The Olympics: Instant narrative!
I don't know anything about Olympics TV coverage outside the U.S. (Never got a TV in Hong Kong. D'oh!) And I know the American coverage is shamelessly U.S.-centric. But it is also an amazing work of media craft. Think about it: How many people care about any of these sports or know who these athletes are in years that aren't divisible by four? And yet by the second week of the Games, how many will stay home to watch a medal race or rush online to check out gymnastics results? The producers, writers, videographers and crew get us absorbed in this stuff from a dead stop. Granted, the "print" (online) media help, but this doesn't happen by itself.
Then again, maybe it's really about something else.
Then again, maybe it's really about something else.
posted by Steve at
8:30 PM
2 Comments:
Hah, that last link is funny. We were actually talking about this the other night in the context of the "uniforms" for women's beach volleyball.
Umm, I randomly came upon your web site. I wanted to comment on the ethnocentricity of the coverage. I've been in France and Korea during the games, and each country basically covers their country's athletes. France was big on showing fencing and other sports where French people were doing well. And Korea was big on showing handball and weightlifting and other sports where they were doing well. So, it makes sense that each country covers its athletes. I had always wondered about this prior to seeing it elsewhere too.
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