After watching the 2008 Olympics opening ceremony, I remarked to more than one person that it was the most amazing live event that I’d ever seen. I knew that NBC had recorded it 12 hours before it was shown in the US, but I figured (naively, it seems) that what we were watching had actually happened live earlier in the day. As the truth emerges, it seems we were duped in at least two instances.
When 9-year-old Lin Miaoke entered the stadium and began singing the Chinese national anthem, I immediately could tell that she was lip-syncing. I figured she had recorded her vocal in advance to avoid any errors live. After all, the version of our own national anthem made famous by Whitney Houston at the 1991 Super Bowl was also prerecorded and mimed for the same reason. However, it turns out that the voice we were hearing didn’t even belong to Miaoke. It belonged to another girl that Chinese authorities deemed too unattractive for public consumption.
The other part of the ceremony that literally took my breath away was the fireworks simulating large footsteps that started over Beijing and ended at the Bird’s Nest stadium. I considered the concept to be genius and had to rewind just to watch it again. That spectacle was also an illusion, as officials have now admitted that the fireworks were also previously recorded or added digitally.
I’m still waiting to find out that the floating Olympic rings were also faked. Apparently the world’s greatest “live” show wasn’t so live after all.
7 Comments
This does not surprise me at all. It is typical of the China as we know it. If you look at Chinese goods, how long do they last? They are not made to last-they are intentionally priced cheap, because the Chinese cannot do anything original. Everything is a copy and a fake. Hence it is not surprising that half of the amazing ceremony was “fake”.
Rather than point the finger at the Chinese, I’d say this simply speaks to the temptations that come with the most recent technological advances.
I’m much more concerned about the potential for the abuse of people’s rights through a government’s creative lacing of “virtual” with reality than I am anything having to do with entertainment.
Me, I’m more furious about Bush. Nearly every time the camera showed him at the Opening Ceremonies and again at subsequent events, he looked like a cowboy kicked back in a folding chair at some backyard bbq. What a bozo.
After watching the women’s gymnastics last night (8-12), I found myself furious. Creating the appearance of reality at the Opening Ceremonies I can deal with. But when I took one look at the Chinese team, it was obvious that they were underage. Falsification of documentation is far worse than manipulating technology to a country’s advantage.
@ Karen: I don’t blame the Chinese people for any of this, but I have a real problem with the Chinese government. They’ve went back on several of the promises that they made before being awarded the Olympics - including unlimited access to the internet for reporters, reducing pollution, and respecting human rights. These newest examples of manipulation really shouldn’t surprise any of us, but I’m very disappointed in NBC for going along with the visual deceptions.
Doesn’t the Associated Press and Reuters have policies against printing retouched or altered photos? One would think that any other self-respecting news organization would adopt the same type of policy for their form of media.
I feel bad for the little girl that actually sang the Chinese national anthem, but honestly I wasn’t surprised when I found out. We will probably never see the “real” China–they are all coached on what to say and how to dress and act–it’s all a show. On the news last night they were talking about how many of the schools that collapsed during the earthquake have been cemented over or tampered with to prevent investigations into the buildings’ structural integrity.
The Chinese gymnsastics team should most certainly be disqualified–they are underage and that is just wrong.
I also thought Bush looked like an idiot during the opening ceremony (but then again, that’s not hard for him…). At one point, the cameras cut to him looking at his watch! There were thousands of Chinese performers down there giving their all and he’s looking at his watch? Is it January 20th yet???
Yeah, I read about all of this. So not happy with the Olympics right now. And has it always been this way - that I can only find Olympic anything on NBC, and nothing (absolutely nothing) is live.
I’ve been thinking about this thing some more and came to the conclusion that we are no better than the Chinese when it comes to being superficial. We don’t even allow ugly people on our own television programs. Look no further than the hit show “Ugly Betty” - we even got a pretty girl to play the ugly character. How often do we see unattractive people anchoring the news desk or winning reality shows?
All this makes me wonder if we aren’t really to blame, since the Chinese recognize that the average Olympic viewer needs beauty and spectacle to be properly entertained. Not that there’s anything wrong with beauty or spectacle, but perhaps the Chinese just went a little overboard in their desire to please.
Either way, I wonder what damage all this has wreaked on the “uglier” Chinese girl’s self esteem. Imagine being told that your voice is acceptable but your face isn’t, and then having to hear it repeated over and over in the media. Poor thing.