20 February 2012

Spartakiad


"Mass games" have traditionally been popular in socialist or communist states because the performance of the individual is deemphasized in favor of the performance of the group as a whole.  The video depicts a "Spartakiad" at the Strahov Stadium in Czechoslovakia.

Blogged for those who enjoy watching tens of thousand of healthy young men running around in white underpants.  But the opening 30 seconds of the video do give a sense of what an opponent might have confronted in ancient warfare.

6 comments:

  1. Strahov Stadium is HUGE. Within the 'walls', there is a spa and a sizable Squash Centre. But it is crumbling quite a bit.

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  2. Just stunning.

    From what I can tell, these large synchronised games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokol) predated Czechoslovakia's socialist era.

    The comparison to North Korea and China's mass games seems apropos, but this craziness is not limited to commies.

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  3. reminded me of the drumming performance at the beijing games

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUy9OgRRXnw

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  4. So, I've just discovered I do indeed enjoy watching tons of young men jump around in ill-fitting white shorts. Who knew?

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  5. The size of the stadium and the show remind me of Hitler's "Cathedral of Light". Monumental architecture and rallies (or games) within those structures have often been key tools in totalitarian states.

    Good overview here:
    http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2009/02/totalitarian-architecture-of-third.html

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  6. Horrors. How do they convince them all to be part of it? I would've hidden under the floorboards...or maybe they know where all the hiding places are there...

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