LONDON (Reuters) – “Strange”, “baffling” and “surreal” was how director Danny Boyle described his Olympic opening ceremony. The rest of the world largely agreed.
In the press stands of the arena where the ceremony took place on Friday night, Chinese journalists looked puzzled and asked their English peers for guidance as they struggled to make sense of the artistic whirlwind for their readers back home.
Reaction to the $42 million showcase event at the main Olympic stadium and across Britain, which is hosting the 2012 Games, was overwhelmingly positive.
But the plain-talking Boyle, who won an Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire, will not be remotely surprised to hear that ‘Isles of Wonder’, a kaleidoscopic canter through Britain’s past, left many viewers scratching their heads.
Boyle was braced for bewilderment even ahead of the four-hour ceremony inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest and packed with references to British history, literature and music.
The opening minutes of the ceremony “you might find a bit strange and baffling”, he told reporters from dozens of countries before the show. The second half, he warned, would be “actually slightly surreal; some of you will be baffled, I can guarantee it”.
So wide was the cultural divide for some that Spain’s centre-right daily El Mundo pondered: “Are we of the same species as the Brits?”
But underlining how sharply divided opinions have been to the London 2012 opening, other Spanish newspapers were full of praise.
Quintessentially British, the ceremony opened with a re-creation of bucolic bliss, referencing William Blake’s “green and pleasant lands”, before turning dark and recreating the “dark Satanic mills” of industrialisation.
William Shakespeare and John Milton made way for Ian Fleming, Lewis Carroll and J K Rowling, while Elgar, Handel and Parry were drowned out by the Clash and the Sex Pistols.
Comedy character Mr Bean crashed the London Symphony Orchestra’s party, while James Bond, played by Daniel Craig, joined Queen Elizabeth in a short, tongue-in-cheek video.
“The opening of the London Olympic Games reminded us that heart and passion are just as important as proficiency and technique!” Nigel Lythgoe, producer of American Idol and a Briton working full-time in Hollywood, said.
“As long as the games exist, Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth’s entrance with James Bond will always be remembered. Steeped in history and tradition the opening ceremony made me extremely proud to be British.”
