beijing

I, like many skeptics, have been somewhat hesitant to embrace the olympics. Between the commercialization and the controversy this year with China's environmental and human rights/political controversies, I found the entire situation to be a little unsettling.

However, viral circumstances caused me to cancel my plans tonight for a date with kleenex and remote, and I ended up planted in front of the 2008 Olympics opening ceremonies.

I cried. I oohed and ahhed. I vowed to go to China. I've never been all that interested in going to China, but those ceremonies made it seem pretty kickass.

Though I do have an odd weakness for on-screen sentimentality, the presentation of the ceremonies was really phenomenal and well thought out in its own right. China is at a very crucial time in its development as a modern country, and it's really interesting to see how they choose to present themselves as a culture and nation given all that they're dealing with.

The ceremonies were stunning- a great show of firepower, technology, and artistry. Fireworks, dancers, LCD projections, people on cables flying through the air- it had the elements you expect, but were unusually uniquely and well-woven together with impressive artistic and technical craft. It told a story about China's history and culture and its future role in the world.

What I really liked, though, was that for as "westernized" as we say China is becoming, this wasn't just a big generic happy show overlayed with silk and calligraphy. There were impressive undertones of significantly Chinese nature- the repeated scenes of 2008 (in quantity) perfectly-synchronized dancers, drummers, and martial artists all spoke loudly of the traditional significance of the group in asian cultures, and of communism. Opening with the many many drummers was so intense it was intimidating, but it was entirely fascinating to see those incredible group scenes operate en masse with such military precision. There was also a clear message about the children being inheritors of our legacy and environment, which was kind of poignant. In my interpretation, the way that the designers choose to tell their story is a fascinating statement about the culture in itself.

As a sidebar, one of the scenes was when they had 2008 people come out onto the floor with parasol-like contraptions that expanded into these big round photographs of faces of smiling children from around the world. Sounds kind of cliche, but it was pretty cool in reality, and of course, made me cry.

Of course, as a designer who works in Asia and other foreign locales upon occasion, I thought the whole design element of the production was fascinating as well. I've found that the Asian aesthetic oftentimes tends to be much more bold and colorful than those of most western cultures. A lot of our design packages going off to or being done withinin China or Korea end up looking like Fantasia to me compared to the stuff we do here in the Northwest, so I was curious to see how the presentation played out. It was certainly bold, and very colorful, and very impressive, but it was really well done so as to not be excessive or gaudy, while still being notable, and I was impressed. Just the design of the new stadium, the Nest, as it's being called, is amazing and iconic.

My sketchy memory may work to my statement's advantage, but this seems significantly more notable than any other Olympics design or presentation before. It's a momentous point in China's history, and they're really trying to live up to it.

Now if only they will use that momentum, and implement the magic they're able to work in pyrotechnics, fancy LCDs, and rhythmic determination into their air and water quality management soon, and stop bulldozing ancient traditional homes for giant high-rises, and let the poor Tibetans decide what to do with themselves, and...