"The Tempest and The Olympics" Revisited

I’d like to revisit my earlier post about Danny Boyle’s choice to use The Tempest for the London Olympics inspiration and my initial difficulty seeing the connection. In some ways, the Olympics parallel the start of the play: Athletes from all over the world and meet in a foreign land to compete and more importantly, represent their country. Obviously, nationalism and agency is a crucial element the characters’ struggles and the way we as readers interpret them. To add insult to injury in Shakespeare’s version there are no clear winners. Even at the very end it is unclear if the spectators or the actors are in control. Paradoxically, the Olympic winners could not be clearer; winners are often times determined only by splitting seconds into fractions.

In my mind there is an obvious connection between Boyle’s decision and the choice to publish The Tempest as the first play in the folio. In both cases, The Tempest is chosen to represent Shakespeare and consequently, his larger body of work, national identity, and influence. As discussed in class, the placement of the play in the folio was as much a commentary upon the play and it’s author as it is the audience. One reason I believe the play and the Olympics are paired well is precisely the dichotomy between what constitutes a winner in the play versus the games and the role of the audience in deciding. Ultimately if nobody is watching the Olympics nobody wins because advertisers wont pay for it to be televised the following term (as Lear says: “nothing comes of nothing”). The precise purpose of the pregame show in the first place is to engage the audience because of the integral role they play in the event, a fact both Prospero and evidently, Boyle is acutely aware of.