Opening Shot

I know it’s wrong, but I find it really hard to watch any kind of opening ceremony without thinking of Nuremburg. A stadium full of organised propaganda, albeit with a little more emphasis on choreography than that managed by the Third Reich. It’s probably my fault for turning on the television when I did. In amongst all the historically symbolic dance and elaborate firework displays I managed to switch on to this year’s Olympics at the point of the hoisting of the Chinese flag. Not a grumpy face in sight; this is China as China sees it, all smiles, dancing and efficiency.

I blame the media obviously and their fascination, in the lead up to these Games, of the political aspects of the Olympics. In view of China’s human rights record and the oppression of the Tibetan people it is of course natural that the reputation of the host nation is brought under scrutiny. Parallels have been drawn to the 1936 Berlin Games which were used as a political platform for the Nazi Party. Whilst modern day China may not be in a league with Nazi Germany, there is no doubt that the Olympics offers the host country to choose the identity it wishes to portray to the rest of the world.

With that in mind perhaps more thought should have been given to the next segment; a representation of China’s foundation of the world’s first movable type system in which a multitude of type symbols undulated in formation. For a country whose human rights record is under scrutiny going into these Games perhaps they could have found an alternate way to represent this rather than have a large number of Chinese men confined inside tiny boxes.

I consider myself an educated man, open to all manner of cultural offerings, however there is only so much representative dance I can take in an hour. Let’s face it, China has a lot of history. And so with numerous dynasty’s still to go I bailed out, but not before the BBC had added a small caption at the bottom of the screen that said ‘Live from The Birds Nest’, the omission of the word ‘stadium’ suggesting this was not the opening ceremony at all, simply an incredibly elaborate main act in a Beijing cabaret bar.