How London Responded to Beijing in the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony
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Fan Yang, How London Responded to Beijing in the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, https://www.flowjournal.org/archives/guest-columns/?print=print-search
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Abstract
The shadow of Beijing looms large in Danny Boyle’s 2012 London Olympics Opening Ceremony, whether one admits it or not. The spectacle on July 27 has done everything to out-perform the 2008 Beijing extravaganza by following a rather simple strategy: whatever China did, we do the opposite. Since China was serious, we go for the light-hearted. China’s was a dream of orderliness and harmony, orchestrated within a collective ethos; ours would be one of chaos and cacophony, only because we celebrate individualized freedom. ((One may argue that this contrast also applied to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.)) If China’s self-projection manifested the Communist Party’s burning desire to be recognized globally, we might as well throw a big party to show them how we rule (as an older global power).