2014 FIFA World Cup Official Logo
During certain periods, in certain societies, says Barthes, the theatre had a major social function; namely, it united the entire city within the joy of a shared experience and knowledge of its own passions.
Today, it is sport - and one sport in particular, football - that in its own fashion performs this function.
Football today, however, is a global phenomenon and obsession and it's no longer just a city which it brings together, or a nation, but, in a sense, the entire world - as we currently witness in Brazil at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Of course, just like the modern Olympic Games, the World Cup is a monstrous and insane corporate-media spectacle; one which is reportedly as rife with corruption off the field, as it is tainted by undignified behaviour on it (Suarez, really, what were you thinking?).
At best, the World Cup is merely posing as a noble sporting event with ancestral significance and only pretending to further the highest ideals of humanity. The opening ceremony - always carried out with great formality - fools no one and bores the spectators as much as it often bemuses the commentators.
We all know football is now played by vain and greedy millionaires who are more concerned with selling their image rights and securing extremely lucrative sponsorship deals than with kicking a ball about and that the fans are treated as little more than a bovine source of revenue; the super-fat in their over-priced replica shirts supporting the super-fit for the entertainment and further enrichment of the super-wealthy.
And yet still we watch, still we care, and still we believe ... Such is the magic of the beautiful game.
I agree and, furthermore, in the light of the reaction of the Brazilian people to the defeat of their national team a few days ago, it seems that, besides religion, football too functions as the opium of the people, diverting attention from serious social issues.
ReplyDeleteWhat I think is humiliating is not the team's defeat on the pitch but the infantilisation of a whole people who have been encouraged to suck on the narcotic effect of the myth of the nation's footballing supremacy. So much so that now that the myth has collapsed, tears and anger and rage must ensue. The real victory would be not to smash the mirror, Caliban-like.