Jul 28 2012
Olympic Opening: Cheers London, Boo NBC!
Just watched the Olympic opening and I was very impressed. I do have to wonder about some aspects (like the smoke stack backdrop to the modern era). There is so much more the UK and Great Britain could celebrate – but OK, no big deal. The themes were good, the stagecraft good, the pace excellent (note to future openers, keep the music track fast paced!). All in all, a great opening.
But for an event that is supposed to be beyond, devoid or outside politics, NBC was a frigging disaster. At every chance we were reminded of politics ancient and new. I was about ready to mute Costas and NBC because they had to continuously bring up political issues in a non-politicel venue. It was grating to say the least.
And then there were the Obama campaign ads. Talk about tone deaf!
Why should we be barraged with Obama’s lame walk-backs of his rampage against individual success – especially associated with the Olympics! All I could think of is “did you win that gold medal? well you did not achieve that by yourself’….
NBC and Obama kept ruining the core tenant of the Olympics. Which is to take a break from politics and celebrate the individual. Sad. Really, really sad.
Update: I should add the leftist undertone of the ceremony was a bit thick. The tribute to the National Health Service was really bad. There are so many true British achievements – poor medical service just doesn’t seem to the one most would pick. I bet that one rebounds a bit. But it was their Olympics to open as the please. It would have been better if there was no commentary from NBC than than the dribble we had to sit through last night.
I noticed they pointed out that the US uniforms were made in China. They did not point out what country made the Chinese uniforms or the UK uniforms. They did not point out that a Dimocrat let the contract to buy the Chinese made uniforms.
They did not say if the French Berets the US wore was made in France.
NBC was political when it was liberal or anti conservative and did not mention any positives from the Republican side. (but of course, to NBC, there is no positives on the Repub side)
Don’t worry, the rest of NBC’s coverage will be just as bad. Of all the major US television operations, NBC Sports is the LEAST capable of handling the Olympic Games. There’s a tremendous number of events…and NBC tosses most of them on the ground.
Let me put it this way…the woman who carried the US flag in the opening ceremonies was the FIRST American fencer to win Olympic gold. She did that in 2008, cracking the European monopoly and quite possibly saving the sport as an Olympic event. And NBC never mentioned it. Their cluelessness as a sports news outlet is without bound.
I was looking forward to the opening ceremony. Always a nice moment to (in theory) get away from all politics all the time, and just celebrate some healthy athletic competition between nations. Alas, what with Danny Doyle’s film career and the UK Olympic planners giving him free reign, I wasn’t surprised at what I saw.
INRE the “smoke” portrayal, peppered for accent by the piping in of smelt aromas to the stadium, the not so subtle damnation of the industrial era at the hands of the greedy wealthy, the glorification of the NHS, and considering that there were environmentalists that were picked to carry the Olympic flag into the stadium, there’s no doubt that there were political statements made via the presentation and by his choices for the ceremony. Hey… they are the host nation. They can do what they want. If they wanted to give Doyle free reign, I can’t quibble. But I also am not forced to be impressed.
Then again, I think they had a hard act to follow. I may have been one of the few that thought Bejing’s opening ceremony was downright amazing. From the field filled with drummers (something the UK decided to emulate) to the woman, dancing on a ribbon borne by humans, I thought they did an amazing demonstrate of combining ancient and modern China… whether you like them or not.
For the UK, I was amazed at what they chose to highlight considering their historically rich past history. It was as if Doyle decided to pick his own visions of the UK, and confine it to just the past eight decades. His choice of classic literary talents to highlight… Rowlings??… and ignore those like the Bard, Tenneson, Byron or Charles Dickson I thought was shallow and unworthy of the UK’s more enduring and classical past.
Then of course, the music. Granted, this is stuff I grew up with. But what of other musical talents? Andrew Lloyd Weber, Noel Coward? The international fame of the London Philharmonic or the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields? The UK is not just about the youth pop culture of various eras… save in Doyle’s mind.
But I couldn’t help notice that with the music progression came the visual decline of a society – one that drifts further and further away from personal interaction over digital contact, dancing becomes for distant from your partner and more angry, tho amazingly athletic. Oddly enough, not a very flattering, and a very short and limited snapshot, of the UK and history.
Perhaps this is Doyle’s vision of the UK and he cannot look any further back. And that’s okay. It’s still all about the athletes and Games. But I have to say, I spent most of the evening, shaking my head at the majority of the event as being loud, and a somewhat hollow and shallow portrayal of the UK.
But, at least they kept it somewhat reasonable in cost, yes? And they did attempt to play on their very quirky ideas for modern entertainment.
Oh yes… one comment. Had to turn it off for Sir Paul. Much rather keep the memories of the past talent than watch him, determined to chug along. If passing the torch to the youth were a theme, as it seemed to be, Sir Paul McCartney should have had the grace to do the same. You wouldn’t see someone like Julie Andrews getting up there past her prime… or maybe she was one of those Mary Poppins that floated down? LOL
Still not sure how I feel about the official Olympiad torch. Beautiful with the multiple leaves prior to it’s raising. But somehow I’m left feeling it’s a bonfire in the middle of a field instead of a high beacon you can see for miles. But it is different.
Lastly, I might be getting old, but I actually preferred when the US sent fresh faced, non professionals to the Olympics too. While Kobe is one heckuva ball player, I thought it was more inspirational when our Olympians weren’t saddled with a past filled with sexual abuse lawsuits and questionable personal behavior. I understand that other nations were sending their pros to our amateurs, but geez… strikes me that Olympians aren’t the Olympians of my childhood.
Just one girl’s opine. Let the Games begin.
” I might be getting old, but I actually preferred when the US sent fresh faced, non professionals to the Olympics too. While Kobe is one heckuva ball player, I thought it was more inspirational when our Olympians weren’t saddled with a past filled with sexual abuse lawsuits and questionable personal behavior. I understand that other nations were sending their pros to our amateurs, but geez… strikes me that Olympians aren’t the Olympians of my childhood. ”
I tend to agree, but when all US was amateurs and the world (professionals) started kicking their butts and the rest of the world made hay out of the decadent US couldn’t even produce good athletes any longer it became time for us (the US) to put the best athletes out there and kick their butts, remember the ’92 dream team winning by an average of 43 points per game. Can’t you just hear the gnashing of teeth now in Russia and China when the US kicks their butts?
I don’t care if the Olympics use amateurs or pros, but they should all be in the same category so we can tell who has the best athletes.