Mass Games in North Korea

By Minnesotastan in Sports on Oct 21, 2009 at 9:36 pm

“Mass games” are group athletic events in which the performance of the individual is deemphasized in favor of the performance of the group as a whole. They are thus well suited to the philosophy embodied by socialist/communist states, but the components of such games are also employed for other major events such as Olympic opening and closing shows.

The video above includes the closing moments from the movie “A State of Mind,” documenting mass games in North Korea.

YouTube link.

Tags: gymnastics, North Korea

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LisaL
Oct 21st, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Very impressive…. too bad it’s North Korea.There’s obviously so much creativity and passion… if only they were allowed to see what the rest of the world offered.
smconno
Oct 21st, 2009 at 10:23 pm
wow all i can think about is how many hours and hours and hours of practice this must have taken to look so great all put together, definitely impressive.
pfelelep
Oct 22nd, 2009 at 1:08 am
Somehow the missing link between Circus and Musicals?

As LisaL said: it’s North Korea, I doubt the performers are paid regarding the huge training and efforts of theirs.
pfelelep
Oct 22nd, 2009 at 1:12 am
sorry, by “Circus” I meant “Olympics”.
Larfin Jackarse
Oct 22nd, 2009 at 3:45 am
This sort of thing the commo’s have always done well.
samlive the red
Oct 22nd, 2009 at 3:54 am
the performance was amazing (if a bit bittersweet due to the oppressive regime and all) but that video is incredibly annoying! just let me see whats happening! stop cutting and panning and let me see the actual performance!
anon1
Oct 22nd, 2009 at 7:44 am
This was posted back in 2007. You’d probably have fewer duplicate posts if there was a better search feature on the site.

http://www.neatorama.com/2007/11/28/north-koreas-human-jumbotron/
Tigergulp
Oct 22nd, 2009 at 8:31 am
I wish I could see the whole show. It looks very beautiful and impressive.
LisaL
Oct 22nd, 2009 at 9:16 am
pfelelep- When did I say they got paid o_O? Oh I’m sure they most probably don’t get paid at all.
smak
Oct 22nd, 2009 at 11:10 am
Communism is NOT the same thing as socialism, nor is it the same thing as fascism. Just a friendly FYI.
Scivitri
Oct 22nd, 2009 at 1:25 pm
While the gymnastic work is impressive, I’m confused on a couple of points. First, group performance art such as this is not limited to communist countries. Why the “message”? And second, why is almost the entire video shots of individuals, when the point behind the art form is the collective presentation? Can we get a better video, please?

I think this in an excerpted clip from something else entirely.
pfelelep
Oct 23rd, 2009 at 10:18 pm
@Lisa: you dident’
I was just agreeing your post “too bad it’s North Korea.” and adding the precision about getting paid for performing in “others-more-open-countries”.
r4i
Nov 7th, 2009 at 2:47 am
Well….
I don’t know anything about Mass Games in North…
Is there any kind of help for me…?
Is there any ideas about rules and regulations of that game…?
If yes, post here…..

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