russia. As is tradition proceedings were brought to a close with a spectacular if deliberately low key closing ceremony.
If I had to identify a central theme of the ceremony it was the contrast between the way that Russia and other former/current Communist states embrace high culture while western societies - particularly the USA - tend to reject it with the obsession with pop culture seemingly on an endless mission to find a new lowest common denominator.
The classic example of this is ballet. In the west ballet is very much a minority pursuit with those who take part in it often being mocked by the majority. In Russia and other former/current Communist states such as Cuba ballet is taught in schools alongside subjects such as maths and science. Although under Communism this was mandated to make sure the individual was able to serve the nation to the best of their abilities the tradition has continued in many former Soviet states. As a result people who grew up in former Soviet states tend to be significantly better educated and more culturally well rounded then their western counterparts.
As is traditional the ceremony began with a short video sequence in order to allow all the TV networks who were showing it live to synchronise their coverage. The UK broadcaster Channel 4 (C4) did not show this video meaning that the only bit UK viewers got to see was the 10 to 1 countdown that was projected onto the arena floor. However I was able to watch the video online beforehand and it featured Aleksey Chuvashev - the para-Olympic rower and 2012 medal winner who would go on to play a central role in the ceremony. The message of the video was very much strength and precision. For example we saw Chuvashev lifting a dumbbell which was over-layed with graphics that looked like an engineer's drawing showing the angles at which Chuvashev's joints were flexing.
The ceremony itself began with members of the Russian Wheelchair Dance Sport Federation performing a wheelchair dance routine. This obviously highlighted the para-Olympic theme of achieving despite disability. I know that for people heavily involved in the para-Olympic movement or disability rights more generally this seems like flogging a dead horse but sadly it is a message that needs restating over and over again especially with every new nation visited. The fact that Russia has a Dance Sport Federation let alone a Wheelchair Dance Sport Federation highlights the way that Russia tends to embrace and support such cultural activities. While in the UK ballroom dancing has always had a small but strong core of support and its popularity is growing in Russia ballroom dancing is considered a typical pastime similar to playing ametuer football or going to the gym.
At other Sochi ceremonies dancers had been used to form significant shapes as part of their routines. For example there was the Taoist Ying and Yang symbol and the mathematical
lemniscate that appeared in the Olympic closing ceremony. As a result a lot of people would have been looking very closely at the Wheelchair dancers routine to see if there were any important references. As it turns out the dancers played it very safe only forming generic shapes such as circles and what could have been interpreted as a wintery snowflake. Along with the blues and whites of the colour scheme and the classical-style music by Russia composer Alfred Schnittke this gave the sequence a very calming feel. The intention being that Russia was trying to use the ceremony to make sure everyone behaved calmly and peacefully in response to the referendum that was going on in near-by Crimea.
As the wheelchair dancers were performing on the ground trapeze artists began to descend from the ceiling encapsulated by what can only be described as illuminated strips of fabric. Choreographed by Britain's Phil Hayes who also worked on the 2012 ceremonies this sequence was supposed to promote discussion about Russia and the UK's differing approaches to their respective Olympic ceremonies. As is really the tradition the Russians have used their ceremonies to raise a few political/social points in a generally quite easy to understand way. By contrast the 2012 ceremonies were so vast and so complex their meaning was almost entirely lost. For example I think I wrote more then a thousand words on the "Wind Gremlins" that appeared for all of five minutes at the start of the 2012 para-Olympic closing ceremony but still did not cover all the things they could have symbolised.
Following the UK's approach of maximum complexity as the trapeze artists descended they looked as those they were being held within birdcages. This could have been a reference to any occasion that birdcages have featured in popular culture anywhere in the world. The "Looney Tunes" cartoon "Tweety Bird" was just one of the examples that leaped to my mind. However I think we were being more directed to the 1996 film "The Birdcage." A remake of the 1978 film "La Cage aux Folles" which in turn is based on a 1973 French play of the same name this farce centres around a gay cabaret owner and his drag queen partner who have to meet the very conservative parents of the cabaret owner's son's fiancee. The Birdcage is a very iconic gay film so was included as a reference to the gay-rights debate which has been so central to the Sochi games. Also I personally detected a hint of Rihanna there because you could describe her as a song bird that the US are trying to keep caged.
As the trapeze artist started to rise back towards the ceiling their 'birdcages' began to billow making them resemble Jellyfish. The gentleness of the movements added to the general sense of calm in the sequence but again this could be a reference to any occasion that Jellyfish have featured in any discussion anywhere in the world. However I think it was primarily a reference to the way that environmental pollutants can mimic hormones in the human endocrine system which forms part of the debate about the physiological basis for homosexuality. This problem is most noticeable in aquatic ecosystems where simple organism - of which Jellyfish are particularly large examples - absorb these pollutants (dioxins are a particular problem). These simple organisms are then eaten by fish which absorb the pollutants. The fish are then eaten by humans who in turn absorb all the pollutants that have been absorbed by the simple organisms and all the pollutants that have been absorbed by the fish. Also Jellyfish are Hermaphrodites meaning that they are both male and female and can reproduce asexually which is obviously hugely interesting when discussing sexuality and reproduction.
Once they'd reached various levels above the arena floor the trapeze artists 'birdcages' fully opened out like an umbrella which Rihanna of course made famous with her song "Umbrella." However if you looked closely the 'birdcages' were actually forming two sets of rotor blades the were rotating in opposite directions. This was a reference that could only really be appreciated by serious helicopter nerds. As a helicopter's rotor blades rotate they create torque which forces the fuselage of the helicopter to rotate in the opposite direction. Designers have come up with two ways of solving this problem. The first involves having a tail rotor which pushes the helicopter back against the torque created by the main rotor blades. The other is to have coaxial main rotors which spin in opposite directions cancelling out the torque effect. The tail rotor system tends to be used in the west because it is cheaper while Russia's Kamov helicopter company uses the more complex but generally considered better coaxial design. As the search for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has continued throughout the para-Olympics using mainly Russian made helicopters many people would have been exposed to the coaxial rotor design for the first time.
Finally with their rotor blades extended the trapeze artists began to fly around above the arena. Due to the lighting effects this made the resemble Fireflies. That could have been a reference to the TV show "Firefly" that played such a large role in the 2012 Olympics. It could also a reference to any occasion where Fireflies have come up in discussion anywhere in the world. The "Owl City" song "Fireflies" springs immediately to mind but I think it was primarily a reference to the video for the song "Hey Brother" by Swedish DJ "Avicii" who was put up for discussion in more depth later in the ceremony.
Behind the scenes of this sequence there was one hell of a negotiation going on between Russia and the UK. For example trapeze is a circus skill which the Russians are traditionally very good at. However in an effort to compete the UK announced - during the Sochi games - the setting up of a government funded National Centre for Circus Arts. This is one of the possible reasons why the UK is better then Russia at soft-power efforts despite Russia's clear cultural advantage. Basically the UK has set up a national infrastructure of almost factories to develop soft-power talents. The most obvious example is the BRIT School of performing arts that absorbs potential pop-stars from around the UK and develops them into a highly polished if soul destroying finished product. The often referenced "Jessie J" is a graduate of the BRIT school.
Also there is the debate about the benefits of putting on such complex ceremonies because if you're trying to promote discussion about certain political/social issues it helps if people can actually understand what is going on. After all Rihanna, helicopters and the environment are three topics that I am very knowledgeable in but it has taken me almost an entire day of reflection to get all the references. Most people wouldn't have stood a chance.
With this complex and British dominated opening sequence coming to an end it seems a good point for me to take a break. Fortunately the Russian dominated remainder of the ceremony was much less intense.
15:35 on 17/3/14 (UK date).
Edited at around 19:30 on 17/3/14 (UK date) to add;
With the opening sequence completed it was time for the protocol of the raising of the host nation's flag and the singing of the host's national anthem. The Russian flag was carried into the arena by a small selection of the 80 Russian athletes who had won gold medals at the para-Olympics. Obviously the medal winners bring with them the stories how they won their medals but generally this seemed to be an attempt to keep the sequence as non-political as possible. As the flag made its way into the arena Peter Tchaikovsky's 5th symphony was played. Tchaikovsky is obviously a world famous Russian composer and the fact that he was gay has made him central to the gay-rights debate throughout the Sochi games. His inclusion here was just a little nod to that.
The Russian national anthem was performed by a civilian choir that had been assembled from across Russia. Although I can't be sure I suspect this included students of the Russian special school for musically gifted children with disabilities that featured in the para-Olympic opening ceremony. It certainly gave us a good opportunity to speculate though. Again the choice of a civilian rather then a military choir was intended to soften the somewhat harsh sounding Russian national anthem as reference to the hard (military) power and the soft (cultural) power that had been a theme of all the ceremonies and has been called into hard focus by the situation in Ukraine.
Throughout this sequence there was a large model of the entire nation of Russia on the arena floor lit in the colours of the Russian national flag. This was obviously another attempt to remind people just how huge a nation Russia actually is. However it was also a reference to the campaign ahead of the Crimean referendum that was taking place during the ceremony. One of the main posters used in that campaign shows two maps of Crimea. In one the nation is coloured in the Russian flag but in the other it is coloured in the Swastika flag of Nazi Germany. The purpose of the poster is to highlight that the people of Crimea were being asked to choose a future with Russia or a future with a Ukraine that now has fascists in its Kiev government.
The protocol stage with the flagpoles and the lecterns for the speeches also appeared to resemble a country. While I don't think it was in the shape of any actual country it could be mistaken for Russia, Ukraine or Crimea so seemed to be a little reference to the fact that it was unavoidable that people would be looking at the ceremony for clues about the situation in Ukraine. The protocol stage of course remained in the arena throughout the ceremony.
With the flag sequence over C4 cut to a commercial break. Where as in the opening ceremony C4 were incredibly sensitive about when they cut to commercial - the cut to "The Last Leg" was really part of the ceremony - in the closing ceremony C4 seemed to be deliberately putting their breaks in the worst possible places. To make matters even worse the advert breaks kept varying in length making it hard to predict when we'd be getting back to the action. In part this was a contribution to the debate about censorship and access that exist at all Olympics. It also seemed to be a debate between C4 and the UK broadcast regulator OFCOM about the rules concerning advert breaks. The obvious thing for C4 to do would be to adopt the US approach to commerical breaks that is used in the Superbowl where rather then having long breaks they simply cut to one or two quick commercials when time allows. Unfortunately OFCOM rules don't allow them to do this which is also a bit of an issue when UK networks try and show US TV Shows which are designed around the US commercial break model. Finally I think C4 were just trying to annoy me because a few years ago I said something along the lines of; "I don't think, I just do what the TV tells me." Sadly some people actually believed this.
Due to C4's intrusive commerical breaks I completely missed the start of the next sequence. However I believe it began with large models of paintings by Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky. Apart from being a famous Russian whose work is widely known and respected even outside of the art world a lot of Kandinsky's most popular work involves the use of lots of geometric shapes. That helped set things up nicely for the next phase of the sequence.
Accompanied by a thumping Techno soundtrack the Kandinsky paintings left the stage to be replaced by an army of performers wearing garishly coloured plastic/PVC costumes. This was supposed to represent Russia in the modern age because Techno/electronic music is only really about 30 years old and only came into being when the technology was created to produce it. As such there is much debate as to whether it is possible for electronic music to ever be as good as the great classical works that we still listen to today hundreds of years after they were composed. To emphasise the theme of modernity the performers costumes were reminiscent of the iconic Communist worker outfit of blue denim overalls but done in very modern fabrics and colours.
However the first thing most people would have noticed about the performers costumes is that the resembled the outfit worn by Mario the plumber in the groundbreaking 1980's Nintendo video game "Super Mario Brothers." With such an obvious reference to Nintendo the large, brightly coloured blocks that the performers where pushing around resembled the bricks from that other iconic 1980's Nintendo video game "Tetris." Initially though I think the blocks were supposed to represent the more general pixels used in digital animation. So when the blocks were assembled to form images of the five Winter para-Olympic sports it was supposed to promote discussion about livestreaming which is a relatively new addition to debate about access to and coverage of the Olympics and the para-Olympics in particular.
Although I steered clear of the livestreams for my own reasons I have heard horror stories from people who tried watching livestreams during the Olympics. Due to the high volume of traffic - particularly during hockey games - many servers became overloaded leading to the pictures freezing and breaking up into blocky pixels. As a result it seems that the technology isn't really there yet for the Olympics and para-Olympics to become its own broadcaster in the online world so getting traditional TV coverage must continue to be the priority.
Amid the garishly dressed performers acrobats and actually just athletes emerged to perform extreme street sports such BMX riding, skateboarding and parkour. This was obviously a reference to the way that these new extreme sports of being absorbed by the Olympic movement. This was a particularly relevant discussion to have at the Winter para-Olympic games that included snowboarding events for the first time. However the aggressive, hip-hop style (in the UK we call them "hoodies") which these extreme sportsmen/boys carried themselves also seemed to be a direct reference to the way Jay-Z and Rihanna arrived during the 2012 para-Olympic closing ceremony. They were proceeded on stage by youngsters behaving in a similarly aggressive fashion. In 2012 this was intended to promote discussion about whether the Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West song "Run This Town" caused the August 2011 riots. However at 2014 the tone seemed to be more along the lines of; "Oh look, here come the children. Hopefully they'll grow up soon."
With the extreme sports out of the way the performers really drove home the Tetris reference by playing a giant game of human Tetris with different groups of performers marching in perfect unison in the shape of the Tetris blocks. The main reason for this is that the game Tetris is actually coming up to its 30th birthday having been invented in 1984 in Moscow by Russian computer programmer Alexey Pajitnov. Therefore this was Russia reminding the UK that while it likes to boast about all the awards it won for the movie "Gravity" and it's contributions to the burgeoning video games industry Russia is also heavily involved in that sector. In fact the way the Tetris game ended with the words "Game Over!" flashing up on the 'scoreboard' that was being projected onto the arena floor seemed to be a Russian response to the UK led criticism that the use of light projection during the ceremonies made it hard for people in the arena to work out what was going on. The message seemed to be; "That was big enough for you all to see right?!"
Also during the Tetris game the famous Tetris theme music was played really loudly. That music is a mixture of the new electronic music and old Russian polka music. As such it seemed to be the Russians gently reminding us just how far down the head spinning route they could go if they really wanted to.
The end of the Tetris game saw the arrival of futuristic looking stage hands suspended above the arena on wire-harnesses. Dressed in overalls that featured LED lights and wearing what appeared to be bicycle helmets these stagehands costumes were supposed to emphasise the futuristic/modern theme and I personally thought they resembled the costumes of French electronic music duo "Daft Punk." The stage hands were then winched down to the arena floor on their harnesses where they appeared to pick up the blocks that had been present throughout the sequence. When the blocks had been raised into the air they spelled out the word "Impossible." Although this was spelt in English the geometric style of the lettering was reminiscent of the Russian, Cyrillic alphabet.
In the pre-show hype this sequence had been billed as "Mission Impossible" because it involved the mission of raising the word impossible and the wire-harnesses were used in a famous sequence in the Tom Cruise film "Mission Impossible." However the music that was playing during this sequence was not the rock/metal version of the Mission Impossible theme that was used in the film and got plenty of outings during the hockey matches. Instead it was a possibly Russian performed instrumental version of the "Led Zeppelin" song "Kashmir."
That iconic song was sampled by US hip-hop producer Sean "P-Diddy" Coombs in a song for the soundtrack of the film "Godzilla" called "Come With Me." People who have rifled through my record collection will also know that P-Diddy also worked with US rapper "Nas" on a song called "Hate Me Now." Most of the drama and power of the song comes from its sampling of "Carl Orff's" cantana "Carmina Burana" which in my drunken state yesterday I mistook for Verdi's Requiem. As such P-Diddy's body of work helps to highlight the way that the low, pop-culture of hip-hop/rap has to steal from the high culture of classical music to justify its existence.
Kashmir is a hotly disputed region between India and Pakistan. However in terms of a well known song that also highlights hip-hop's use of sampling it is as close a reference to Afghanistan as you are going to get.
The fact that Led Zeppelin are a British band leads onto a discussion about other British bands and the way that Britain is very good at using pop-music as a form of soft-power. For example the song "Winds of Change" by the Anglo-German band "The Skorpions" is widely acknowledged as setting the atmosphere for the fall of the Berlin wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. That obviously has to be an example of soft-power at its most powerful. Other examples of British soft-power pop-music from the 1960's and 1970's include the "Rolling Stones." Having only really got into listening to them recently I feel that although good the Rolling Stones aren't really worthy of the almost god-like hype that surrounds them. In the early part of their career the Rolling Stones got caught up in a big drugs scandal and after that started releasing songs like; "You Can't Always Get What You Want" which is exactly the sort of song a government would promote heavily to dampen down the protests that were going on in the 1960's. Then there is "The Who" their Russian polka inspired song "Baba O'Reily" does seem like the sort of thing the British government would use to build bridges with people in the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
There actually seems to have been some efforts by the UK to drive this issue onto the agenda during the para-Olympics. On Thursday (13/3/14) a private helicopter crashed killing a prominent Northern Irish politician. That brought back memories of the 1994 Mull of Kintyre Chinook crash in which senior members of the Northern Irish security apparatus were killed. Apart from triggering discussion about all the technical aspects of that crash including flaws in the software on the helicopter's navigation system that are similar to the MH370 saga and all the political fall out the reference to the Mull of Kintyre crash also reminded people of the "Paul McCartney & Wings" song "Mull of Kintyre." With Paul McCartney's fashion designer daughter Stella McCartney choosing to invite Rihanna to her recent launch show at Paris Fashion Week she has sort of become a metaphor for the whole Rihanna situation. Plus the use of bagpipes in the song Mull of Kintyre would really have given people a headache during Saturday's (15/3/14) Wheelchair Curling. It certainly did me.
With the word "Impossible" hanging in the air it was time for most hyped sequence of the entire ceremony. This saw Aleksey Chuvashev from the opening video climb a 15 metre rope using nothing but his hands. While I suspect this had been practised over and over again and there was a suspicion that Chuvashev was helped by a wire-harness your first reaction to hearing this described would probably something along the lines of; "If he fails that is going to be really embarrassing." As such Chuvashev's struggle to the top of the rope represented Russia's struggle to stage the Sochi games under seriously difficult conditions.
When Chuvashev reached the top of the rope he released an apostrophe that changed the word "Impossible" into the phrase; "I'm Possible." For para-Olympians - especially ones born with a disability - this is a very powerful message because science and society really tells them that they shouldn't exist let alone attempt sport. So by competing at the para-Olympics they are both showing that they are possible and they can achieve. Also plenty of people were saying that it was going to be impossible for Russia to make the Sochi games a success.
However with the very computer graphic like lettering the addition of the apostrophe was also a reference to computer programming. In every day language the addition of a simple apostrophe can completely change the meaning of a word or sentence. In computer language it is probably even more important because if one symbol in a string of programming code is in the wrong place it can cause the whole thing to fail. Cyber-attack or software error have of course been suggested as possible causes for the disappearance of MH370. Also the existence of a computer virus made up of code containing Russian letters has been cited as an example of Russian aggression towards Ukraine although I would need to see the actual code before commenting further. Primarily though through this sequence Russia was trying to highlight the fact that it is actually very well accomplished in science and technology - particularly in the field of computing with the world leading computer security firm Kaspersky Labs being based in Moscow.
With the legend "I'm Possible" revealed the sequenced ended and C4 went to an advert break. It also seems like an appropriate time for me to take a break.
22:00 on 17/3/14 (UK date).
Edited at around 16:30 on 18/3/14 (UK date) to add;
On this occasion C4 did manage to return from the commercial break in time for the Parade of Nations. As in the para-Olympics many of the athletes suffer from mobility problems it is sort traditional for the athletes to take their seats before the start of the closing ceremony with only designated flag bearers carrying their respective national flags into and around the arena. This closing ceremony stuck to that tradition with the flag bearers again emerging from beneath the arena floor and parading beneath the "I'm Possible" legend which stayed in place throughout the remainder of the ceremony.
The only thing of note from the Parade of Nations is that TeamGB and their Commonwealth Realm ally Australia decided to use it as a way to make a statement about the long running Olympic debate about the age of sexual consent. Carrying the Australian flag was Ben Tudhope a 14 year old Snowboarder who had to be given a special dispensation to appear at the games. I don't think he should be in any way offended by me pointing out that Tudhope does look just like a 14 year old boy so throughout the games he has been at the centre of a discussion about whether he is too young to be there.
As their flag bearer TeamGB had chosen Jade Etherington. Throughout the games TeamGB and C4 have been pushing Etherington to the centre of their coverage. In part this is because Etherington seems to be genuinely talented but also because she is quite an attractive women which promotes discussion about disabled people as sex symbols and their right to enjoy things like a sex life. In fact on Friday (14/3/14) I described Etherington as my 'Weird Crush' of the games which apparently made her feel so unwell that she was forced to pull out of her final event on Sunday (16/3/14). Therefore I should probably explain that I define a 'weird crush' as the occasion where you find yourself attracted to someone but are mildly disturbed by they fact that you find them attractive for some reason you just can't quite put your finger on.
Having sucked all the fun out of the situation by over analysing it I've come to the conclusion that what unsettles me about finding Jade Etherington attractive isn't that she is visually impaired - in fact I would consider that a bonus - but the fact she seems so sweet, innocent and emotionally much younger then her 23 years. As a result I think that we would have very little in common meaning that a romantic relationship just wouldn't work. I sort of get the same thing with Miley Cyrus because although she is an attractive young women and there would be no legal barrier to us having a sexual relationship the age gap means that I feel I wouldn't be able to connect with her in the same way as I would with, say, Rihanna. This sort of discussion highlights how difficult it is for governments to pass laws governing things like the age of sexual consent because although it would be legal I personally think that a romantic relationship between myself and Jade Etherington would be a bad idea. Of course the dangerous flip side of that argument is that if it is too difficult for governments to pass laws about things like the age of sexual consent should we even have laws governing the age of sexual consent. That of course sounds like a paedophiles charter but sadly is all we've come to expect from the UK.
With the Parade of Nations over it was time for the awarding of the Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award which is unique to the para-Olympics. Dr Whang Youn Dai contracted Polio at the age of three but still went on to qualify as a medical doctor and champion the para-Olympic movement both in her native South Korea and internationally. So at the 1998 Summer Para-Olympics in Seoul, South Korea the International Para-Olympic Committee (IPC) introduced an award in her honour. At every para-Olympics since that award - and a valuable cash prize - has been awarded to one male and one female athlete who is; "fair, honest and is uncompromising in his or her values and
prioritises the promotion of the Paralympic Movement above personal
recognition."
The 2014 male award went to Australian Super-G skier Toby Kane in honour of holding the Australian team together following the death of teammate Matthew Robinson who died on February 21st (21/2/14) aboard a medical evacuation flight back to Australia following an in competition crash in Spain. Obviously that had a devastating effect on the Australian team who were expecting Robinson to compete alongside them in the Snowboard event at Sochi. However the incident also serves to highlight that if the Russians had wanted to stick the knife in over Ukraine by holding a in memorium sequence in the Olympic closing ceremony they certainly would have had grounds to do so.
The 2014 female award went to Dutch Snowboarder Bibian Mentel-Spee. This reflected the fact that Mentel-Spee began as an able-bodied Snowboarder in 1993 and qualified for the 2002 Winter para-Olympics in Salt Lake City, USA. However just before those games Mentel-Spree was diagnosed with bone cancer that forced the amputation of her leg. Four months after that amputation Mentel-Spree was back Snowboarding and with the event included in the para-Olympics for the first time in Sochi Mentel-Spree won the first ever women's Snowboarding gold medal.
Due to the fact that Dr Whang Youn Dai was South Korean and the 2014 Winter para-Olympics have been sponsored heavily by the South Korean technology company Samsung the award ceremony was proceeded by a video that borrowed heavily from the Samsung advert that has been shown worldwide to promote the para-Olympics. Of course during the 2012 Summer para-Olympic closing ceremony I described the Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award as "Some Chinese Award." As such I hope the South Koreans will forgive because the 2012 closing ceremony was so stressful for me it's still capable of ruining my day some 545 days later.
With the flags of the competing nations in the arena and the awards handed out it was time to get back to the action. The next sequence centred around 210 Cossack dancers choreographed by Nikolay Kubar. Cossacks with their elaborate costumes and complicated dance routines are of course an aspect of Russian culture that is probably famous the world over. However Cossacks are particularly important to the 2014 games because Sochi is slap bang in the middle of the Cossack's traditional homeland and in preparation for the games the Russian government once again put Cossacks on the payroll to help provide security at the games. Eastern Ukraine and particularly Crimea are also traditional Cossack territory so in light of recent events it seems the world needs a little reminder of exactly what they are dealing with.
As they performed their traditional dances - the "Sabre Dance" is probably the most famous - the Cossacks were dressed in traditional costumes but emphasising the theme of modernity their costumes were made up of modern materials such as plastic/PVC. The Cossacks costumes were in the Red, White and Blue of the Russian flag but the brash and garish nature of the materials used made them resemble more the red, white and blue of "Uncle Sam" which represents the US government as personified in J.M Flagg's 1917 war recruitment posters. To drive home the statement about American arrogance the 'sabres' the Cossacks were in fact light tubes in a clear reference to the "Lightsabres" used in the "Star Wars" series of films.
"Star Wars" is also the nickname given to the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI) that was launched by US President Reagan in 1983. The plan was to place laser armed satellites into space in order to shoot down Soviet nuclear missiles in order to allow the US to launch nuclear strikes against the Soviet Union without the risk of retaliation and the Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) that would surely follow. As such the SDI or 'Star Wars' is considered a byword for the US' rabidly insane hatred for the Soviet Union that began under Reagan but sadly still continues to this day in parts of the US Establishment.
Throughout the Cossack sequence the music was very interesting. Initially it started as traditional Cossack polka music which helped bring Cossack culture to the fore but also reminded everybody how far down the mind spinning route the Russians could have gone with these ceremonies if they'd wanted too. However about half-way through the music began to blend into what sounded like a James Brown vocal. Just as you were beginning work out exactly what James Brown song it was the vocal began to sound more like Stevie Wonder before progressing into just a generic American black, male soul vocal. This of course played about with the main theme of the ceremony of Russian high culture versus American pop-culture. The message seemed to be the Russians going; "Yeah we can do that just as well as you. It's just we don't see the point."
The James Brown song "Living In America" of course featured heavily in the 1985 film "Rocky IV" which saw Sylvester Stallone's all American boxing champion "Rocky Balboa" come out of retirement to fight the Soviet Union's machine like "Ivan Drago" played by Dolph Lundgren after Drago killed Rocky's mentor "Apollo Creed" in the ring. While the earlier Rocky films were actually quite intelligent social commentaries on the lives of the working class in a post-industrial American Rocky IV was just trash. If there was any hint of a political message to the film is was that the USA is brilliant and amazing while the Soviets are all stupid and evil. As such it feeds perfectly into the theme of US pop-culture always trying to find a new lowest common denominator. Rocky IV is also another example of the US' brash arrogance during the Reagen years.
As the - for want of a better term - American black music was playing the Cossacks were joined in the arena by the aggressive hoodies that had first appeared during the earlier extreme sports sequence. The Cossacks and the hoodies then proceeded to have a bit of a dance off. As with their appearance earlier the hoodies were supposed to represent US hip-hop/pop culture and Jay-Z and Rihanna in particular. To emphasise the point during this sequence the music resembled the "Nah, nah-nah, nah" hook from the "Macklemore" song "Can't Hold Us." At the 2014 Grammy Awards Macklemore cleaned up in the rap/Hip-Hop categories in what was seen as a clear snub to Jay -Z.
The main message seemed to be that the Cossacks would eat Jay-Z and his fellow faux gangster rappers for breakfast. However the sequence also took a very specific swipe at the US' 2013 Rihanna operation. The objective of the European leg of that operation was to help make the US expert in European Union (EU) politics and the EU's policy to former Soviet states in particular. Recent events in Ukraine have more then proved that the mission had failed and the US is actually pretty clueless about what it going on in Ukraine particularly the ethnic tensions between the Cossacks and groups like Right Sector.
Unfortunately though - confirming every negative stereotype about the US - this complete lack of understanding hasn't stopped the US trying to through it's weight about and making an already delicate situation much worse in the process.
With the Cossacks leaving the arena at the end of the sequence I will end part one here and continue in part two.
18:45 on 18/3/14 (UK date).
