Proud to be British
July 30, 2012 in Innovation, Media
No, I am not a Brit, but proud and very happy to be part of the world that the Brits created, after looking at the fabulous Olympic opening ceremony.
In a stroke of genius, show master Boyle, put the entire revolutionary two centuries of Britain like a suspension bridge between the two towering engineering geniuses, Isambard Kingdom Brunel who created the infrastructure for the industrial revolution, and Sir Tim Berners-Lee who created the World Wide Web, the ” railroad” of the information economy. And in between the revolutions that created the world as we know it: Votes for women, the Beatles and the sexual revolution of the sixties.
Compare with the dazzling ceremony at Beijing four years ago. Created by one of my all time favourite artists in the entire world, Cai Guo-Qiang. And truly wonderful! But as one commentator remarked, what are the chances the Chinese could conceive, never mind actually executing a humorous take on Mao, as Boyle did with the Queen starring as a Bond ” girl”? Would they ever, ever had the Corgis so sentimentally beguiling in a cameo performance?
And in the humorous, self-effacing comedy of Mr Bean and James Bond, the compassion of the NHS sequence and the tear wrenching choir performance which included the deaf children singing with their hands – therein lies the West’s mental supremacy over China.
Where would you rather be participating in the metronomic performance in Beijing or in the individualist exuberance of London? And what in the end will drive invention and adaptation better?
Let;s not forget the foundations of our success – as Niall Ferguson reminded us recently in his TV show and book: The West and the Rest.
Chris said on July 30, 2012
Hi Bertie, certainly a wonderful and different show. The Brits have a lot to be proud of and this was a good way to show it off. My BIL’s take on it (he is in the promotional planning business- museums and tourism)told me it was basically aimed at the British people and those who understand their history. I see that many non-brits were disappointed as it was not what they expected after Beijing and maybe they did not have the background to understand it.
Bertie said on July 30, 2012
Mmmm…I think it must be non English speaking countries. And there was commentary after all.
Chris said on July 31, 2012
The negative comments I am referring to were comments on the News24 website !
btw the commentary was very basic and probably not understood by those who take little interest in world history, one commenter stated it was inadequate