The 2018 Winter Para-Olympic: Opening Ceremony Pt.2

A continuation of Part 1; https://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/the-2018-winter-para-olympics-opening.html

A Royal Welcome:

This next sequence is based on the welcoming ceremony given to important visitors to the Korean Royal Court.

Apparently this type of ceremony has an official name.

Unfortunately there is significantly less information about the Para-Olympic Opening Ceremony available than there is compared to the Olympic Opening Ceremony. For example its Wikipedia entry merely confirms the time and location at which it took place.

Therefore being unable to see the name of this ceremony written down I can't research it. As I proved yesterday spending two hours trying and failing to research it.

However the period of Korean history the ceremony dates from is the Joseon Dynasty. This is considered one of the most important periods of Korean history.

The Olympic Opening Ceremony focused on the Three Kingdoms of Korea period between 57 B.C and 668 A.D. The Three Kingdoms period ended with the Korean Peninsula being divided into North and South states between 668 A.D and roughly 900 A.D.

This was followed by the Later Three Kingdoms Period between roughly 900 A.D and 920 A.D. This gave way to the Unitary Dynastic Period which lasted from 920 A.D until the start of Japanese Colonial rule in 1910.

The Joseon Dynasty was the longest lasting and most important of the three dynasties of the Unitary Dynastic Period.

The Joseon period was considered the height of Korean culture, technology, trade and regional power. Much of the societal rules such as the role of women and the class system which continue to exist in modern South Korean society came into being during Joseon Dynasty.

The key figure within the Joseon Dynasty is King Sejong the Great who ruled from 1418 to 1450. Amid his many scientific and cultural achievements was the creation of the Hangul. The Korean system of writing that continues to be used to this day.

There were also some extremely troubled periods during the Joseon Dynasty. Most notably the rule of King Yi Yung known as Yeonsangun of Joseon between 1494 and 1506.

Yeonsangun led purges of the intellectual elite known as; "Sarim"  including the; "Office of Censors" a body supposed to act as a check on the King's power and hold him to account. Yeonsangun even banned the use of Hangul after he discovered newly literate peasants were using it to criticise him.

During the Joseon Dynasty Korea also suffered numerous invasions. Twice at the hands of the Japanese in 1592 and 1597. Then by the Chinese Manchu in 1627 and again in 1636.

This saw Korea withdrawing into isolation leading it to be dubbed the; "Hermit Kingdom."

Many - particularly western - commentators have taken to referring to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK/North) as the; "Hermit Kingdom."

This must really annoy Koreans because the Hermit Kingdom refers to a specific and different period of Korean history. The fact commentators don't know that makes you doubt the way they describe themselves as; "Experts on Korea."

Whatever the name of this Joseon Royal welcoming ceremony it centred around music and dance.

It began with a single, below the elbow amputee striking a Pungmul-buk drum. This is a type of drum dating back to the Three Kingdoms period used in Pungmul folk music. "Buk" is merely the Korean word for; "Drum."

Although I did not catch his name the performers specific impairment is significant here. As part of the ceremony the Pungmul-buk is struck with the right hand rather than the left hand used for a similar Suri-buk. This performers right hand was a prosthetic limb.

The action then shifted to two performers playing a very large drum laying flat on the centre of the arena floor. I think this is a type of drum known as a; "Junggo." However I can honestly say this is the first conversation about traditional Korean drums I've ever had in my life. So I may well be wrong.

As this large drum was being played the sound waves it produced were being shown as light waves projected onto the arena floor.

If you've been reading up on the Doppler Effect you would know that the frequency of these waves changes relatively to the point at which you are observing them.

Sound waves being shown as light waves raises an important point about the adaptations that can be made to overcome physical impairments.

It focused on what I think it one of the most common impairments known to TV viewers. The sense of sight being used to overcome an impairment in the sense of hearing.

In short visual signals are used to compensate for hearing impaired people who can't detect audio clues. TV programs feature subtitles so people who can't hear what is being said can read what is being said.

Many TV services now also include Audio Description. This allows people who cannot see what is happening have what is happening described to them through sound. Hilarious during sex scenes.

This was a big theme of the 2016 Summer Para-Olympics held in Rio de Janerio, Brazil.

They actually went into a lot of depth about a neurological condition called; "Synesthesia." People suffering from Synesthesia experience a sensory input in the form of the perception of another sense. So for example they might smell noise or hear colour.

Officially the 2018 Winter Para-Olympics are picking up the baton from the 2014 Winter Para-Olympics held in Sochi, Russia. However this reference to Brazil seemed in honour of new IPC President Andrew Parsons.

Despite having possibly the most English name imaginable Andrew Parsons is Brazilian. He oversaw the 2016 Summer Para-Olympic games.

He also helps to highlight a major theme from those games. That there simply is no dominant ethnic group in Brazil.

So if Obama's Black Lives Matter (BLM) warriors are serious about eliminating; "Cultural Appropriation" I'm pretty sure they're going to have to exterminate the entire population of Brazil.

The sounds of the drum were joined by dancers performing some variant of a traditional Korean Lotus dance.

The Lotus flower is a potent symbol within Animist religions. Particularly in Mahyana Buddhists who have Lotus or; "Padma" Sutra religious text.

The roots of the Lotus plant grow beneath the muddy water. Yet it's pure white flower grows to bloom above the murk. It serves then as a symbol for the journey of enlightenment towards the complete purification of body, mind and deed through Buddhist teaching.

Lotus dances are traditionally performed during the month of May which marks the birth of Buddha. This also marks the start of spring so the Lotus and Lotus dances are often mistaken for symbols of spring.

Despite these being the Winter Para-Olympics they are actually taking place when South Korea moves from winter into spring. What the Wu Xing would describe as the Earth element - the period between two seasons.

It is quite subversive using a Lotus dance during a ceremony supposedly from the Joseon Dynasty. One of the main efforts of the first Joseon King - Yi Seong-gye known as; "Taejo of Joseon - was to shift Koreans from Buddhism to the teachings of Chinese philosopher Confucius.

As the dance was taking place projected onto the arena floor were colourful images which seemed to resemble the; "Wheel of Time" or "Kalachakra." This is used in predominately Indian and Tibetan Buddhism along with Indian Sikhism and Indian Hinduism. It is portrayed slightly differently by the followers of the different religions.

Indian Hindus worship multiple gods. Three most important are the gods of the triumvirate; Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. They are said to be responsible for the creation of the universe, the protection of the universe and the destruction of the universe respectively.

As the leader of the Manhattan Project the Physicist Robert Oppenheimer is considered to be the father of the nuclear weapons. It is often said that upon witnessing the first nuclear blast Oppenheimer misquoted the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita by saying;

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”

His colleague Kenneth Bainbridge is said to have put it more succinctly;

"Now we're all sons of bitches."

The sequence ended with more dancers waving rather than playing handheld Korean drums. Which I think are called; "Sogo."

Commercial Break:

It was at this point the UK broadcaster Channel 4 decided to cut to a commercial break. 

As the ceremony was being broadcast in the middle of the working day - hardly premium advertising space - you would have thought they could had respected the Para-Olympics by avoiding commercial breaks. Just like they avoid putting commercial breaks into Formula 1 races of similar length they show.

Failing that you would have thought they could at least keep the commercial breaks to a minimum. Such as doing a handful of short breaks showing only the program sponsor's branding and one or possibly two adverts.

Channel 4 though decided to go for the maximum amount of advertising they're legally allowed to show. They also seemed to be trying to make the breaks as long as possible by including adverts for other Channel 4 shows which don't count towards the legal limit.

I'm sure they will try and claim this was a deliberate effort to encourage people to stream the event live from the Paralympic website to avoid missing out on key details.

Flag & Anthem:

It is a matter of Para-Olympic protocol that every ceremony must feature the raising or lowering of the flag of the host nation and the singing of the national anthem. Although I don't think its strictly speaking protocol this often involves a large flag being brought into a paraded around the arena by figures of significance.

Due to the commerical break I missed the start of this sequence. While I was able to see enough to see a large flag was used I cannot comment on the flagbearers, their identity or significance. At the very least you would expect that to be on the Paralympics own website.

I joined just in time to see the large flag being handed to the flag detail. Interestingly this was a full military flag detail.

This is noteworthy because under President Park Chung-hee the RoK was an absolute military dictatorship between 1962 and 1979. The RoK didn't fully transition to democracy until after the Cold War in the mid-1990's when it was finally allowed to join the UN.

Nations which have suffered under military dictatorship - such as 2016 Para-Olympic host Brazil - understandably can be quite sensitive about the military performing this sort of role in  public, civilian life.

As part of its transition to democracy the RoK created something called the Royal Guard to perform this type of ceremonial pageantry. As they did in the Olympic ceremonies. Although they are based on the military guard for royal palaces during the Joseon Dynasty the Korean Royal Guard are entirely civilian in nature.

While I understand why the Royal Guard were created and am in no way calling for them to be disbanded their use in the Olympic ceremonies does seem a little odd.

The RoK remains a nation at war and one with compulsory military service. With the military being able to intrude on South Koreans private lives by forcing them to join their ranks for two years it seems petty to object to them being involved in public life by raising a flag at a ceremony.

The use of a military flag detail here seemed to raise that point. While making it clear that South Koreans aren't that sensitive about the role of the military in public life. They just wanted to show off their Royal Guard.

This can also be interpreted as a gesture of support for US President Donald Trump.

The day before the Olympic Opening Ceremony the DPRK held a big military parade. A rival to the RoK's big display of pageantry. 

US President Trump used this as an opportunity to Troll or wind-up Obama's warriors. He declared that he too wanted a military parade like the one he's attended in France on Bastille Day 2017.

Obama's warriors then leapt on this as evidence that Trump was some sort of North Korean dictator. 

Not realising that 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. The reason why Trump attended the 2017 Bastille Day parade was because it was led by US troops. To mark the 100th anniversary of the US' entry into the First World War.

Some of Obama's warriors - possibly based in Seattle, Washington - pointed to the RoK's use of the non-military Royal Guard as further evidence that Trump is a dictator and totally out of touch with the South Koreans.

I somehow doubt those same people will be commenting on the RoK's use of a military guard here.

As the flag was raised a giant version of the red and blue Taoist Ying Yang symbol at the centre of the South Korean flag was projected onto the floor.

The signing of the South Korean national anthem was led by the; "All Wheelchair Choir" which was formed in 2016. It was mainly sung though by all the South Koreans present in the arena. 

Parade of Nations: 

It is protocol that each ceremony must include a segment in which the flags of the competing nations are paraded around the arena and then raised. Although not compulsory many of the competitors choose to join their flag in this parade.

At the Para-Olympics this can be quite a bit more complicated because many of the competitors suffer from impairments which affect their mobility. 

So for example a double below the knee amputee might find it easy to play Ice Hockey sitting on a sledge. It is more difficult for them to walk a long distance around an arena in the freezing cold.

So this sequence provides me with an opportunity to discuss the adaptations which had been made to the arena to help mitigate impairments which affect mobility.

The main one of these is that they had built a permanent (throughout the ceremony) protocol stage. Sitting where the ramp from the Cauldron to the arena floor. This contained things like the flagpoles used during the ceremony and the microphones used to give the official speeches.

This protocol stage was also fully wheelchair accessible. Rather than stairs it had multiple ramps on it allowing wheelchair users to enter the stage and discreetly leave it.

The protocol stage and its ramps had the effect of reducing the size of the arena floor. Compared to what it was during the Olympic ceremonies.

During the Olympic Parade of Nations everyone paraded around the outside of the larger arena floor in the shape of a Taoist circle. For the Para-Olympic parade not only was the arena floor smaller in size they organised a shorter route across it.

Marked out by light projection and stewards this was in the form of a snake winding across the arena floor.

This too seemed like a gesture of support for US President Trump.

President Trump handled the Olympic ceremonies with a level of diplomatic skill the World has not seen for the US since at least the days of President George H. Bush.

For the Opening Ceremony Trump dispatched Vice President Mike Pence. 

Vice President Pence represents the very hawkish wing of US politics. His brand of Evangelical Christianity has really been used to supplant South Korea's traditional Animist religions as a counter-balance to the DPRK's aggressive atheism. A major theme of the Opening Ceremony. 

On his way to the Opening Ceremony Vice President Pence was sent to Japan to make very hawkish statements about the DPRK. Apparently completely unaware of the tensions between the RoK and Japan.

For the Closing Ceremony Trump dispatched his daughter Ivanka Trump.

In keeping with the spirit of the ceremonies this was an artistic gesture of the new replacing the old. A gesture the South Koreans clearly approve of.

In response to this planned diplomatic play I said we're going to have to invent a whole new; "Troll Tier" just for Trump. A high honour amongst diplomats who are essentially professional trolls.

I suggested; "Snake General." In honour of Snake General who along with Tortoise General make up Black Turtle - one of the Four Guardians featuring in the Olympic Opening Ceremony.

So during this Parade of Nations all nations were being encouraged to follow President Trump's path.

It was also noteworthy for how the Russian team appeared.

Russia was of course banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics. However they were allowed to appear as; "Olympic Athletes of Russia (OAR)." As I explained at the time even that acronym seemed like a protest by the IOC against its President Thomas Bach's treatment of Russia.

The IPC has traditionally taken a harder line against Russia than the IOC. At the 2016 Summer Olympics Russia were only partially banned from events such as athletics. They were completely banned from the 2016 Summer Para-Olympics.

This harder line is on display during these games. Rather than being allowed to compete as OAR Russian athletes are being forced to compete as; "Neutral Athletes." No mention of Russia whatsoever and nothing to distinguish them from other athletes who are competing as neutrals.

This anti-Russian attitude seems to have played a large part in former IPC President Britain's Philip Craven leaving his post. His replacement the Brazilian Andrew Parsons has only been in post for five months.

I don't think anyone seriously wants the complex politics of the Korean Peninsula on their first day at a new job.

Speaking of which. During the Olympic Parade of Nations the two Korea's marched as a single team under a flag of Korean Unification. In the Para-Olympic parade they marched separately.

The real reason for this is that it is the DPRK's first Winter Para-Olympics. So they very much want to be seen. Their two athletes would have been completely swamped by the around 200 athletes from the RoK. 

The official reason though is that the two Korea's could not agree whether the Unification flag should include an image of what I am going to term the; "Liancourt Rocks."

These islands are in Korea's East Sea (The Sea of Japan). They are currently administered by Japan who refer to them as; "Takeshima." However they were seized from Korea during Japanese Colonial rule. 

Therefore the RoK also claim ownership of them referring to the islands as; "Tokto." As does the DPRK who refer to them as; "Dokdo."

Remember this detail. It will be important during a later, aquatic themed sequence.  

Commercial Break: 

Another commercial break from Channel 4.

18:25 on 11/3/18 (UK date).