The displacement of sport: media spectacles of street support in the 2002 World Cup

Abstract

For South Korea, the 2002 World Cup came to be largely defined by the ‘street supporters’ – millions of Koreans who took to the streets to support their team and celebrate its achievements. Proclaimed as a cathartic experience that would revitalize Korean society and mentality, such interpretations obscured the actual operation of street support as primarily a scheme of media consumption. This article examines the Korean media's coverage of street support, and their production of the practice as a commoditized spectacle. The media used this coverage to develop a pervasive rhythm of media consumption, wherein the relationship between sport and nationalism was leveraged for a generalized and carnivalesque spectacle. This treatment of street support was a particularly explicit indicator of a more general trend, wherein the practice of sport spectatorship is increasingly displaced by the practice of general media consumption with regard to sport.