Curious about…Mass Game Aesthetics.
Mass games or mass gymnastics are a form of performing arts or gymnastics in which large numbers of performers take part in a highly regimented performance that emphasize group dynamics rather than individual prowess. The effect of displaying huge images is achieved by having a large number of performers, each dressed in a particular color or holding a sheet of colored cardboard above their head. Because of the vast scale of the performance, often with tens of thousands of people, mass games are performed in stadiums, often accompanied by a background of card-turners occupying the seats on the side opposite the spectators. Rapid change of images is achieved by exchanging one card for another in a swift and synchronized movement. Synchronization is achieved by means of several hours of rehearsals and much detailed choreography.
Today, mass games are regularly performed only in North Korea, where they take place to celebrate national holidays such as the birthdays of rulers Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il. In recent years, they have been the main attraction of the Arirang Festival in Pyongyang. The 2004 documentary film A State of Mind details the training of two young girls from Pyongyang who perform in the mass games.
The Mass Games are full of symbolism and possess an important ideological character praising the Workers Party of North Korea, its armed forces, Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. These messages may not be clear to foreign spectators who are not aware of North Korean iconography: a rising sun symbolizes Kim Il Sung. When a gun is shown, it signifies the gun which Kim Il Sung gave to his son Kim Jong Il. The color red, particularly in flowers, stands for the working class. And the color purple and purple flowers represent Kim Il Sung (as the flower ‘Kimilsungia is a purple orchid and the flower ‘Kimjongilia’ is a red begonia). A snowy mountain with a lake represents Mount Paektu where Kim Jong Il is said to have been born in a log cabin.
The artistry and choreography is accomplished by a reported 300 specialists who work in the DPRK’s Creative Group for Mass Games, after having majored in Mass Games at one of the country’s universities. The Creative Group is headed by one Kim Jong Ho, the Mass Games Organizer, who is briefly interviewed on A State of Mind. Again there is a surprise: where one might expect the man in charge of such an operation to be a big-shot in a grandiose party get-up, instead we see your average bespectacled ajushii sitting at a desk in his office, his grey suit slightly rumpled after a day of work. The only clue alluding to what one supposes must be a complicated job is the fact that there are four telephones on his desk.
Colored card booklets on a card stunt “plate”—the performers arrange the cards according to predesigned patterns in order to achieve a detailed aggregate image.
What Of It? I am going to bypass the obvious political aspects of this for a second and focus purely on the spectacle. It’s pretty mind-blowing. The Guiness World of Records recognises the Korean Mass Games as the biggest festival of its kind; up to 80,000 people performing in one stadium at a time in extensively-choreographed performances that last several hours. Children as young as 5 regularly perform, and people rehearse for months, sometimes years in advance. Clearly the underlying messages are pure propaganda, but the theatricality of this this is pure spectacle. It’s also interesting to see humans recreating digital pixels in analog form. Nick Bonner, producer of “A State of Mind” describes seeing the Arirang Games as “Busby Berkeley on acid.”
I Am Curious about alternative aesthetics, especially in cultures we do not know well or are impenetrable to external cultural influence, about spectacle generally, the notion of scale and mass performance.
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