The opening ceremonies for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics featured a grandiose re-telling of the founding of the city, with a special emphasis on the
aition (the first reason or cause) concerning Herakles and his trek to Spain. What's most enjoyable about this clip is listening to the ABC Sports Commentators as they attempt to explicate ancient Greek hero worship; obviously, their professional training is insufficient in this regard. For the record, I think the that display itself is brilliant, and fully in tune with ancient conceptions of
mimesis [representation]; in the sacred space of the arena, the ideas of metaphor and, most importantly, heroic re-enactment, are given their full due. This
is Herakles and this
is the Strait of Gilbratar: in a theatre, metaphor is the medium of communication.
The ABC commentators are embarrassed utterly by this mode of communication. Notice how often they attempt to 'explain away' metaphor, as if by pointing it out, they are somehow elucidating the activity. It's not the audience that's confused, but rather the commentators--they feel an inexplicable urge to explain that what we are seeing is not literal or actual. They also feel the need to present the concept of the hero in strictly black and white terms: that Herakles, for instance, is 'the hero of heroes, always victorious in his battle against evil.' What they don't tell you is that Herakles once went crazy and dismembered his wife and three children -- things they don't teach you in the the ABC Sportsroom school of mythology. It's an important point, however: Herakles underwent grave pathos, and his glimmer of self-recognition (through grave suffering) constitutes an important element in his transformation to true Greek Hero.
