Moments of Perfect Beauty

As a person who doesn’t appreciate performance art as much as I should, I must say that I was blown away by the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics. The scope, choreography, symbolism, and beauty were incredible and something I have never seen before. As impressed as I was watching it on television, I can only imagine how incredible it must have been to see it in real life.

The presentation was divided into two parts: Historical China and Modern China. I was much more impressed with the first half—Historical China. I thought that the symbolism and artistic quality was much more evident. Don’t get me wrong, the second part was impressive but it seemed to be too interpretive.

The parts with the moving printing blocks and the naval exploration were my favorite parts. Both used massive amounts of participants creating an awe inspiring show. The blocks had a surprise twist at the end and the maritime show had a great score that made me feel how big China is.

Zhan Yimou, China, and company have raised the bar and it wouldn’t surprise me that a ceremony comparable to this may not come for a while yet. I don’t see London and Vancouver as being capable of competing. And if the Brits put as much effort into their ceremony as they did into their Olympic logo, we all might cry from the disappointment and visual pain.

I am anticipating a great closing ceremony now.

Comments

Sooo-this-is-me said…
Pretty amazing for a country that still discards their daughters and kills student protesters, it is a wonder what (almost) slave labor can do. You are right, we can't compete with that... thankfully.
Mon Aug 11, 09:15:00 AM EDT
David said…
What you just brought up is far too attenuated from the ceremony. And why couldn't you compete? It's not as if London or Vancouver couldn't. You don't have to outman or outspend Beijing to put on a kick ass show. Just think of how many people would be willing to do something like participating in a ceremony like that for free. And money issues-- well take a look at London's logo. They spent $800,000 on that piece of shit. Clearly, money is no problem for them.
Mon Aug 11, 06:36:00 PM EDT
Sooo-this-is-me said…
Well... so this morning the news is that a lot of the show was faked, the little girl that sang was considered not pretty enough to be seen and so was replaced with a better looking girl that mouthed the words... (discard the plain girl). I used to have to deal with China a lot in my past work, there is this whole view that everything must 'look' perfect and people are only part of the great machine.

I will have to agree on London's logo, $800 000... really???
Tue Aug 12, 09:58:00 AM EDT
David said…
Yeah, that is pretty rotten. It's not like there's a shortage in China of young and cute girls that can sing.

Okay--maybe in China...
Tue Aug 12, 10:16:00 PM EDT
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