It has to be said, that I'm really not very interested in the Olympics - I don't care how many medals we win, I think that a country that gets so over-invested in its sporting prowess and achievements, is heading for a fall.
I watched last night's opening ceremony with great pleasure - at least the first hour - I thought the historical conversion of the UK from agrarian to industrial nation was a bit simplistic (no children, Isambard Kingdom Brunel did not create the industrial revolution) - but spectacular in staging terms... I loved the fact that the top-hatted men looked like the traditional left-wing portrayal of bloated capitalists (and some of the participants were on the stout side). I loved the fact that the NHS was celebrated - as well as inevitable "groovy" things like British pop music and film - over all, I got the impression we were famous for the Health Service, pop music, the Industrial Revolution, films, music, nannies (a mass flight of Mary Poppinses) and the internet and Mr Bean. I wished they'd made British literature more explicit - but there were references to Shakespeare, Wind in the Willows, Milton's Pandaemonium, Blake, Ian Fleming, J M Barry, Harry Potter, reading to children, and probably lots of others - after all did I expect that they would parachute Mart, Julian Barnes and Ian McEwan down into the stadium...? Or some better writers like Hilary Mantel even
I noticed a slightly subversive, anti-Tory tinge to the spectacle - when the NHS/Great Ormonde Street Hosp. sector lit up I was hoping it would read "Fuck off Lansley" - the fact that it celebrated popular experiences/culture rather than the Great and the Good (apart from Brunel of course) - the First World War seemed to be the culmination of the Industrial Revolution (Discuss, giving examples from the industries which profited from it). It did to some extent celebrate British Comedy - I suppose the things we like about ourselves, without being too triumphalist. No displays of mass lip-curling cynicism...
All this jolly stuff was followed by a 2 hour geography lesson during which the 1 billion viewers probably reached for Google earth several times (where the hell is Palau?). Finally the magnificent 204-petalled torch was lit - by 7 people simultaneously... it was so beautiful - the flaming flowers than lifted up into the air to create a huge brazier. The symbolism and the aesthetics were perfectly matched. After which, the inevitable Paul McCartney - I made my excuses and left.
What was interesting was that there was so much happening during the ceremony there was no time for audience reaction shots - once or twice we got Michelle Obama when the (very multi-racial) US team came on, and assorted ambassadors embracing and so on. We got a shot of the Queen looking bored and putting her knitting back in her handbag and Prince Phillip dozing over his Sudoku book... Huw Evans the commentator glossed this as "The Queen looking very impressed...." hmm. she's clearly one of our great unsung British acting talents then.
I was interested to see that the GB team was much less multi-racial than it should have been. I think this is because the sports we excel at are the expensive, public school sort of sports: rowing, horse-related sports, yachting - and more democratic sports like cycling which are expensive to participate in. Clearly we are not getting improved participation from urban youth.
I got into terrible trouble with Ned for making a racist comment - when Botswana came on, the sole woman in the team was carrying their flag while the men sauntered after her. I commented that this was fairly tradition in Africa, the women carried the stuff while the men relaxed - actually, they should have been walking ahead of her with sticks to scare off snakes. Anyway - this was racist apparently. I thought it was feminist? I thought it was a sociological/anthropological comment about cultural norms. I am fascinated that "racism" now covers every single observation about cultural differences in the popular thinking. Bad luck for university anthropology departments!
So despite much cynicism - and sneering at Seb Coe's speech - I rather enjoyed it all. I may even watch the women's wrestling! (a number of the women flag bearers were wrestlers - it's all research for my talk at the Summer Squall).
I watched last night's opening ceremony with great pleasure - at least the first hour - I thought the historical conversion of the UK from agrarian to industrial nation was a bit simplistic (no children, Isambard Kingdom Brunel did not create the industrial revolution) - but spectacular in staging terms... I loved the fact that the top-hatted men looked like the traditional left-wing portrayal of bloated capitalists (and some of the participants were on the stout side). I loved the fact that the NHS was celebrated - as well as inevitable "groovy" things like British pop music and film - over all, I got the impression we were famous for the Health Service, pop music, the Industrial Revolution, films, music, nannies (a mass flight of Mary Poppinses) and the internet and Mr Bean. I wished they'd made British literature more explicit - but there were references to Shakespeare, Wind in the Willows, Milton's Pandaemonium, Blake, Ian Fleming, J M Barry, Harry Potter, reading to children, and probably lots of others - after all did I expect that they would parachute Mart, Julian Barnes and Ian McEwan down into the stadium...? Or some better writers like Hilary Mantel even
I noticed a slightly subversive, anti-Tory tinge to the spectacle - when the NHS/Great Ormonde Street Hosp. sector lit up I was hoping it would read "Fuck off Lansley" - the fact that it celebrated popular experiences/culture rather than the Great and the Good (apart from Brunel of course) - the First World War seemed to be the culmination of the Industrial Revolution (Discuss, giving examples from the industries which profited from it). It did to some extent celebrate British Comedy - I suppose the things we like about ourselves, without being too triumphalist. No displays of mass lip-curling cynicism...
All this jolly stuff was followed by a 2 hour geography lesson during which the 1 billion viewers probably reached for Google earth several times (where the hell is Palau?). Finally the magnificent 204-petalled torch was lit - by 7 people simultaneously... it was so beautiful - the flaming flowers than lifted up into the air to create a huge brazier. The symbolism and the aesthetics were perfectly matched. After which, the inevitable Paul McCartney - I made my excuses and left.
What was interesting was that there was so much happening during the ceremony there was no time for audience reaction shots - once or twice we got Michelle Obama when the (very multi-racial) US team came on, and assorted ambassadors embracing and so on. We got a shot of the Queen looking bored and putting her knitting back in her handbag and Prince Phillip dozing over his Sudoku book... Huw Evans the commentator glossed this as "The Queen looking very impressed...." hmm. she's clearly one of our great unsung British acting talents then.
I was interested to see that the GB team was much less multi-racial than it should have been. I think this is because the sports we excel at are the expensive, public school sort of sports: rowing, horse-related sports, yachting - and more democratic sports like cycling which are expensive to participate in. Clearly we are not getting improved participation from urban youth.
I got into terrible trouble with Ned for making a racist comment - when Botswana came on, the sole woman in the team was carrying their flag while the men sauntered after her. I commented that this was fairly tradition in Africa, the women carried the stuff while the men relaxed - actually, they should have been walking ahead of her with sticks to scare off snakes. Anyway - this was racist apparently. I thought it was feminist? I thought it was a sociological/anthropological comment about cultural norms. I am fascinated that "racism" now covers every single observation about cultural differences in the popular thinking. Bad luck for university anthropology departments!
So despite much cynicism - and sneering at Seb Coe's speech - I rather enjoyed it all. I may even watch the women's wrestling! (a number of the women flag bearers were wrestlers - it's all research for my talk at the Summer Squall).
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