I just cannot help myself, I feel a rant coming on.Didn't you just know that the 2010 Olympic Mascots choosen by VANOC would stir up controversy? I apologise if you like them. You can stop reading now.
I find this to be the height of political correctness, one of my pet peeves of this generation. Are the mascots not supposed to be representative of Canada, something that will identify the 2010 Olympics with things Canadian? Well, it does, really. It shows our greatest national identity marker ... lack of identity.
There is nothing real about Canada, according to these choices, because all three are fictional. Canadian identity is fictional. We have Sumi, an imaginary spirit roaming the forests, supposedly of aboriginal origins, then there is Quatchi, a sasquatch (and we all know how real these guys are) and then Miga, a fish/bear who is perhaps a missing link in the evolutionary myth.
All three are sort of Oriental looking, and although there is nothing wrong with looking Oriental, I don't think the Chinese are going to have Caucasian looking mascots.
If the appeal was strictly to children then they hit the jackpot imitating Pokemon, but looking back at other Canadian Mascots I think we could have done better. The '76 Montreal Olympics had the cute little flag bannered Beaver named Amik. And who could forget the endearing Polar Teddy Bears of Hidy and Howdy of the Calgary winter Olympics of '88? These were mascots representative of things Canadian.
It is too late now but I would like to have seen something like a lumberjack dressed in a red plaid shirt with an Olympic sized ax over his shoulder. Now that is not only Canadian, but British Columbian as well. Besides, our forest industry needs a big shot in the arm right now.
Oops, I just thought of it. That would be politically incorrect because that would be a representation of deforestation which is leading to global warming etc. etc.
3 comments:
Why not pancakes with Canadian maple syrup, or a hockey puck, or polar bears...or maple leafs, or Tim Horton's cups, or RCMP horses ...or Corner Gas souveniers, or grain elevators and Rocky Mountain sillhouettes of replanted slash cut rain forests, and grizzly bears, or starlings and crows and seagulls? What about those, eh?
I'm ranting with ya bro... indignation on behalf the nation.
Maybe they are trying to appease the pine beetle gods.
They are very childish.....but they are marketing to kids so it makes sense for that reason. It all comes down to $$
I certainly hope they make lots of $$ with them so the tax payer does not have to subsidize the Olympics. But I still do not like them.
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