Olympic Games Opening Ceremony 2008

[stephbg]

Yes, it's still a work in progress, but at time of writing we're down to the boring how-bad-are-the-uniforms and let's-patronise-the-tiny-country-with-three-althletes-who-don't-have-a-hope-in-hell bits.



Unsuprisingly there were lots of people and lots of magnificent costumes. Atypically there was very little commentary, for which I was grateful. I remember being mightily offended at several points, but now the details escape me. I have an acknowledged phobia of the hive mind, but it was very distracting to have the word "creepy" constantly popping up in my head. I was obscurely reassured by the odd human pixel who got it wrong, but I disliked the absence of fun and confess to frequent moments of boredom.

There was a certain undeniable elegance to the ceremony, with the central theme of the paper providing a continuity, and no deeply mysterious pagentry or lawnmower solos. I'll be the first to admit my deep ignorance of Chinese culture and history, but in the end the spectacle carried enough weight on its own.

I liked the whales, but noted the absence of pandas and dragons.

Thoughts, people?

Comments

[lauredhel.livejournal.com]

I was brought up short repeatedly during the pre-parade bit by the commentators going on about the Achievements of "Man".

The parade commentary is focussing on the athletic achievements of the men, the beauty of the women, and the commenters' ignorance of the smaller countries. All they had to say about the Central African Republic, for example, is that it's in the middle of Africa. I don't necessariyl expect them to know a huge amount of facts about thousands of athletes of the tops of their heads, but don't they have cheat sheets or Wikipedia or something?

Highlights:

- "When you think of Bhutan, you think of archery."

- "Jamaica. The two fastest men in the world, and their women are stunning."

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

The comment about Jamaica's stunning women certainly got my attention.

[huckle.livejournal.com]

I had the sound down very low, basically becuase of the inane commentary. The Jamaica comment is terrible. Channel 7 always has a whiff of misogynistic dinosaur about it to me.

[fe2h2o.livejournal.com]

Haven't watched it all yet (we took a break to put kids to bed... we'll watch the rest later), but they both enjoyed the dance element... we had two extra dancers performing during most of it. Those first contemporary dancers, writing on the paper? That's what set them off.

[stephiepenguin.livejournal.com]

I was watching it and couldn't hear the commentary, so I have no idea what was being said.

But I love the parade bit, and I honestly don't know why. I was sad when we wandered home and I can't finish watching it.

[(Anonymous)]

Loved some of the uniforms, hated many of the comments - fortunately, "BruceAndSandy" kept reasonably quiet most of the time, and mostly spoke about various sporting achievements of particular individuals or countries. Missed the first 45 mins of the opening cermony, but caught the last part. Commented to husband about complete lack of ANY reference to communist era, one of the most shaping eras in Chinese history I'd have thought...

--Rhonda

[drhoz.livejournal.com]

Those poor ushers, trying to keep the Australian team on the track instead of wandering off to gurn at the cameras :D