Playing to the Gallery

Visual-Culture, Aesthetics, and the Spectacle: (Re)Reading Commonwealth Games 2010, New Delhi

Abstract

Abstract

The Commonwealth Games 2010 were hosted in Delhi. Like all the international sports events, it was a big show that represented visuals and tableaus from Indian history and culture. The opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games 2010, Delhi, showcased a potpourri of Indian cultures. The tableaus presented in the ceremony were drawn from a range of areas, from ancient Indian history to folklore and music to classical dance to modern music.

This paper argues that the international sports events, in general, and the Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi, in particular, used the platform and event to represent their history, culture and socio-political vision to the world. These sports events are employed for ‘extra-sport’ activities more often than not. The paper posits that the tableaus and visuals of the ceremony were chosen very carefully in line with the dominant Indian culture and international political vision. The paper uses Walter Benjamin’s (1968) ideas of the aestheticisation of politics to read the selected visuals of the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games 2010, Delhi, along with the Beijing and London Olympics. It will further employ Homi Bhabha’s concept of hybridity in analysing the different tableaus representing a combination of Indian heritage and the global vision.