The 21st Winter Olympic Games begin today in Vancouver. At last, the world is coming to my hometown to discover that it has more to offer than Twilight location tours. In the next two weeks, 5,500 athletes representing 80 nations will perform their skills for up to 350,000 visitors.
When they get here, however, along with a surprising absence of snow, they are sure to find a large population of disgruntled locals raising placards at events around the city. A lot of Vancouverites are up in arms over the Olympics.
Along with concerns about unmanageable traffic, the Olympic Committee’s failure to sensitively address Vancouver’s problem with homelessness, and the usual Olympic cost overrun, there is one issue that has the city polarized in hot debate: the 2010 Olympic mascots.
Designed by Vancouver and Los Angeles-based Meomi Design, the painfully cute mascots are three mythical creatures, somewhat derived from Canadian aboriginal mythology. As they will be gracing your TV screens for the next two weeks, they warrant a short introduction:
The big boss and big-seller in plush-toy-ville is Quatchi—a snow-boarding, earwarmer-wearing, tattoo-sporting Sasquatch. Just your run of the mill Big Foot, really.
Miga is a sea bear (half killer whale, half Kermode spirit bear, of course) who lives in the ocean near the Vancouver Island surf town of Tofino. She has a dorsal fin on her head, but anatomical irregularities aside, Miga possesses the majority of the cute quotient in the bunch. Her pink nose makes her conveniently suited to the myriad pink backpacks, beanies and other paraphernalia she adorns.
Sumi, a sometimes wheelchair-bound thunderbird, represents the Paralympics, which take place immediately after the Olympics. Native American mythology claims the thunderbird can shoot lightning from its eyes, but Sumi’s black dot eyes seem innocuous enough.
While not an official mascot, there is actually a fourth member of the Cute Squad. When a local newspaper suggested there be a sidekick that is actually an identifiable local animal, along came Mukmuk, a Vancouver Island marmot. Never mind the fact that marmots hibernate in winter; Mukmuk keeps warm in a cozy toque (that’s a “beanie” in Canadian).
Now, having met the rascals in question, surely you can see what all the controversy is about. No?
Here are some of the charges laid against them:
They don’t represent Canada as a whole. They are too Asian. They are too aboriginal. They aren’t aboriginal enough. They are too cute. They are too simple. They are too childish. They are not real animals. They are costing the Olympic Committee too much money. Their stuffed-incarnations are made in China. Et cetera, et cetera.
One of the greatest objections to the mascots is that the “rest of the world” will not be able to understand them. But certainly the world deserves an opportunity to discover for themselves something completely new and possibly surprising about British Columbia’s past and present.
Once they do begin that process of discovery they’ll learn that anime-influenced depictions of local mythological characters are actually a stroke of design-genius. Quatchi, Sumi, and Miga are the embodiment of Vancouver — a city whose origins rest in aboriginal culture and whose evolution is largely credited to Asian immigrants (who make up around 40% of Vancouver’s population).
I wonder, did those who protest that this amalgamation doesn’t represent the rest of Canada also complain in 1988 when two polar bears in cowboy hats (Howdy and Hidi) welcomed the world to Calgary? Sure – the polar bear along with, perhaps, the mighty moose or the eager beaver, are quickly recognizable Canadian stereotypes – but frankly, any of those three icons are spotted in Vancouver about as often as the humble Sasquatch.
And while some object to the use of mythical creatures as mascots, I would challenge them to track down an ice cube with arms trotting around Torino (Winter 2006) or a dog in a three-piece suit sunning himself in Barcelona (Summer 1992). In 1996, Atlanta’s mascot was named Izzy, derived from “What is he?”—a question which, 14 years later, remains unanswered.
Certainly, appropriating native mythology for commercial gain is without excuse, but the introduction of Sumi and Miga prompted me, and thousands of others, to dig into British Columbia’s cultural heritage for the first time since fifth grade, to figure out just what a sea bear is, and if a thunderbird actually does have the legs of a black bear or the hat of an orca.
That the stuffed Quatchi dolls that now crowd Vancouver souvenir shops are made in China is problematic. But in light of complaints about the Olympic Committee’s cost overrun, you can understand their desire to save Canadian taxpayers’ money by outsourcing.
Most of the objections to Quatchi and his gang, however, overlook the very nature of the mascot: they are for children, young and old. Their sole purpose is to engage and enchant. This is best done through simple, fun and easily adaptable cartoon characters.
Finally, to those who claim they are simply too cute, I have no defense. They simply are too cute. Which is exactly why I, along with thousands of sasquatch-loving Olympic fans will be sporting a screen-printed Quatchi on my favourite Olympic hoodie while I cheer on my country’s athletes this week.