The 2018 Winter Olympics: Opening Ceremony Pt.4

A continuation of Part 3; https://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/the-2018-winter-olympics-opening_13.html

Beaten Black & Blue:

This phase of the sequence began with what appeared to be a train carriage. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died aboard a train carriage in 2011.

With Kim Jong-il's daughter Kim Yo-jong being in the audience that is quite a strong statement from the South Koreans.

However the train carriage then broke apart into a vast number of of door frames or doorways. Each with their own set of complex LED lights and performers to wheel them around the arena floor.

Through this the sequence began to explore Korean Unification as an existential concept.

Really the only practical way in which Korean unification exists is through the reunification of families separated by the partition. Every so often a doorway opens between the two Koreas and these families get to spend time with each other the specially built; "Peace Village" of Panmunjom.

As these doorways where being wheeled around lighting projected a display onto the arena floor. These resembled the famous paintings and drawings of Dutch Artist M.C Escher.

With pathways and staircases that seem to lead nowhere discussions about Korean Unification and negotiations between the DPRK and the RoK can feel a lot like an Escher painting. Particularly "Relativity" from 1953 or "Ascending & Descending" from 1960.

At one point performers appeared in a colour scheme which made them resemble the; "Minions" who first emerged in the 2010 animated movie; "Despicable Me." However the style of these performers dress resembled Nuclear, Biological, Chemical (NBC) protection suits.

This contrast was intended to promote discussion about Hard and Soft Power.

Hard Power is military power. Tanks and guns etc. The DPRK has focused heavily on hard power. Not only through its nuclear weapons program but also a vast arsenal of conventional weapons.

Although I don't have the exact figures at any given point the DPRK is said to have artillery pointed at the RoK ready to rain down something like 250,000 high explosive shells every three minutes. After only 90 seconds that is going to make one hell of a mess.

Coined by the US political scientist Joesph Nye Soft Power is anything using attraction or persuasion. Charm essentially.

So it's something like setting up a worldwide news broadcaster - something like Arirang Word. This allows a nation to put forward its position on issues to a global audience.

The BBC's World Service is famously not run by the BBC. It's run by Britain's foreign intelligence service M16. The BBC merely funds it and provides with diplomatic cover.

Soft Power can even be something as simple as entertaining people through things like K-Pop.

Provided you don't get into specific political disputes I think that globally most people have a positive view of America. That's because America makes them laugh through movies such as Despicable Me.

Really undergoing a resurgence during the Cold War the Olympics are pretty much a Soft Power competition between nations.

During the 2016 Summer Olympics I think many people may have forgotten any negative feelings they had towards China during Fu Yuanhui's series of delightful interviews.

Unlike the DPRK the RoK has not had to build its own nuclear deterrent. It has simply relied on the US to provide it with what's termed a protective umbrella. The RoK also relies on the US for almost its entire defence budget.

As a result the RoK has been able to spend massively on Soft Power. While the DPRK has been forced to spend heavily on Hard Power.

The sequence then gives a rather detailed examination of whether the RoK thinks Soft Power or Hard Power will win out in any future war to unify the Korean Peninsula. Annoyingly I think it is best for me to leave that as an undefined artistic statement.

However I will paraphrase for US President Obama;

"Much as I try to stop it. The arc of human history tends to bend towards justice."

The sequence ended with large particles light rising from the recessed circle at the centre of the circular arena to a corresponding circle in the sky.

This was a reference to the Quantum Encryption communications Satellite (QUESS) that China launched during the 2016 Summer Olympics.

I can't even pretend to understand how QUESS works. 

However if you are encrypting data so it can be stored electronically - say on a computer hard disc - at some point you need to convert it into Binary code. This is simply; "Electrical Signal Present - (1)" or "Electrical Signal Absent (0)."

What QUESS does is use sub-atomic particles of light to create the electrical signal. Rather like a fibre optic cable. 

However because the light particles used in QUESS are so small if you were to intercept them you would destroy them making it impossible to decrypt the data. Giving you a totally secure communications system.

Quantum Encryption is most certainly not a Childlike Cipher.

Opening Speeches: 

It is protocol that each Opening Ceremony must feature opening speeches. 

By the head of the host National Olympic Committee (NOC). In this case ‎Lee Kee-heung. Then by the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In this case former Olympic fencer Thomas Bach.

As you would expect Lee Kee-heung gave his speech in Korean. However unusually the BBC who provided the coverage I watched did not provide a translator.

Instead the commentator read out a copy of the speech he'd been provided with beforehand. Therefore I have no way of knowing whether the speech I heard was actually the speech delivered. I certainly have no way of gauging the reaction.

This is actually an old diplomatic trick. Particularly from the Cold War. 

Newspapers would be provided with an advance copy of a diplomat's speech that they would print days or even weeks after it was delivered. However unseen by a domestic audience the diplomatic would deliver an ever so slightly different speech. Even something a simple as changing the rhythm of delivery so certain words or phrase poignantly hang in the air.

As to why the BBC failed to provide a translator they could be protesting cuts to their budget to pay for MI6's World Service. Through things like the equal pay scandal BBC funding is a particularly hot topic in the UK at the moment.

They could also have been trying, and I think failing, to make the point that I am entirely dependent of them. So if they give me false information - like the Japanese Peace Bell being used in the ceremony - I roboticaly repeat that false information to you. 

It is also possible the South Korean hosts were deliberately feeding the BBC false information. So they would roboticaly repeat it. Making a point about the BBC's continued reporting of things like there being a moderate opposition in Syria or there being an accidental fire at Grenfell Tower.

IOC President Thomas Bach delivered his speech in English. 

Addressing what the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) have described as an arbitrary political decision to exclude Russia Bach spoke about the need for a clean games and for drug cheats to be harshly punished.

At best this was met with a stony silence from the audience of assembled competitors. I'm quite sure I also heard quite a bit of booing in the background too.

At 18:15 on 14/2/18 (UK date) I will pick this up after dinner.


Edited at around 19:50 on 14/2/18 (UK date) to add above and below;

Cowardly Cheese: 

Officially titled; "Peace in Motion" this sequence was inspired by the element Earth. Represented in Wu Xing by the colour Yellow.

It's a common misconception that Koreans use a logographic alphabet like Japan and China. Something which is not helped by the fact they do use some Chinese and Japanese logographic symbols. But in a completely different way to how Japan and China use them.

One example of something resembling a logographic alphabet that is becoming common the world over is Emojis or Emoticons. The little symbols you use on your phone and on social media. Rather then writing; "I am happy" you simply put Happy Face Symbol - a single character.

Recently there was a bit of controversy in the world of Emojis over the Cheeseburger symbol. 

I think it was Google's Emoji that showed the bun, the cheese, the burger and then the bun. Everyone knows that in a cheeseburger the cheese goes on top of the burger an beneath the bun. 

Even as recently as last week Nintendo were still mocking Google with a competition to decide whether its Cheeseburger Emoji should feature pickles or not.

The American cheese slices you get in Cheeseburgers are a particularly nasty shade of yellow.

This sequence featured four South Koreans signing John Lennon's anti-war anthem of peace and unity; "Imagine." As they were signing a video was shown in the corner of the screen. This featured people of all races, genders and ages all across the world playing instruments or also signing along. In the arena were waving lights - a traditional Korean gesture of peace.

In short is was every cheesy cliche about the Olympics being conducted in the spirit of peace and unity all in one place.

As such it was hard to take the message of peace seriously. It seemed so sarcastic you got the impression the South Koreans had their rifles oiled and loaded and were waiting for the day all this talk of peace was going to end.

The main singers represent the old military dictatorship RoK and the new democratic RoK. 

The two older singers were Lee Eun-mi and Jeon In-kwon. Lee Eun-mi began her career in the late 1980's. Jeon In-kwon's career goes back even further into the rule of Park Chung-hee having first risen to fame in 1979.

The two younger singers were current K-Pop stars; Ha Hyun-woo of the rock band Guckkasten and Ahn Ji-young of the pop duo Bolbbalgan4. 

Through his style of dress Ha Hyun-woo seemed to be referencing the TV Show; "Doctor Who" or perhaps in this case; "Doctor Woo." His military style overcoat is a big theme in male K-Pop fashion. Due to them having to break-off, Elvis Presley style, to perform compulsory military service.

The sequence began with the childlike ciphers in their modern South Korean clothes entering the arena. They were carrying the traditional Korean gesture of peace of light and water. They then shared this gift with a family wearing traditional winter dress.

Although it went unspoken the family in traditional dress were meant to be a North Korean family. This was the RoK mocking the DPRK over the fact they have to constantly give them gifts of cash and even just food and water to stop them starving to death. Normally because Kim Jong-il had just blown something up.

The ciphers and the starving North Korean family then shared this gift of peace with a large number of performers who entered the arena. This led to the arena being packed with performers all carrying these little electrical lights. 

The BBC commentator claimed that these lights were controlled by a 5G Wireless signal showing the RoK's technological dominance over everyone - especially Japan. However I think he might have got that confused with the drones which appeared later.

Throughout the sequence the performers moved about the darkened arena. This meant that at some points there were lights everywhere. At others there were no lights to be seen.

One of the most striking ways to illustrate the difference in economic development between the RoK and the DPRK is to fly over the Korean Peninsula at night. In the RoK there are electrical lights everywhere while the DPRK is plunged into near total darkness.

If you're interested in economic development on the continent of Africa, as people working for the Green Climate Fund (GCF) are you get the same contrast. At night Africa is almost entirely in darkness.

Under the dictatorship of Park Chung-hee between 1962 and 1979 the US gave the RoK around US$70bn in financial aid. In the same period the US gave the entire continent of Africa less then US$70bn in financial aid.

Despite the earlier mockery this was the RoK conceding that maybe their economic superiority over the DPRK may in part be due to all the free money.

As a climax to the sequence the performers with the lights arranged themselves in the shape of a bird surrounded by a Taoist circle. Due to the torches this bird appeared to be on fire.

I don't think this was any actual bird. However it could be viewed as a Dove - a traditional western symbol of peace. It could also be viewed as the Fenghuang - the bird which uses the sun to travel between dimensions. A traditional eastern symbol of peace.

Mainly though it seemed to resemble the "Mockingjay" symbol from the "Hunger Games" series of movies.

That series of books and movies very much incorporate firebird myths as a central theme. The  central character Katniss Everdean wears a broach of a Mockingjay which becomes a symbol of the revolution. As she prepares to enter one of the Hunger Games she's presented in an elaborate costume with feathered bird wings that catches fire on command.

The Hunger Games actually seems closer to the Russian Firebird myth then anything like the Phoenix or Fenghuang. The Russian Firebird myth is an allegory warning about the pursuit of the unobtainable.

Although I don't want to give out spoilers Katniss is recruited by the revolutionaries trying to overthrow a dictatorship. These revolutionaries are led by a woman. Finally it is revealed that the female leader is every bit the dictator as the man she overthrows. 

The symbol of the dictatorship in the Hunger Games is the White Rose.

As the 2018 US Grammy music awards guests were talked into wearing as single White Rose. This was to show support for the "#TimesUp" campaign like sexual abusers like President Trump. During the ceremony Hillary Clinton appeared as the leader of the TimesUp campaign. On a Hunger Games style dictatorship bigscreen.

The whole thing seemed to be spectacularly lacking in self-awareness.

The frightening thing is that the South Koreans might have been able to create the elaborate computer animation featuring the Hunger Games style cityscape used earlier in the time between the Grammys and the Opening Ceremony.

The other frightening thought is that it might have been the K-Pop stars at the Grammys who talked everyone into wearing the White Roses in the first place.

The imagery of the Hunger Games including the three fingered salute was adopted by those trying to resist the 2014 Coup in Thailand.

Firstly that coup was a directly result of Rihanna's 2013 Diamonds World Tour (DWT). Rihanna and I were married at the 2012 Summer Para-Olympics. The Diamonds World Tour was our honeymoon.

The key thing about that tour was knowing when Rihanna was moving between different countries with different threat profiles. Despite not playing a concert there Rihanna decided to make not one but two secret trips to Thailand. The intention being to give the Thais insider information.

The backlash against this was immense. In the end the Thai border guards got Rihanna to sign autographs and pose for photographs as she was leaving. So they could post them on the Internet to prove to everyone that Rihanna had finally left.

The 2014 coup was to get rid of the government that had embarrassed Thailand so badly by associating it with Rihanna.

Secondly no-one seemed at all surprised or bothered by Thailand's 2014 coup.

That's because Thailand is such a repressive country it's said that it doesn't have elections. It simply changes its government through coups. This was I think their 11th or 12th in 50 years.

Despite this Thailand is still one of the most liberal nations in that part of South East Asia. The most repressive is Myanmar/Burma and you have nations like Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam all competing somewhere in the middle.

Unfortunately in his grand; "Pivot Towards the Pacific" policy former US President Obama didn't seem to understand any of this. 

He simply coloured in the bit which is China with one colour crayon. Then coloured in all the bits that aren't China in another colour crayon.

The result is the chaos we're currently seeing in now apparently US trading partner Myanmar.

One of current US President Trump's first acts was to scrap the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). The economic track of Obama's Pivot Towards the Pacific.

This doesn't mean that Asian nations can't continue trade with each other and the US. It just means that agreements are done on a bilateral basis best suited to the individual nations involved.

Of course before we start talking about opening up Myanmar it seems we're first going to have to close off Myanmar with more sanctions.

21:35 on 14/2/18 (UK date).