Hi! Do you know why don't they hand out the medals at the Ice Skating venue? I was hoping to hear the anthem!
They sometimes do what they call a flower ceremony at the venue and then the actual medal ceremony at a more central venue that is better equipped.
I do find it odd that they did this for figure skating when normally the flower ceremony treatment is reserved for the alpine sports where it’s not conducive to hand out medals, raise flags, project anthems etc. Who knows, perhaps it was just logistics. I would have much preferred to have the medals awarded now as well.
I am sorry I haven’t had the time to consistently update this blog like I did for Sochi 2014. But please, if you have asks, comments, or requests please send away!
Sandrine Mainville, Chantal van Landeghem, Taylor Ruck and Penny Oleksiak celebrate their bronze medal finish in the Women’s 4x100m freestyle relay (x)
"I swear. Once you understand the themes and artistic complexities behind Vancouver’s opening ceremony watching it becomes 100x more enriching. (just send an ask if you want some clarification)" - Could you clarify some more? My mom thought the ceremony was lacking but I always felt there was some underlying meaning underneath a lot of the actions and visuals. I'd love to know more.
The Vancouver Opening Ceremony was a lot more intricate than most remember it being, mostly because people forget the literary voiceover excerpts that accompanied each segment and simply remember the spectacle of the show instead. Without these excerpts pointing out the tone of each segment I find that the performances lose some of their artistic value.
Welcome by the Aboriginal Peoples
The theme of the opening ceremony was an exploration of Canada’s geography from coast to coast to coast. The welcome totems represented the 4 Host First Nations of the land that the games were being played on and were depicted as having their arms outstretched, a traditional symbol of welcome. Aboriginal peoples from different regions were then brought in to showcase their traditional dress and dance.
Hymns of the North
The Arctic bear section was heavily imbued with symbols of the north and constellations, invoking imagery both of Arctic communities as well as Canada’s history of navigation and way-finding across the Northwest Territories and Arctic Ocean. However, this section also has a migration theme to it as evidenced by the quotation that is read prior to the beginning of the segment:
"I came to Canada as a refugee. 45 years later, for me, Canada is a refuge still"
This is a quotation from Joe Schlesinger, a man who fled Austria during WWII after his parents were killed in the Holocaust and went on to become a prominent CBC journalist and member of the Order of Canada. In my opinion, the interpretation of this segment is not simply about “the North” but is a more complex narrative about the communities of people who come to Canada even though its landscape is so hostile and foreign. From there, the harsh Arctic climate transitions as the ice breaks and the communities are literally scattered across the country - leading us into a subsequent exploration of the various regions of Canada.
The Sacred Grove
The Sacred Grove section represents the calm and lush environment of British Columbia’s coastal rainforest. What is notable about this section (which most people often forget) is that it opens with the quotation:
”The beauty of the trees, the softness of the air,the fragrance of the grass, speaks to me.
And my heart soars.”
This comes from Chief Dan George, a notable Chief of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation whose traditional territory Vancouver currently sits unceded upon. The performers then dance and Sarah McLachlan does her thing and the segment finishes with a poetic narrative that is meant to be open for interpretation. I’ve heard some say it represents a forest fire and the cycle of life while others have said that it is supposed to represent the spirit of the trees transcending into the heavens. A less romantic interpretation could be that the forest was cut or burned down by development with the arrival of colonialists.
Rhythms of the Fall
The next section begins with an autumn moon descending from the sky alongside a canoe with a devilish figure in it. This is meant to represent the tale of the Chasse-gallerie, a French Canadian folk story that depicts voyageurs making a deal with the devil in order to travel from their remote location back home to see their loved ones.
Before the music begins the following quotation is read:
”Know by the thread of music woven throughThis fragile web of cadences I spin,That I have only caught these songs since youVoiced them upon your haunting violin.”
This is an excerpt from Pauline Johnson’s Autumn Orchestra a wistful poem that explores a forest and its profound spiritual elements during the autumn season. Pauline Johnson was herself half Mohawk and is famous for her literary work and performances that explored the intersections of Aboriginal and colonial culture. Following her quote, the music begins and we are treated to a deluge of tap dance and fiddling which are meant to characterize the Maritimes and their strong Celtic origins, all while heavily featuring maple leaf/autumn imagery.
Who Has Seen the Wind
The next segment is often confusing to people and I know that many characterize it as “that Peter Pan part”. This section loses all meaning when taken apart from the quotation:
"I would walk to the end of the street and over the prairie with the clickety grasshoppers bunging in arcs ahead of me, and I could hear the hum and twang of wind in the great prairie harp of telephone wires. Standing there with the total thrust of prairie sun on my vulnerable head, I guess I learned—at a very young age—that I was mortal"
This is an excerpt from W.O. Mitchell’s novel Who Has Seen the Wind? which is about a young boy living on the Prairie trying to comprehend the wide expanse of the prairie fields, the open skies, and the inevitable cycle of life and death. With this theme in combination with Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now as the backtrack, this segment becomes a potent artistic piece that many simply don’t understand the meaning behind.
Peaks of Endeavour
The next section opens with what is supposed to represent plate tectonics and the establishment of what is meant to be the mountains of British Columbia and Alberta. The following quotation is then read:
“A lifetime is not enough to explore this country. A man is too small to feel its size, the poet has not been born to sing its song, nor the painter to picture it.”
This is from George Vancouver, the early explorer who Vancouver obviously takes its name from. This quotation throws us back to the theme of geography, and then the music and performance starts. The mountains are laced with scenes of natural beauty but also sports (because of the Olympics, duh) and eventually turns into a depiction of the Vancouver skyline, literally suggesting that Vancouver is a city nestled in the mountains. Throughout the segment the performers continuously transition to resemble city lights rather than athletes.
We Are More
From there the show transitions into Shane Koyczan’s We Are More slam poem which is meant to highlight some of Canada’s social achievements, highlighting specifically our cultural diversity. One particular line reads:
"We are cultures strung together then woven into a tapestryAnd the design is what makes us more than the sum totals of our history”
The key word here is tapestry which evokes thoughts of the Canadian “mosaic” (in contrast to the American “melting pot”). He later goes on with lines such as, "We are the brightness of Chinatown and the laughter of Little Italy". Such carefully crafted words pay homage to Canada’s diversity while avoiding potentially problematic issues (ie. who gets to be represented? how do you represent multiculturalism?)
Critique
Since I don’t want to sound like I’m just romanticizing the Opening Ceremony here is some general critique that I’ve read about as well.
A large issue is that this ceremony is not actually representative of Canadian modern society. With the overwhelming majority of Canadians living in urban environments in the southern portions of the country, it seems somewhat off putting that the ceremony primarily portrays Canada through the lens of northern/sparsely populated geography.
Following on this argument, I know that many stories came out criticizing the ceremony for generally being very “anglo white” in the sense that multiculturalism and diversity were generally missing and seemed to be slapped onto the end in the form of Koyczan’s poem and one singular French song that occurs at the very end. Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this argument as I don’t know how they could have represented multiculturalism as a whole without breaking the tone of the show or being generally offensive (ie. I’m imagining a bunch of people in different cultural dress coming out and holding hands or something….)
Another potential critique is the portrayal of Aboriginal people. While I am under the impression that the ceremonies did consult closely with Aboriginal people with how the Welcoming segment would work, these scenes of dancing around mask the underlying problems that Aboriginal people still face in Canada today. I guess it’s a certain question of what is appropriate for an Olympic ceremony… While Aboriginal representation and culture is obviously important to showcase to the world I do know from living in Vancouver (and working in the tourism industry) that the province likes to use Aboriginal culture and bodies as a cultural commodity to draw tourists in, collect their dollars, and give the impression that we all live harmoniously together (which we all know is definitely not the case for many First Nations people).
