The interpassive roar: the canned spectators of lock-down

This paper introduces the concept of the interpassive spectator into the field of sports philosophy. It examines the phenomenon of “canned spectators” — pre-recorded audience sounds edited to respond to live, televised sports — which emerged following the stringent health measures that forced elite sporting events to be held behind closed doors. Drawing on the cultural theories of Robert Pfaller and Slavoj Žižek, the author contrasts the logic of interpassivity with that of interactivity. While interactive works require the active participation of an audience to be complete, interpassive works allow an external medium to perform the act of “enjoyment” or “attention” on behalf of the observer. Using examples from elite football in Germany and England, the paper describes how broadcasters utilised sound technology derived from computer games to simulate a “warmly familiar ambience” during matches in the Bundesliga and Premier League. The paper rejects both purely critical and purely affirmative interpretations of this technology. Instead, it argues that the primary “danger” of canned spectators is not that they render the viewer passive, but that they deprive the viewer of their ability to passively enjoy. By allowing the television to “enjoy” for them, the spectator is potentially alienated from their own embodied memory, becoming prepared instead for a form of mindless, frenetic activity.