After years of preparations, two weeks of city-wide madness, and 14 gold medals (!), the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver have come to a close. It felt like an age in coming, and it went by in a blip. It was surreal seeing shots of my hometown splashed about on NBC, and I daresay I will miss seeing TourismBC commercials between now and our next trip to Canada. But this is not what I want to say.
Blogs are about opinions, so here is mine: the closing ceremony was hilarious, and I loved it.
Being not only a Canadian, but also a Vancouverite, I may be predisposed to approve of whatever shenanigans they decided to come up with for the "less formal" ceremony--especially in the heady wake of what was a fantastic, well-fought hockey game (what else would we expect from a game of NHL all-stars divided only by the 49th Parallel?), which was won by Team Canada. (Wooo!)
But, from the mime "fixing" the fourth column, to the amusing monologues mid-ceremony, to the crazy "WTF?" dance of inflatable Mounties, giant beavers, floating moose, two-man "canoes", plaid-clad lumberjacks, and "fluttering" maple leaves, the underlying theme of it all seemed to be about poking fun at Canadian stereotypes, and playfulness. Rather fitting, after the "come play with us" theme during the closing ceremonies of the Torino games in 2006.
Really, that last part of the ceremony was worth the wait, despite delayed coverage on NBC, and despite having to listen to the grating presentations from various NBC commentators. I really got a good laugh--and I'm sure many other Canadians did, too. We are proud of our amusing stereotypes! And anybody who might be appalled or unimpressed by the seemingly comical display (especially after Beijing, which, we were told numerous times, was amazing, so amazing, oh my so amazing!--I am looking at you, Costas) perhaps needs to be told, "Don't take yourself too seriously, eh?"
This is the one year where I really made an attempt to watch as much of the Olympics as possible, but I missed both the opening and closing ceremonies! I was printing last night so I missed almost all of it, but at one point I sat down in front of the TV while taking a break. William Shatner was on, and I thought that was SO bizarre. But with your description of the ceremonies, it seems to make perfect sense now. ;)
ReplyDeleteHa, you got into the ceremonies just as they started getting less boring. I suppose that a lot of non-Canadians will be confused or possibly offended at the Canadiana on display, but I hope not.
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