Asians vs. First Nations - The battle for our city’s olympic image
November 29th, 2007Place yourself in the shoes of the Vancouver Olympic Committee for a second.
They’ve been getting a lot of negative opinions lately. I mean, first there was the whole debate about actually having the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, and then there was the (ongoing) concern of how much it would cost, and then there was (and still is) the related mess known to Vancouverites as “that huge hole on Cambie that makes everyone avoid the street altogether and creates millions of dollars in losses for Cambie street business owners”.
But let’s forget about that. Today we’re talking about Vanoc’s newest unveiling: The official mascots (yes, mascots - the best place on earth clearly deserves more than one!) for the 2010 Winter Olympics. (A big thanks to Kaiti for suggesting a topic I couldn’t resist!)
When it came to creating a visual for Vancouver’s culture, I don’t doubt for a moment that the Vancouver Olympic Committee was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Why? Well, the reason is fairly obvious: Vancouver has no singular ethnicity or culture. You can find nearly every ethic background represented in this city, so what do you do?
I think Pete McMartin hit it right on the head in his column yesterday when he said, and I quote: “And, as usual, Vanoc went native, and heavily so, since it believes that the only culture worth promoting to the world is first nations. That, or it’s the most marketable.”
Cue the official logo for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics:
In case you’re not from Vancouver and staring at this thinking, “Wow, what the hell is that?”, allow me the privilege of enlightening you. It is, according to Vanoc, “Ilaanaq, the Inuit word for friend” and “will be the new identity for the Vancouver Games.” It’s a damn lucky thing we have one of those statues, bigger-than-life-sized, in our famous park; If we didn’t, I’d be willing to bet that 90% of ignorant Canadians wouldn’t know what the hell it was, much less what it represents.
(Hey, it sure in hell beats London’s Olympic logo - At least our logo looks like it was done by a hired graphic designer instead of a blind toddler.)
So we’ve got the logo, which is first nations inspired. What about the mascots? Well, without further ado, let me introduce you to Quatchi, Sumi, Miga, and Mukmuk (Who is not pictured, because he is a sidekick and evidently not worth including):
Do I even need to say any more? As you can clearly see, they [the Vancouver Olympic Committee] took what they saw as the essence of Vancouver culture: Asians and the First Nations. And the they combined the two, drawing up anime-like characters for mascots and giving them First Nation names.
Brilliant, I say. Clearly it took sheer genius to come up with the idea of combining the language of the first people (hence the name) to inhabit this land with the imaging of the race that is most likely to take Vancouver over completely someday soon. We should give them a raise!
Quoting again from McMartin’s article, “Mukmuk [not pictured above] is a Vancouver Island marmot who gets his name, according to the press release, from “the Squamish First Nation word ‘muckamuck’ which means food, because he loves to eat!” (As in, “My, how the high muckamucks of the International Olumpic Committee love to eat well on the backs of taxpayers!”)
Also, He [Mukmuk] didn’t even make even make an appearance at Tuesday’s show at the Surrey’s Bell Performing Arts Centre, presumably because he was busy going extinct.”
My god, how I laughed at that last line. Why have I never read this man’s column before? (In case you’re left confused, the Vancouver Island Marmot is endangered; there have been several coverages by The Vancouver Sun on government-sponsored and independent attempts at marmot conservation in the past.)
Having said all of this, I actually don’t mind our mascots. Sure, they’re further proof that Asians are slowly but surely taking over Vancouver, a kind of domination that slowly creeps up on you like a frog happily swimming in a pot of water that is slowly heating up, but at least they’re fairly cute (especially Mukmuk, who ISN’T EVEN A MASCOT), albeit lovably retarded looking.
And because Vancouver, bless its heart, is so up-to-date, you can actually go online and meet the mascots yourself. Hover your mouse over the characters and be prepared to wonder the following:
- Did Vancouver move to Japan when we weren’t looking?
- What the HELL is up with Quatchi’s voice?! Not only does he have a tattoo of the 2010 logo on his arm (what a lovely role model for our children), but he also has the voice of a smoker with stage four lung cancer.
I’m at a loss for words now, really.
Bahahaha.
Thanks for writing that!
I totally love Mukmuk the most. I’m so sad that he doesn’t appear very much.
As for London’s logo … oh my GOD.
Reply: Mukmuk is my favorite too! Just figures that the non-mascot everyone (read: everyone I’ve talked to so far) loves the most isn’t actually a mascot.
London’s logo is truly awful though, ain’t it?
November 29th, 2007 at 5:35 pmOK, so generally speaking I’m considered abit of a blowhard but come on, these creatures look more like something from Pokemon vs Hello Kitty than anything Canadian. But then again we are a bunch of push over pansy a$$ed politically correct pussies.
Since when is this the aboriginal games? I think that is what we are calling them now, when I was a kid it was drunks (At least the ones I knew of.) Yes it is unfortunate stereotypes happen, fact of the matter is, VANOC is making things worse by emphasing differences in cultures. Personally, I feel all humans should be treated equal… except of course crackheads, criminals, pedofiles and politicians.
According the the world, well everyone above mexico and below the 49th Parallel, we already live in igloo’s, hunt beaver and collect maple syrup. Yes that is our culture. Of course let’t not forget the beer drinking. Personally, I think the touque wearing, beer belly toting Muck Muck (Although it means CUM) relates more to Canada culture than those freeky little asian cartoon character trolls. I guess that is what they get for hiring a designer with the last name Wong.
Oh ya, didja know Quatchi is slang for Horny? Yup, that quivering feeling you get in your crotch when you are sexually excited. Quatchi = quivering crotch. Purely accidental I’m sure but funny as hell. How Canadian, eh!
November 29th, 2007 at 7:13 pmI hate hate hate Londons logo. When I first saw it a few months back I was like WTF?! It just goes against all laws of design and looks horrible!
November 29th, 2007 at 10:13 pmSeeing the Vancouver logo I kind of thought “ew” but it does actually look nice and well designed and when compared to London’s it looks great.
Miga is sooo cute :)
The London Olympics is something that isn’t worth talking about — I believe we’re behind schedule and instead of going for a stadium that’s visually impressed we’ve opted for something ugly that is “sustainable for the future”. That coupled with the horrid logo is, quite frankly, a national disgrace.
November 30th, 2007 at 3:38 amThose mascots are cute! And the Inukshuk isn’t bad, either; definitely better than London’s logo… I suppose it would have been difficult to incorporate more cultures.
November 30th, 2007 at 2:07 pmWhy go Native even though there are many ethnic backgrounds here! Because Natives were here since time immemorial! How racist to call us drunks (Bonehead response…and it is a “Bonehead response”) and to write these things. I would not go into your home and tell you what you should do and call you down. Have respect for ALL people. How do you know that VANOC was stuck between a rock, maybe, just maybe, they are being respectful and including first nations, people of this land, with their respect and honor. This is the first time the Olympics has from bid to delivery, included and involved the First People of the land in all aspects. Maybe you as guests, should take your head out of the sand and see that we are not drunks, bums or on welfare (we ALL have this in every culture). We have degrees and manage businesses and contribute respectfully to society, all while being shot at with verbal attacks and our language made fun of since you all arrived on our shores…….It might be good advice to stop criticizing and start learning about these meanings, it is all about education of a First Nation!! We have been building capacity with the Asian community for over a century in this area and we have a mutual respect for each other’s culture. So in my eyes and the path that I walk, does not see it as a battle of Asians vs First Nations. We are coming to the foreground with much force that cannot be diminished or belittled any longer. Huy Chexw!!!!
December 1st, 2007 at 12:11 pmAWW. The mascots are so adorable. I love them all (even Quatchi, who is cute despite his voice). I even went and watched the awesome video — I suppose I have too much time on my hands, but I just can’t stop staring at the cuteness.
London’s logo is definitely atrocious; I can’t believe they actually went with that design!
December 1st, 2007 at 7:48 pmDid Vancouver move to Japan when we weren’t looking?
YES! Have you been hiding under a rock? ;)
Quatchi is adorable.
Also anything would be better than London’s logo. I wonder who got fired over that one.
December 1st, 2007 at 9:51 pmDid Vancouver move to Japan when we weren’t looking? Oh my, I was thinking the same thing when I first saw the video clips on Global! I think the mascots are cute, and would definitely sell in terms of plushies and other merchandises. I know lots of people are against them, though. People want the mascots to be more Canadian, but I don’t know. O_o
Oh yeah, the mascots are drawn a bit similarly to the Beijing 2008 Olympics mascots (they have 5!)
December 2nd, 2007 at 7:55 ami really like the mascots, i’m so excited to have the games and I encourage everyone to volunteer and expereince an amazing historical event! Im volunteering as a host at pre games events. Ill be in charge of schmoozing with diginitaries and vip’s and help with event planning.
Who is bonehead and what does he think he is doing making those kinds of comments? That’s ridiculous! Delete him! or jsut give me 5 mins to deal with him…haha :)
December 10th, 2007 at 7:43 amROFL this was a brilliant post. I couldn’t stop laughing, with the issue so close to home. Last time I checked the Olympics was in BC, not Yukon or the NW, so having a Inukshuk as logo is completely beyond me.
The first part of the mascot promo video reminded me of spongebob o_O
December 18th, 2007 at 9:13 pm