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Beijing 2022 Opening Ceremony Verdict


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I felt we needed this thread to organize our opinions regarding what we saw last night. So i'll start with mine which will be a very long one:

1) Countdown

It seemed a bit strange at first, but I thought the countdown and the usage of the Lunar New Year/Spring Festival theme was very cleverly made. The film was obviously directed by Yimou due to his known style and I liked the minimal feel, although somewhat reminiscing of Sochi 2014 countdown (also pretty long) with the cyrilic alphabet.

What left me deeply confused is if this video was seen through the massive LED screen they built for this opening ceremony, or in the small screens at the tribunes.

2) Opening sequence -Dandelion

I thought this segment was very gentle...a huge contrast to the massive drum mass performance we saw back in 2008, and a much peaceful and open approach to the viewers, with a good combination of the large glowing sticks and the LED screen working in synchrony. I could tell Zhang Yimou did this part as the performers were very well coordinated with the movements.

Music in this segment was also very good but, sadly, it was the only trace of chinese music we saw in this opening ceremony. I'll write more details about it later on.

3) Entrance of the National Flag

The idea of ethnicities and normal civilians helping carry the flag in a long line as a symbol of togetherness seems at first like a very emotional message. However, when you consider the regime which is currently running China at this moment, you can't help but feel this is a propaganda message to give a false sense of happiness and togetherness when it is a fact some of those ethnicities have been constantly critical of how the Han (the majority ethnicity in China) have treated them, specially over the last years. I felt it was also kinda copied directly from 2008, which also had ethnicities carrying the flag though in a different way.

The kid with the trumpet solo was very reminiscing of Maynard Fergusson in Montreal 1976 closing...i had no complaints with the song used, although I know its context is that it was a song composed for a movie which was in pro of Chinese intervention during the Korean War, so my first thoughts were about south koreans probably being very bothered about it, despite it being a very popular song in China.

No comments about the performance of the chinese anthem. I'm aware their laws regarding arrangements of the anthem are very strict so i did not expected anything special from it.

4) Olympic rings segment

In a way, this was my favorite part of the ceremony. At first, I had a hard time realizing if the large Ice Block which came from underground was just another projection when it was actually a large prop. The projections of the previous editions and winter disciplines over the ice block was a very good use of the LED screen technology, which was a vast improvement over the projections seen in other ceremonies.

Then, we have a retun of the hockey guys from the 2018 handover....breaking the large iceblock which melts into the Olympic rings. A very well done effect, even if they took many elements from the 2018 handover. And it was the first in a long time I felt the Wow factor returned to an Olympic ceremony.

The rings floating in the middle of the air were very reminiscing once more of 2008, and also of Torino's due to the fact the athletes entered under them.

5) Parade of Nations

After the athletes, the main protagonist of this segment was the LED screen once again, with beautiful ice patterns which formed the way on which the athletes of the world marched in. However, I couldn't help but feel it was very similar to Sochi's parade of nations, which had a very similar structure and execution.

There were, however, two things I did not liked much of this segment in particular.

  • The music. In most parade of nations you hear the music of the host country (Pyeongchang and Kpop, London and british pop music, etc) so its an opportunity to showcase it. Here instead, we had a potpourri of classical western songs, which felt somewhat uninspired and a wasted opportunity of not using songs from the actual host nation (and yeah, I know Ode to Motherland was used at the end, but I still feel it was not good enough and its still a March song heavily inspired by western music).
  • The screen, besides the large walkway, also shown beautiful landscapes of China. While this was nice and everything, I believe it would had been more fitting if they shown landscapes of the country which was marching in, instead of just having landscapes of China showing while western music, completely unrelated to said landscapes, was playing in the background. Another big wasted opportunity in my honest opinion. Lima 2019 was a good example of what i'm commenting, which shown popular landmarks of the marching countries project into the large mountain structure.

The snowflake placards was a nice idea although obviously difficult for the bearers to carry. The outfits of the placard bearers were alright, with nice references to Lunar New Year costumes, although I personally prefered the Ice Fairies from Pyeongchang as they felt more classy.

6) Snowflake - Part 1

Again, wonderful and clever use of the LED screen, with the placard bearer girls putting the snowflakes in the ground and the screen giving the sensation they were being transported at fast speed to the center of the stage, to form the large snowflake prop.

And from here onwards is where, sadly, the Opening Ceremony takes not just a downhill path, but a nosedive in all forms. :(

7) Speeches

I thought I would be more annoyed at Xi Jinping during the speeches but, as expected, it seems no one told Bach in his childhood to shut the **** up. Its very obvious he loves the spotlight and people listening to our beloved Olympic Champion in Fencing, 1976. Seeing being so complacient and servile when he tried to speak in chinese was honestly a very pathetic move (I don't remember him doing this in previous speeches....Samaranch kind of did it but at least he did it with all of the hosts)...it reminded me of John Cena and his poor attempt at speaking chinese when he tried to apoligize for his comments regarding Taiwan.

I honestly couldn't tell if Xi poker face when opening the games was just him being neutral or annoyed at Bach constant butt kissing.

8) Faster - Higher - Stronger - Together

Didn't thought much of the performers dressed as average citizens walking and forming photos of people doing everyday stuff. I thought it was also somewhat copied from the 2018 handover, with all the photos coming out from the letters those creepy pandas collected from all over China.

Imagine.....what can I say of this song and its overuse which hasn't been said already by all of us. <_<

Bach obviously has a fetishism for this song and how he's obviously forcing every host to bring it up. I wrote a nice post in another thread about why I think Imagine is a bad song and it should be excluded from every event, not just the Olympics:

The whole segment was also, if you analyze it, a huge ripoff of Zhang's handover in 2018. The same skaters drawing the same patterns from the 2018 handover, too. An unnecesary figure of a ski jumping guy which ultimately served no actual purpose as I was mostly distracted seeing what was happening in the floor (Sochi did the floating figures much better), all while this cringefest of a song was playing in the background.

9) Entrance of the Olympic flag

As if we didn't had enough with Imagine, this ceremony features the return of an old dreaded song we tought it was gone forever (thank god) from ceremonies...Ode to Joy.

The waving effects of the Olympic Motto as the flag carriers marched in wasn't a bad effect, that's for sure, but Ode to Joy is also another song which wasn't needed to come back to an opening ceremony in the current year and century.

The Olympic Anthem....very catastrophic performance. A chorus should never be dancing when performing any anthem, it feels super cringe and disrespectful, at least to me. In 2008 we saw a very well worked performance of the Olympic Anthem in almost perfect greek. Here, I had a hard time telling if they were singing Greek or not, due to the heavy chinese accents. Also, you can tell they were struggling heavily when they had to sing high notes.

Anyway...so far, the worst performance of the anthem i've seen, it made me change my opinion toward Rio 2016 version (which back then I thought it was pretty bad too) to a more positive one.

10) Snowflake - Part 2

Extremely tacky and cheesy performance, again, with the same dances we saw during the singing of the Olympic Anthem. The only real highlight was (supossedly as their media tell us) the fact the interactive screen reacted to the steps of the little children, though I have a hard time believing if that's actually even true.

Not much opinions about this segment. I just thought it was overall very forgettable and, if you removed it from the ceremony, not much people would had noticed any difference.

11) Olympic Flame / Snowflake - Part 3

I won't lie, the torch design of Beijing 2022 was very nice. I thought it was a good modern renditionof the scroll we saw in Beijing 2008. However this beautiful design was wasted due to Covid restrictions and a government which is too chicken **** to criticism and still suffers of PTSD after the heavily protest marred relay of 2008, which led us to the shortest and most irrelevant torch relay in recent memory. But that wasn't even the worst part.

Zhang (although honestly I think this is something Bach and Balich are forcing to almost every host) came up with the idea of a more simple cauldron which would reflect the times we live in. He also said he felt very nervous about how our reactions would be to it. And oh boy, I can see why he was so nervous.

They decided that the cauldron, instead of a large new structure, would be the torch itself, sitting inside the large snowflake which was the common element connecting most of the ceremony. A very small flame which you can barely even see from a distance, and which protagonism and importance it had at every Olympics has been completely stolen by a a large, floating prop, heavily distracting and minimalizing the Olympic flame itself. An idea which, on paper, sound interesting, but when actually executed, its actually awful.

All of this while, once again, we had to hear that awful tacky song, and all the performers circling and worshiping the huge floating Snowflake in a segment which reminded me of old sport ceremonies held on communist countries. A huge, massive dissapointment. I would had rather preferred they reused the 2008 cauldron as a symbolism to the fact Beijing is the first city to host both Summer and Winter games instead of this. It would had been, although lazy, much better than whatever the devil was that.

 

Final veredict: 6/10

A very hit and miss ceremony. I wanted to be a bit merciful and not rate it as bad as Tokyo's since I still feel that, despite everything, it was a tiny bit better. But it was still a poor ceremony desperately pretending to be good and impressive, when it really wasn't.

It is very obvious to me most of the budget for this Opening Ceremony was completely wasted in that gigantic LED screen.... While I admit the effects were very well made, . Sadly, I feel both projections and use of technology are making people more and more lazy with doing more clever and better planned ceremonies.

Take off the LED screen from this ceremony, for example, and only leave the rest. What you would have is a very subparceremony, almost on par with how Tokyo was. The lesson learnt yesterday was that having supossedly advanced technology at disposal is not an absolute warranty a ceremony will be good if the ones in charge of said technology use it in a very incorrect, soulless form.

Zhang wanted to depict a modern, contemporary China, in an attempt to not be repetitive and copy what he did in 2008. However, he still did plagiarism by heavily copying himself from the 2018 handover, plus a couple of things from 2008, although not too obvious for a person less critical as myself. Sadly, just as with technology, having a guy with a massive curriculum such as Zhang Yimou is not a warranty either since even a well oiled gear can also fail sometimes. Like i said before, Zhang should preferably focus in Wuxia and ancient themese, which is what always works out better for him. And to be fair, his latest works are a far cry to what he did in the 2000s, so I guess his work quality has also been taking a nosedive like this ceremony did at halftime.

At least with Tokyo, we all knew it was gonna be a mess, but Beijing had no excuses at all to fail: A well known director, a large stadium which wasn't gonna be used for sports, a general pattern of not being stingy with their sport ceremonies. All of this caused a genuine hype which also just helped to further increase the dissapointment of the actual show we got.

For a country which regime is part of the Anti-West Cool Guys Club which love to ridiculize the West due to openness and Global homogeneization (aka Globohomo as many far right wingers love to call it despectively), I actually laughed hard to the fact their choice of soundtrack was heavily westernized without a trace of traditional, autoctonous culture....yet again reminding us of the CCP and its contant feel of contempt toward tradition, as they keep flip flopping between praising it or attempting to destroy it as we saw in the 60's during the Cultural Revolution. (despite it still being very popular with the chinese youth).

Imagine should be forbidden from every Olympic ceremony after tonight, but given how Tomas Bach lives in Wonderland and refuses to wake up and smell the coffee, single handedly destroying Olympism forever, I'm afraid we'll hear this Kumbaya song yet again in Paris.

Sadly, Olympic Ceremonies as we used to know them, as long as the current world trends and the current morons in charge of IOC and ceremonies (i'm looking at you, Balich) are not going to return in a long while. Makes me wonder if I should keep bothering at all to watch them live again in two years.

 

Anyway, for those interested, China is doing the Universiade and Asian Games this year as well. I heard the Asian Games theme will be of folk/traditional history of the Hangzhou region, so there is still hope they try redeeming themselves from last night mess.

Sorry for the wall of text.:lol:

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1 hour ago, Ikarus360 said:

5) Parade of Nations

After the athletes, the main protagonist of this segment was the LED screen once again, with beautiful ice patterns which formed the way on which the athletes of the world marched in. However, I couldn't help but feel it was very similar to Sochi's parade of nations, which had a very similar structure and execution.

There were, however, two things I did not liked much of this segment in particular.

  • The music. In most parade of nations you hear the music of the host country (Pyeongchang and Kpop, London and british pop music, etc) so its an opportunity to showcase it. Here instead, we had a potpourri of classical western songs, which felt somewhat uninspired and a wasted opportunity of not using songs from the actual host nation (and yeah, I know Ode to Motherland was used at the end, but I still feel it was not good enough and its still a March song heavily inspired by western music).

Quick quibbles before I read on. The Sochi style of symmetrical right-and-left routes was a variant of something Steve Boyd had wanted to try in London; another variant was used in Rio, entering from the end rather than the side of the stadium. The intention is presumably to minimise the problem of certain teams slowing down the whole parade by walking a full lap of the stadium very very slowly.

The music in the parade varies a great deal: Tiësto in 2004, disco in 2006, bands from each of the 5 Olympic continents in 2008, but then a run of "home-made" stuff from 2010 to 2020ish. 2022's "Classic FM" selection, however, was truly, undeniably lame.

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Where to begin? I guess I take the structure of going by each Act.

1) Countdown

The Countdown was nice. As said previously, very reminiscent of Sochi 2014. The font wasn't very exciting, but I wasn't the CD on the project... The NBC broadcast went right from a commercial into the the videoclip, I originally had thought it was just another documentary piece from the network before the ceremony started.

2) Dandelion

It was a cool, looked beautiful. Nothing too exciting. It got pretty repetitive. I would've preferred something less interpretive and something more like a Lunar New Year celebration. Something a little more literal and celebratory. Did not like the fireworks that spelled out SPRING. I just thought it was weak. 

3) National Flag

Passing the flag between all of the ethnicities was nice in theory, but against the backdrop of the issues going on in China, it didn't feel right. I wish the little girl came back to "sing" Ode to the Motherland!

4) Olympic Rings

I like the nod to the handover. The laser technology was very innovative and I'm excited to see how the industry builds on using that in the future. The segment itself was nothing to call home about.

5) Parade of Nations

I echo almost everything Ikarus says. They should've showcased Chinese music and landscapes from each country that entered. I LOVED the placards and the costumes of the placard bearers. However, I wasn't a fan of the costumes the volunteers on the side were wearing. I also LOVED the uniforms for the Chinese delegation. Best part was when they cut to the shot of Putin sleeping when Ukraine came out lmfao.

6) Snowflake Part 1

I enjoyed it. It was a great use of the LED screens, and a simple way to regroup after the PON.

7) Speeches

lol

8) IOC Advertisements

They really need to stop with these advertisements for the IOC. It's getting old. The whole ad for the Olympic Channel in Rio, the updated motto in Tokyo and Beijing... it's getting old. It's getting sterile. This time should be used for showcasing the country. I'm getting tired of the "Imagine" segments too. The use of the time is unoriginal, no one is paying attention, it doesn't feel and won't ever feel kumbaya as hard as they try. I'm determined to stop Balich from doing this in Milan. It's truly sad that we've come to this moment where cookie-cutter acts like this is the trend. The Opening Ceremonies are losing their originality, spark, and significance the more the IOC pushes for these types of "ads".

9) Olympic Flag

It felt kind of creepy. The rendition wasn't the best to be heard in an opening.

10) Snowflake Part 2

I actually didn't mind this act. This was the strongest segment with kids, in my opinion.

11) Flame

I would leave this at a "lol" but I'm extremely disappointed. The snowflake is beautiful, the sculpture outside is beautiful, but sticking the torch in a holder and calling it a day? REALLY? You've got to be kidding me. You could've at least made a little chrome bowl to float in the middle and lit that. BUT STICKING THE TORCH IN A HOLE?????????????? It felt like a piss take. I'm kind of offended hahaha (how snowflake of me).

Overall: 5/10

It all looked pretty, but it just wasn't it. I think again the venue was too big for the circumstances. The cinematography was indeed better than 2008, so that's a plus for the CD. I still need time to fully take in what was shown. In the meantime, I can't wait to see all the sport and hear the athlete stories.

Opening Ceremony Ranking from 2000-2022

1. Athens 2004, 2. Sydney 2000, 3. Beijing 2008, 4. London 2012, 5. Sochi 2014, 6. Vancouver 2010, 7. SLC 2002, 8. Torino 2006, 9. PC 2018, 10. Rio 2016, 11. Beijing 2022, 12. Tokyo 2020

 

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Think just about everything is covered....pretty much nailed it.

 

What strikes me is that China wants to be the world leader in the next century- this ceremony was supposed to be about the future, but the ceremony had no narrative, nothing to say. Just cute children. It added up to nothing

Still better than Tokyo, because at least it hangs together as an Ólympic ceremeony.  

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3 hours ago, Ikarus360 said:

Seeing being so complacient and servile when he tried to speak in chinese was honestly a very pathetic move (I don't remember him doing this in previous speeches....Samaranch kind of did it but at least he did it with all of the hosts)...it reminded me of John Cena and his poor attempt at speaking chinese when he tried to apoligize for his comments regarding Taiwan.

Bach has spoken the host nation's language before - I believe he even asked the Emperor of Japan to declare Tokyo 2020 open, in Japanese

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My take:

1) Countdown.
Some OCs have had a countdown and a separate "introducing our wonderful nation" video (Sochi cleverly used the alphabet for the "introducing" video then used the countdown to introduce the names of the numbers 10 to 1). This combination countdown / introducing / rhythm of the seasons thing gave me high hopes for the 2022 ceremony.

2) Dandelion.
As I noted at the time, a Rio 2016 Pindorama vibe, but that followed logically from the countdown and emphasised that this was not going to be a ceremony about might.

3) National flag & anthem.
56 ethnicities is getting to be the "Gold medalist 1976" of Beijing ceremonies

4) Olympic rings.
Lots of what looked like projection mapping but was actually next-level LEDs. The "ice block" retaining its hard corners as it "melted" slightly spoiled the effect for me, but the little twinkles in the rings themselves were a nice callback to 2008.

5) The parade.
It was a parade, following what may be the new Olympic standard half-lap model. The music choice bordered on insulting.

6) Snowflake formation.
Very clever and high-quality use of stadium-scale 3-D graphics. But it was another use of stadium-scale 3-D graphics, like in 2010, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020ish.

7) Speeches
The 1976 medalist spoke for almost exactly twice as long as the OCOG chief, a drastic departure from the respectful near-equality of 2008.

8) IOC promotional stuff.
Yeah. A testament to the Olympic movement's desperation not to be loathed for its corruption.

9) Olympic anthem & flag.
An attempt at making it less of a chore, fair enough.

10) Snowflake continued.
Learning from the success of those "If cute babies competed in the Olympics" videos!

11) The Cauldron
I agree with Anthony. Even a cauldron with a flame no bigger than a torch would have been better than simply plugging a torch into the snowflake. By the way, I'd argue that a decade on, it's not unreasonable to repeat the London idea of a sculpture representing each competing nation.

 

Overall: 6/10
Started very promisingly, but became too engrossed in LED wizardry, and didn't have much to say.

 

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i came late from work and had the possibility to watch the opening ceremony late in the night via eurosport's youtube channel.. i have to admit that the chinese use in a high level AI-technology, BUT:

meanwhile everything on the gigantic led screens were flowing fluently, in overall i found the opening in a whole very week in sence of climax and romantizm & the cohesion of the parts were not so reasonable..

for example the overlap with dandelion part was good but so repetitive, and using the tiny country-flakes into an enourmous flake was also absolete/outdated in a field with hi-tech..

on the otherside i was reflecting for mounths how it could be IF the imperial-columns (as at the 2008 opening, but then in) with icy-blue colours would raise out of the ground.. this for the needed climax and historical-imperial-romantism in the birds-nest, especially with a sequence of two seconds images from 2008 for the unique link as a bi-olympic organisation-city.. AND OF COURSE would this be perfectly implemented with this hi-tech stuf in form of holograms AS it was possible in 2004 athens with the spiraling GENETIC-formation.. thus imperial-columns in holograms whereby the skaters would ran between them to form the triple-slogan-theme higher/faste/stronger.. and in the final that those columns-holograms would sink slowly with more icy-patterns into the led-screen.. 

with this soberty it looked like the skaters were forming the woven applicant baku-2020 logo.. in my view the art director has choosen the safest option in stead of the unsafest option.. meanwhile we all know that you can create lots more with simpl/icity.. but at the end of the story i think that the chinese policy of creating this opening ceremony wasnt warmly welcomed afterall if you see the final-production.. they finished in a laughable/ridicoulous way for mutual boycot to the diplomatic world.. this is what i feel/felt after whole this opening.. this manner diplolatic-boycot wouldnt be the new era of the olympic-ceremonies nor opening nor closing.. the shadow of this unrespectable political attitude spoils this what this magical have to be, it forms a big shadow for the whole two weeks to come in back/mind.. a big chance IF not a beautiful chance is missed out..

this musnt have been the lightning outcome of the olympic flame.. a tiny olympic couldron succumbs under a gigantic diplomatic-boycot-snowflake.. the worst one in olympic history whereby there is space for ultimate-creativity..

 

(im not happy with this hi-tech opening in minor) -_-

 

it is a very good to open such a thread for out personal verdicts.. thanx @Ikarus360 for the idea..

because of the lack of time i'll copy the link of the other thread where i wrote yesterday my opinion..

but wanted to attach one last sentence about the "imagine" thing..

in the time of out belgian-rogge there were applicant-file-system with a lot of questionnairies..

i dont know if it is still the same in the boring-bach-talks-system, BUT if the ioc-thick-necks want 'imagine' till the end of days

then they have to settle this as a oblige-point/article in the candidancy.. otherwise they have to take their hands of this beautifull song

because the value of this song erases each four if not two years.. the world gets bored of it JUST like de vavazula-thing at the world-cup in SA

 

my verdict/points for beijing 2022 >> (as i feel it) 5,71/10 >> (they missed a lot of audio-visual creative chances to level-up to the first league of open.cer)

my verdict/oints for tokyo 2020 +1 >> (as i telt was) 6,11/10 >> (in it own conjuncture because of the very first corona-og, the simplicity was better imho)

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Mt thoughts about the ceremony:

-          Even when I didn’t have my expectation too high, due to we were facing the second “pandemic ceremony” and having too fresh in mind what Tokyo offered us just few months ago, adding the limited time they had (just 100 minutes) you couldn’t expect a show that could top Vancouver or Sochi. With all those limitations, what Beijing, in its second opening ceremony at the same Bird Nest Stadium, made a ceremony that I can say more than “good”. Also, we couldn’t expect a mass show (despite of what we saw for the China National Games even fewer months ago) since it was going to be carried out according to the Olympic protocol under strict covid rules. Yimou replaced mass for high tech. And really it was HIGH TECH! with a ceremony based on aerials and last generation LED screens with motion sensors…  taking the technology for ceremonies to a new level.

-          The environment seemed a lot more vivid and cheerful than the Tokyo’s mourning-style. We could feel again that it was an Opening Ceremony and not a tribute to everyone and everything that lasted 4 hours (or 2 in this case).

-          The segments were mixed with the protocol and it may interrupt the anxiety we can feel when we watch an Opening Ceremony. Anyway, the segments were truly lavish!

-          We are getting used to “videos countdown” since London (despite it had a “stadium” London) and Beijing 2022 was not the exception. Coincidentally, February 4 marks the beginning of the spring according to the 24 solar terms of the Chinese lunar year and the 24th Winter Olympics.

-          Visually stunning, the first impression of the green brunches (which their colours reminded me “Pindorama” segment from Rio 2016) could lead to the first “wow” factor after Rio, totally absent in Tokyo and PyeonChang.

-          The Chinese flag welcome was a hint of what we saw in 2008 ceremony, adding modern factors, such the inclusion of “street” people and the children playing the trumpet interpretating a piece of music from an Old Chinese movie.

-          Then, the high tech started in majesty: the Chinese ink becoming the Yellow river, “flooding” the stadium was another stunning moment. We could appreciate, at that moment, that we were facing a replacement from the classic mass Chinese shows to a High tech show. I loved the ice arising from the floor, following the tradition of the Winter Games of remembering all the previous edition (which was skipped in Sochi) and then breaking the ice to emerge the Olympic rings. This maybe my favourite part of the ceremony. It called my attention that for the 1960 Winter Games, we could red “Lake Tahoe” instead the official name of the games: “Squaw Valley”… why?

-          The parade was fast, entertaining and cheerful. The snowflakes, as the plaques, was unique but not original. In 2015 we could see LED panels as plaques for the Opening Ceremony of the Pan Am Games in Toronto.

-          The ceremony continued at Yimou style: cheering people walking through the interactive panel discovering images of people around the world, another hint of what we saw before the torch lighting in 2008 when Li Ning, flying, discovered the route of the flame ass he passed by.

-          A new version of “imagine” was played. At this point I don’t know if this song belongs to the new Olympic Protocol for ceremonies, such as double flag bearers, joint oaths and the next host country marching next to last. I think that after listening to “imagine” in Torino, London (at least it was the country of the author), PyeongChang and Tokyo we’d had more than enough… What’s next? Someone singing “imagine” in French version on the Seine River?

-          The peace segment was unified with the Torch Segment. One by one the barely known torch, was approaching to what all of us were expecting: the cauldron that was going to be lit in an “unprecedent” way, while a children song was used as the background. By the way, that was another visually stunning high-tech segment.

-          Effectively, the flame was “lit” in an unprecedent way: NO CAULDRON AT ALL! Just was the torch which was put in the middle of the giant floating snowflakes, formed by the names of the countries which were the plaques on the parade…. But OK, Yimou thinks in everything:

Did the flame from Olympia arrive to the stadium? Yes

Is the Olympic Flame present in the ceremony? Yes

Is now, what was condemned to be the most infamous Olympic torch of the history, worldwide well-known? Yes

OK… Mission accomplished!

They appealed to sustainability and no gas emission… what about the fireworks, then?

This “lighting” of the cauldron ceremony left in me the feeling of… “it is not over, yet”…

An original, but weird, maybe, the weirdest idea for the Olympic Flame.

My conclusion: no taking in consideration the “no cauldron” factor (who broke the most important tradition for an opening ceremony, turning it into a sort of “queen’s baton” relay) it was a simple, short, well done and impressive ceremony. A pandemic ceremony, well executed who successfully replaced the (may be ancient) mass segments by stunning technology… OK, Beijing… you didn’t right!!!

the-olympic-rings-during-the-opening-cer

 

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That‘s hardly „woke“ but really just pure cynicism by a Chinese government that is apparently getting away with absolutely anything these days.

Frankly, getting agitated about the flame while generously ignoring gravest human rights crimes is the much bigger hypocrisy as it does not come from officials who are not expected to do anything else than closing their eyes as long as TV pictures are fine, but from „fans“ in countries with free media that should really know better.

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1) Countdown

Video countdown was ok.... nice images and stunning 4K resolutions. Was a little long until we got to 10.

2) Dandelion

When this was first unveiled i was like yes this is it, the start of a true epic of a ceremony. The green against the dark stadium and the movements of the large straws were very effective. the segment went on a bit too long with just the same thing happening of the performers waving them back and forth but it was a good welcome and opening.

3) National Flag

It was nice that they passed the flag along different people form the different ethnicities. Looking at it from a ceremony aspect and not political it was nice.

4) Olympic Rings

For me the best part of the ceremony. When the block raised up i thought this was the start of a Sochi style large objects in the ceremony. The laser work was cool and it was nice to see a countdown but again this was a bit too long. The ice breaking to unveil the olympic rings was very cool and stole the show. 

5) Parade of Nations

Not overly long which was good. i did not mind the music, but it would have been better if they at least had used the songs but had them played with Chinese instruments.

6) Snowflake Part 1

It was good to see the placard holders do something on-top of their role but again the dance was too long and the unveiling of the snowflake was a bit anti-climatic. A nice idea but nothing jaw dropping or gasping.

7) Speeches

The head of Beijing 2022 speech was ok in length but Thomas Bachs speech was as always too long

 

8) Olympic Flag

I like ode to joy but again i would have loved to have seen a chinese version or twist to it. The anthem was atrocious.... so cringe and the worst ever.

10) Snowflake Part 2

not good..... the ski jumper was pointless and the Led screen movements were badly done. The whole segment just amounted to nothing really

11) Flame

I get the idea but just no..... the snowflake sculpture could have been modern and full of technology but it looked so lame. The torch as the cauldron again i get but just so badly executed. Beijing 2022 is the first olympic games to not have a cauldron since the concept was introduced.

Overall: 3/10

COVID aside. China has the money, manpower, technology and show off to have put on one of the most spectacular and stunning olympic opening ceremonies ever. however what they gave us was all over the place. I do not understand, the communist government had the chance to be the best whether the west liked it or not. it is hard to believe the the same director of 2008 made this show. 

Opening Ceremony Ranking from 1992-2022

1. Sydney 2000, 2. Barcelona 1992 3. Atlanta 1996 4. Vancouver 2010, 5. Salt Lake City 2002, 6. Sochi 2014 7. Athens 2004, 8. Beijing 2008 9. Torino 2006 10. London 2012 11. Rio 2016 12. Pyeongchang 2018 13. Beijing 2022, 14. Tokyo 2020

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13 hours ago, Nacholympic said:

It called my attention that for the 1960 Winter Games, we could red “Lake Tahoe” instead the official name of the games: “Squaw Valley”… why?

The official name is derived from a slur used against Native American women, so its likely that the creative team went with the closest city, which is Lake Tahoe

(Although they could have used the new, inoffensive, resort name instead, "Palisades Tahoe")

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12 hours ago, Scotguy II said:

1) Countdown

Video countdown was ok.... nice images and stunning 4K resolutions. Was a little long until we got to 10.

2) Dandelion

When this was first unveiled i was like yes this is it, the start of a true epic of a ceremony. The green against the dark stadium and the movements of the large straws were very effective. the segment went on a bit too long with just the same thing happening of the performers waving them back and forth but it was a good welcome and opening.

3) National Flag

It was nice that they passed the flag along different people form the different ethnicities. Looking at it from a ceremony aspect and not political it was nice.

4) Olympic Rings

For me the best part of the ceremony. When the block raised up i thought this was the start of a Sochi style large objects in the ceremony. The laser work was cool and it was nice to see a countdown but again this was a bit too long. The ice breaking to unveil the olympic rings was very cool and stole the show. 

5) Parade of Nations

Not overly long which was good. i did not mind the music, but it would have been better if they at least had used the songs but had them played with Chinese instruments.

6) Snowflake Part 1

It was good to see the placard holders do something on-top of their role but again the dance was too long and the unveiling of the snowflake was a bit anti-climatic. A nice idea but nothing jaw dropping or gasping.

7) Speeches

The head of Beijing 2022 speech was ok in length but Thomas Bachs speech was as always too long

 

8) Olympic Flag

I like ode to joy but again i would have loved to have seen a chinese version or twist to it. The anthem was atrocious.... so cringe and the worst ever.

10) Snowflake Part 2

not good..... the ski jumper was pointless and the Led screen movements were badly done. The whole segment just amounted to nothing really

11) Flame

I get the idea but just no..... the snowflake sculpture could have been modern and full of technology but it looked so lame. The torch as the cauldron again i get but just so badly executed. Beijing 2022 is the first olympic games to not have a cauldron since the concept was introduced.

Overall: 3/10

COVID aside. China has the money, manpower, technology and show off to have put on one of the most spectacular and stunning olympic opening ceremonies ever. however what they gave us was all over the place. I do not understand, the communist government had the chance to be the best whether the west liked it or not. it is hard to believe the the same director of 2008 made this show. 

Opening Ceremony Ranking from 1992-2022

1. Sydney 2000, 2. Barcelona 1992 3. Atlanta 1996 4. Vancouver 2010, 5. Salt Lake City 2002, 6. Sochi 2014 7. Athens 2004, 8. Beijing 2008 9. Torino 2006 10. London 2012 11. Rio 2016 12. Pyeongchang 2018 13. Beijing 2022, 14. Tokyo 2020

Pretty much good points...Didn't watch it live and shuffled through the boring bits. The "Cauldron" lighting sort of made sense as it's difficult to feel "the warmth" at this moment in history. 

I'm going to give it a "Free Pass" score like Tokyo simply because of the difficult time the World is in at the moment.:mellow:

At least the IOC have persisted in carrying on...giving at least some distraction from miserable reality.

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for me a 5/10 - and thats with a generous acknowledgement of the difficulties of the times. 

My top ceremonies since 1980 (admittedly for most I have only seen highlights reels):

  1. Athens 2004
  2. Sydney 2000
  3. Atlanta 1996
  4. Sochi 2014
  5. Barcelona 1992
  6. London 2012
  7. Vancouver 2010
  8. Los Angeles 1984
  9. Moscow 1980
  10. Beijing 2008
  11. Salt Lake City 2002
  12. Lillehammer 1994
  13. Seoul 1988
  14. Turin 2006
  15. Albertville 1992
  16. Rio 2016
  17. Tokyo 2020
  18. Beijing 2022
  19. Calgary 1988
  20. Nagano 1998
  21. PyeongChang 2018
  22. Sarajevo 1984
  23. Lake Placid 1980
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10 hours ago, Bear said:

The official name is derived from a slur used against Native American women, so its likely that the creative team went with the closest city, which is Lake Tahoe

(Although they could have used the new, inoffensive, resort name instead, "Palisades Tahoe")

Yeah. I read about it and despite the name of the place has changed, the Olympic Committee should start to change in all of its references to "Palisades Tahoe". So, the name of the games should be "Palisades Tahoe 1960"

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14 hours ago, TorchbearerSydney said:

If you were wondering who was marching at the opening, I saw in an interview this morning that the Australian Team Barista (yes we have one) marched in the opening ceremony!!!

I WANT THAT JOB!

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I watched NBC’s replay, not once, but twice, since I missed the first ten minutes when it was live. So had to watch the replay(s), cause some on here on the live chat were so like “wow, amazing, that was SPECTACULAR!! We have brought back the wow factor!” 

So I was like; what on earth did I miss here?! And as it turns out, absolutely nothing. It was just there. Nothing spectacular, just okay. It certainly wasn’t the big hoopla of 2008, that’s for damn sure. The ceremony director didn’t help either, by hyping this all up. He did more of a disservice by doing that, getting everyone all in a crazed frenzy for nothing.

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32 minutes ago, FYI said:

I watched NBC’s replay, not once, but twice, since I missed the first ten minutes when it was live. So had to watch the replay(s), cause some on here on the live chat were so like “wow, amazing, that was SPECTACULAR!! We have brought back the wow factor!” 

So I was like; what on earth did I miss here?! And as it turns out, absolutely nothing. It was just there. Nothing spectacular, just okay. It certainly wasn’t the big hoopla of 2008, that’s for damn sure. The ceremony director didn’t help either, by hyping this all up. He did more of a disservice by doing that, getting everyone all in a crazed frenzy for nothing.

To be fair it did started nicely with the ring sequence and everything, but once you realize this ceremony heavily depended on that gigantic floor LED screen (its obvious most of the budget went for it) you know this wasn't that much of a good show. And lets not talk about the """cauldron""".

At least in Paris 2024 projections will take a rest. I'm starting to feel they overstayed their welcome and its overuse has brought disastrous consequences for sports ceremonies in general by making them lazy as hell. At least Lima 2019 and Jakarta 2018 tried and abandoneded its abuse almost completely. That's what I want to see more often.

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After the muted Tokyo 2020(1) Opening Ceremony, Beijing 2022 felt like a normal Opening Ceremony once again with Zhang Yimou directing it. Loved the use of LED projection techonology. As for the flame, this is the new normal for future Olympic Games Ceremonies. 

 

I'd give it a 6.4/10

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 loved how there were many influences from the Chinese belief of seasons and how the day of the OC coincided with the start of Spring in Chinese culture. It was clever how the countdown started with 24 given that the Beijing Olympics of 2022 were the 24th edition of the Winter Games and how the number 24 represented the 24 solar terms of the Chinese Calendar. I felt as thought the countdown was a bit calm and not climatic as what you would expect it to be. I think the did that to keep with the soft winter theme. I loved the first segment where you had those large LED flexible grass poles swaying in the stage floor. I really like that segment. It was fascinating to see the green grass separate into tiny groups in the stadium into white dandelions and then into fireworks. The music complemented that segment very well mixing Chinese instruments with winter-themed music. That projection board did a great job in showcasing the story through the projections but I think they could've installed the slide on the side of the stadium rather than in the middle. I found it a bit weird and you could tell they tried to copy PyeongChang's stage. I felt like the fireworks display was missing something maybe because I'm used to seeing the whole circumference of stadium being lit up with pyrotechnics rather than just having it at one side of the stadium. It would've been perfect for TV viewers but not the whole stadium.

The entrance of the Chinese flag by the people dressed not only in the many ethnic groups in China but also the workers like nurses, police, builders etc. was very interesting. I tried to see whether they included the Xinjiang traditional attire. I found the rendition of the Chinese National Anthem to be great but wasn't as powerful as the 2008 rendition.

Moving on to the next segment with the ice cubes and the lasers. I loved this segment as well. I loved how it started with a drop of ink from the top to the bottom of the stadium which then turned into water and solidified into projected ice. The music was more upbeat and sporty. I'm pretty sure that there was a physical podium that acted as the main ice cube. The lasers were just amazing to watch. It was great seeing the presentation of past Olympic Winter Games being displayed on the ice cube. The laser puck and the LED covered curler dancers reminded me of the Beijing handover at the PyeongChang Closing Ceremony and I thought it was very consistent of Zhang Yimou to include that. The scene where the giant ice cube melted into the Olympic Rings (also physical) was very well done. It reminded me of the segment of the 2008 OC where they had those LED dots that formed the Olympic Rings, which was actually one the many segments I loved from 2008. 

Moving on to the Parade of Nations, the projections of Chinese doors were clever and I loved how multicoloured they were throughout the parade. I didn't really like the soundtrack of famous classical music. I would choose the 2008 soundtrack, as they had cultural music from around the world, over the 2022 one any-day. Although, the soundtrack wasn't my cup of tea, I admired the thought behind it. I noticed there were a lot of Italian composers in the soundtrack so I'm guessing this was likely a nod to Milan-Cortina for the next Winter Games in 2026. It was very fitting to hear Ode to Motherland being played when the Chinese marched into the stadium. 

It was great to see the placards being formed into one giant snowflake (a la London 2012 cauldron) and how the outer edges of the snowflake was styled into olive tree branches maintaining that connection between the World, China, and Greece, the home of the Olympics. I admired the transformation from the snowflake being projected to a physical one. The music behind this segment was very worldly and I love it because of that. This was very similar to what Beijing 2008 had with the Olympic Rings if I remember correctly.

In the segment after the Games were opened by Xi Jinping, we had university students walk past the stage forming the motto 'Together for a Shared Future'. I liked the idea of that scene but I thought more could have been done instead of walking. They could've maybe paint one of the Chinese characters or danced to the music in a way that would've formed the letters of the motto. We then had 'Imagine' by John Lennon (HAHAHAHA) play with skaters forming lines that were again very similar to the Beijing Handover at the PyeongChang 2018 Closing Ceremony. I must admit when I heard Imagine, I thought of the other viewers at Gamesbid and your negative reactions! HAHAHAHA. I liked the rendition but I prefer other renditions from other editions. My favourite would have to be the Pyeongchang rendition.

Someone in the forum was right about the connection of the 2008 and 2022 ceremonies being the Greek acapella rendition of the Olympic Anthem. It's a nice feeling to hear the Olympic Hymn being sung in Greek. Apparently, the 44 children choir was from the poverty-stricken mountains of the Fuping County in Hebei Province. That was a nice gesture. It was clever to see the children wear tiger hats as a nod to the Year of the Tiger Lunar New Year festivities. 

The video of the toddlers playing in winter sports was so cute to watch.

We come to the last segment and that is the Snowflake performance. The song was so catchy, even to this day, it's still on my mind lol! It was very impressive to see the tracking technology used on the dove dancers as they were dancing around. I thought the bird props were cute. I found it a bit cliche how they all formed a love heart. I think they should've formed a snowflake so that the giant snowflake structure is reaching out on to the floor and doesn't make the floor feel empty. 

It was nice to see each athlete born in different decades get a hold of the torch providing a lasting legacy of sports through the generations. The lighting cauldron was underwhelming but SURPRISING to see as it was literally a torch on a giant snowflake. I was like 'Oh... that's it?...That was the cauldron the entire time?' Wow lol. Anybody could've thought of that when it comes to sustainability but kudos to Zhang Yimou for thinking about that idea of a simple and sustainable cauldron as it has never been done before in Olympic history. I found out later that one of the two cauldron lighters was of Uyghur ethnicity which was very thoughtful and heart-warming of the organisers to do. I loved how the ceremony once again ended with a big fireworks display with Olympic Rings (which was pretty cool), snowflakes of course, and a whole lot of fireworks. It made want more artistic displays. I loved how they used the same English announcer that was used for 2008 and how all of the announcers wished everyone a happy Lunar New Year afterwards. 

I wonder what Zhang said when he said that the ceremony was going to last for 100 minutes because that was definitely not 100 minutes. I would say it was around the same duration as PyeongChang's OC but Pyeongchang had more content in its artistic displays and wasn't as short as Beijing's OC. 

Overall, I enjoyed watching the Beijing 2022 Opening Ceremony with its influences from Lunar New Year, the creativity of generic winter symbols such as the snowflake, its links to world culture and elements from 2008, and it's consistency from the Beijing Handover four years ago. The letdown in general, for me, was the duration of the segments. To conclude, I say xie xie to Beijing and Zhang Yimou for providing us with a great ceremony (although 2008 was a bit better in my opinion) and a lovely storyline. 

VERDICT: 7/10

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