[curiousgeorge]

Beijing was awesome but in my opinion it had no soul. A young girl was deemed "not pretty" enough to sing her song so they got a "pretty" girl to mime it. However London was less Technological, but it celebrated the history of Britain, British Children Literature, British Films, British Music, British Comedy and Modern/Digital age (the use of technology and social medias). I will admit that, some of the people outside Britain will not understand some of the stuff. But since it was an opening ceremony, which is to showcase the culture of the host city/nation, I see nothing wrong with it. They could research the stuff they did not understand. Overall I really enjoyed London's ceremony more than that of Beijing. This is because London had emotion. Then again it could be because I had low expectations as I thought London will try to copy Beijing but Danny Boyle did a good job and produced a Unique, Emotional, Informative and an Entertaining ceremony.

[tazarooni89]

They were just two different types of opening ceremony. London was more artistic and cultural, whereas Beijing was more disciplined and skilful. London was impressive because of all the clever ideas they had for things to do, while Beijing was impressive more because of the fact that they were physically able to do the things they did. Both opening ceremonies played to the strengths of their respective countries. Britain's history, achievements, famous personalities etc. are more well known around the world, while China has a strong culture of discipline, hard work and a good work ethic, all of which was undoubtedly required to create and perform their ceremony.

I really can't choose between the two.

[SHUTUPMAN]

[ihatebutterflies]

I'm pretty much as multi cultural as they come. A Chinese kid born in New Zealand who likes to talk with her crappy faux Brit accent. You wouldn't even say kids like us are Chinese.. or English/kiwi. We're our own .. kind. And to be honest sometimes it's confusing being able to tell which I belong to more.

China: A country where conformity is cool and where discipline is a part of that. Everything is razor sharp, completed with military style. So therefore, everything about the Beijing opening ceremony reflects that.

London: A place I don't know much about because I live in New Zealand land, the hole. But I do know that their opening ceremony was a completely different genre to China's. The two are incomparable.

In terms of execution, biased or not, we all have to agree that no nation can beat the Chinese at flawless synchronicity. That's just how Chinese roll.
But London was an artistic and endearing piece. For such a modest budget, London did well.

Heh screw that I loved Beijing because, yeah, I'm Chinese. or half. or whatever,.

[Pabu]

I thought Beijing hands down was better, their opening ceremony was a lot more skillful. All we had was so called celebrities. I did like the Mr Bean part though but I was disappointed Muse wasn't there.

[Sstripey]

(Original post by vedderfan94)
At least the London closing ceremony will surely be better. Nothing could be worse than Leona Lewis murdering a legendary Zeppelin song.

I don't know about that - we had the Arctic Monkeys singing at least a semitone flat in Come together. WHAT were they doing there, and had no-one auditioned them? They were a disgrace, and at just the wrong time.

That aside, there was much that was brilliant last night, especially the wonderful cauldron.

[Piprod01]

The first ever Olimpic fart joke! It'd be no contest if they hadn't put that music montage / social network thing in.

[anthonyfl]

(Original post by sharp910sh)
beijing by far! the english are boring

*british
(it is team GB, you know for the whole of great Britain, not just England?)


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[anthonyfl]

I think London was by far the best. We included the disabled and minorities, whilst the Chinese discriminated against a little girl because she wasn't pretty enough! That's the difference


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[SmallTownGirl]

They were completely different. Because our cultures are completely different. That's the point. Beijing was about military power and precision and people becoming one entity. London was about the individual people and the way we celebrate diversity rather than hide it. London wasn't trying to 'beat' Beijing. It's not a competition. It's about celebrating the best of the host country and how we want to see ourselves. China chose to show the world their culture and we chose ours.

[TenOfThem]

Beijing was superb

So was Sidney
So was Barcelona

AND

So was London 2012

Danny Boyle looked to celebrate British eccentricity and he did

TBH I found the first section a bit slow but it built to an amazing crescendo ... my view was that oversees viewers would probably have a lot more commentary than we did (in the same way that we had detailed information regarding the meaning behind much of the Beijing show) making it more easily understood

But after that it was amazing


I cannot choose because they were different ... Beijing was a show to impress and impress it did ... London was a show to include and include it did

[madders94]

I think ours was better at telling the story of Great Britain; I think Beijing's aim was to make the world go "ooh" and "aah". Give me our ceremony over a seven year old lipsynching a song the original singer was deemed "too ugly" to sing any day

Or, as someone on twitter put it - we didn't just out-do Beijing, we ABSOLUTELY ****TED ON THEM.

[Lovebite]

Let's face it NOTHING will out-do Bejing!
until the year 2050

Bejing was flawless in every area and really had the wow factor.
Britain was more about our history. It was more like awwwh than wow.
and i think you can only appreciate the British ceremony fully if you have a love for British history. For me it was more interesting.

[sucess]

obviously this is biased as this is a british site otherwise nothing will beat that Beijing opening ceremnony

[TenOfThem]

(Original post by sucess)
obviously this is biased as this is a british site otherwise nothing will beat that Beijing opening ceremnony

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/oly...-ceremony.html

looks like the world's press were impressed

[silent ninja]

Beijing was spectacular. The stadiums were immense too -- remember the water cube? London was good and didn't suck. Ours was more individual and offbeat, Beijing more serious. Sort of reflects the different cultures, no?

[fuzznbass]

I though London was really good, I just can't believe its been 4 years since Beijing though.....

[CallMeASafeBet]

(Original post by Sstripey)
I don't know about that - we had the Arctic Monkeys singing at least a semitone flat in Come together. WHAT were they doing there, and had no-one auditioned them? They were a disgrace, and at just the wrong time.

That aside, there was much that was brilliant last night, especially the wonderful cauldron.

I thought it was a great cover to be honest. No way were they 'at least a semitone flat'. I think Paul McCartney is past it though.

[Mike93L]

Beijing's was better. The only thing I thought London did better was the torch lighting which was a really nice idea. People in Britain are gunna choose London because it's displaying their culture and country which they understand well but Beijing's displayed Chinese culture and was frankly much more impressive.

[sharp910sh]

(Original post by anthonyfl)
*british
(it is team GB, you know for the whole of great Britain, not just England?)


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

GB? i thought it was the UK, where was NI? why is it even called team GB.

Remeber we live in a country called the united kingdom of great Britain and northern ireland.

I saw no scottish dancers or welsh men.