Olympic Opening Ceremonies: London vs Beijing

I know many of you may disagree, but I think that London’s 2012 Olympic opening ceremony is better than then Beijing’s 2008 opening ceremony. Both had the same idea in mind though, to showcase each nation’s accomplishments and contributions to the world. However, it’s notable that Britain stayed clear from reminding the world that it used to conquer half of it.


China’s opening ceremony was awe inspiring. You get the sense of grandeur amid a very oriental setting. Undoubtedly China exploited it’s most abundant resource; its people. At the heart of all its creative showcases were actually humans frolicking around in the enormous bird nest stadium. They actually employed soldiers to run their clock-like precision performances. It’s everything a communist nation can be proud of; synchronized, uniformed, innumerable.


Fast forward to London, each participant seems to be an actor. Even the children know how to perform. Their dancing may not be militarily synchronized in motion, but they were synchronized in seemingly genuine smiles and spirit. In fact they emphasized fun like one large flash mob.


China’s repertoire was written to impress, one dazzling display after another. And it did just that. They focused on the length and breadth of the Chinese civilization and the four great inventions of the ancient Chinese: paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder.


The British attempted to do the same, start off with history and showcase their contributions to the world. However since a major part of their history involves many storied wars of the British Empire which was a naval powerhouse and master colonialist, they risk offending almost everyone who is not British. Hence, their summation on British history seems disjointed and incomplete.


We are left with scenes from ancient English village with farm animals and maypoles, the industrial revolution which Britain initiated, socialized medicine, and more recent cultural exports. The English village and industrial revolution scenes were evocative with Hollywood quality costumes and every bit as impressive as Beijing.


From Harry’s Potter’s stadium tall Voldemort battling an army of Mary Poppins to a brief appearance of Mr. Bean, the English flaunted their greatest cultural exports. And did you know the creator of the World Wide Web is British? And at times they tried to do too much. I adore British music, but in one sequence, they sampled a line from each song from the 1950s to 1980s and played it in one long annoying grating medley. That is undoubtedly everyone’s least favourite sequence.


And saving the best surprise for last is the torch lighting ceremony, where in recent years everyone tried to one up the predecessor. When the countries were parading into the stadium, each was carrying a weird horn like sculpture. There wasn’t an obvious cauldron in sight, but in the center of the stadium, these horns were mysteriously installed onto some spiky contraption. After the torch bearer lit a few horns, the spikes began to mechanically rotate towards the sky forming a most unanticipated cauldron. Spectacular. (Sydney is best though)

The cauldron is made up of many small torches.

But negatives aside, the British version of the opening ceremony is unexpected, exciting and most importantly fun. The dancing was real, the spirit seemed authentic and London doesn’t care about taking itself too seriously (Beijing). And that’s why I think London is better than Beijing.