2008 Olympics: Hidden Subtexts at the Opening Ceremony
Photo: “Lang Lang plays for change” (Reuters)
No one does mass public spectacle better than the totalitarians. Zhang Yimou has given the Olympics think tank in London plenty to scratch their heads about. The entire ceremony was a marvel of synchronization: the movable type, the tai chi circles, the drummers doing the countdown, the glow-in-the-dark bird’s nest. I can’t imagine what rehearsals were like. How do you even order around so many bodies? You thousand go here, you thousand go there…oh, and make it look pretty. (more…)
August 9th, 2008