The eye-opening documentary “A State of Mind” is centered on two North Korean gymnasts, Pak Hyon Sun and Kim Song Yun, who are preparing for the Pyongyang mass games, an annual event in NorthKorea. Throughout this documentary we not only see the ongoing struggles and challenges the girls face but also how their everyday life is, living in a communist run country that is extremely secluded from the rest of the world. After watching the documentary, the vast differences in culture between Qatar and North Korea were extremely apparent especially when it came to cultural diffusion, but regardless of North Korea’s ethnocentrism, some sociological similarities were visible as well.
The importance of family is a major one. Qataris and North Koreans share the same intense respect and love for family. For example we see Pak Hyon Sun is an only child living with her parents and grandparents under the same roof and Kim Song Yun is one of three girls in her family also living with their parents. Similarly, Qatari families have the same values when it comes to loved ones and express the same admiration towards elders. Mother daughter relationships in particular resemble each other in both cultures even in the smallest things, like mothers showing maternal affection and telling you to finish your food or go do your homework.
The mass games require an extreme amount of determination, skill and training especially in a sport as challenging as gymnastics however when compared to Qatar we see how similar that is with soccer in the region. Qatar has assembled a young team of athletes just over a decade before the event in hopes of reaching the impeccable standard it needs to win the world cup in 2022. This includes vigorous training sessions and ongoing will power, very much like what the two girls had to go through to be ready for the mass games.The music and dancing portrayed in the documentary also shares the same essence as Qatar’s in that it’s very tradition oriented. During celebrations such as the mass games we hear patriotic music played by an orchestra and each dance or performance is telling a story. Qatar also has traditional dances and music originating from Bedouin times, in particular a sword dance called the Ardha, usually performed by men. Qatari music revolves largely around percussion and string instruments such as drums, violins and oud.
Qatar and North Korea are widely different from each other when it comes to most things, there’s no denying that. North Korea is definitely one of the more secretive countries in the world so their way of life might look strange to foreigners, but no matter how different a culture is to the other, there are certain aspects that they all have in common no matter how ethnocentric they are.
