a few weeks ago i wondered if the Olympics would be the environmentalist blockbuster of the summer.
a blockbuster? without a doubt. environmentalist? sorta. last Friday on Korean television i caught sight of not just fake trees around the Olympic stadium but even faked high-rises.* the buildings were real enough but the authorities had set up lights inside each vacant room to simulate occupancy.
over the weekend i watched a few minutes of the marathon with my brother-in-law. as the helicopter followed the front of the pack into a lush urban park he remarked “it looks really nice, so much for the pollution.” never mind that the route and its coverage were planned to create just such a reaction.
to this day we don’t know whether or not Potemkin really did create similar fakes to impress his queen.
but for whom did China put on such a show if not, ultimately, for the Chinese? and by show I don’t mean the fireworks that were pre-taped or any of the other televisual spectacles. I mean our reactions – the world’s reactions – carefully filtered back into China’s national discourse.
Prestige is a complicated thing.