RSS Feed MenuAm I the only one who was horrified at the closing ceremonies of the Vancouver Winter Olympics?
Maybe “horrified” is too strong a word, but I couldn’t believe what I was seeing – the Games organizers, or the ceremony poobahs, playing into every cliché about Canada that many of us find mildly irritating when we encounter them in other countries.
NBC’s coverage of the Games themselves was magnificent in its sidebar depictions of a Canada, about which not even Canadians are fully aware or appreciate. Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams (the American one) and Mary Carillo did us proud with vignettes throughout the Games. Then came the final, Sunday night closing ceremonies!
I won’t comment on the Russian contribution – a come-on, I guess, for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia which, judging from the mediocrity of Russian athletic performances in Vancouver, bodes ill for the 2014 Games.
What about those dancing Mounties at the closing ceremonies? The fake hockey players and pretend fighting? Prancing lumberjacks? The huge, inflated beavers and flying moose? The voluptuous maidens with flapping autumn maple leaves, cloaks like orangey moths?
My wife insists it was a send-up – a Vancouver version of a Monty Python skit. If so, it didn’t work for me.
When that Mountie came out and sang the “Maple Leaf Forever”, I thought he was a real Mountie until the lady Mounties in mini skirts and bosoms sashayed out and stripped off his uniform to reveal him in a white dinner jacket.
I’d have been more impressed if he’d sung the original version of the “Maple Leaf Forever” instead of a sanitized version. When I was a kid, some people thought the Maple Leaf should have been our national anthem instead of “O Canada”. The first verse tells you why it’d never be accepted: (In days of yore,/ From Britain’s shore,/ Wolfe our dauntless hero came,/ And planted firm Britannia’s flag,/ On Canada’s fair dominion).
A platoon of Mounties marching in and breaking into a mélange of dancing and gyrating was a spoof, maybe, but uncomfortable to see Mounties depicted this way.
The net result was that all the Olympic visitors and athletes attending the closing ceremonies got what seemed a Canadian view of Canada that fit precisely with the cartoon, or foreigners’ view of Canada – beavers, moose, Mounties, hockey players, maple leaves. Hard to take us seriously.
Interestingly, the closing ceremonies were a contrast to the opening ceremonies, which stressed the native culture – Indians in traditional garb and treated with something resembling reverence. No spoofing First Nation people!
Again, this aboriginal stuff gave another clichéd impression of Canada. There’s a lot more to Canada than comic book Indians, but I’ll bet a lot of visitors will return home thinking costumed Indians are an integral part of daily Canadian life.
I find it somewhat embarrassing that NBC took us more seriously and depicted us more accurately than our own Olympic people.
That said, the Games from a spectator’s viewpoint were a spectacular success, and Canada’s athletes exceeded expectation, winning the most gold medals and not succumbing to pressure.
My biggest surprise was hockey. I had expected Russia to win the Gold, but thought Canada would beat the U.S. handily, without need of an overtime goal to win.
Occasionally one can be wrong, which proves we are human.
LFC // Mar 1, 2010 at 4:13 pm
The fake hockey players and pretend fighting? Prancing lumberjacks? The huge, inflated beavers and flying moose? The voluptuous maidens with flapping autumn maple leaves, cloaks like orangey moths?
Are you sure you weren’t watching Sarah Palin’s Presidential bid launch?
balconesfault // Mar 1, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Or as Balloon-Juice put it yesterday
Is All of Canada on Acid?
naramata // Mar 1, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Get a sense of humour! Closing ceremonies are never a home run, and I would have liked to see a few things done differently, but the camp, nod-and-wink send up of our own stereotypes was perfect. (Because frankly, as a Canadian living in the US, we don’t have much else that’s identifiably Canadian! Asked to put on a Canadian booth at a food fair, what do we throw out? Maple anything, poutine, Molson Ex if you’re lucky, and some Nanaimo Bars. I can’t even think of a 5th dish.)
For me, though, the self-deprecating clown engineer fixing the 4th column on the olympic flame was a stroke of pure brilliance. F- to A+ in the blink of an eye.
oldgal // Mar 2, 2010 at 9:58 am
I thought it depicted Canada perfectly – a nation that has not lost it’s appreciation for just having fun – absolutely delightful.
sinz54 // Mar 2, 2010 at 10:20 am
Asked to put on a Canadian booth at a food fair, what do we throw out?
Pate chinois.
Tiffins.
Montreal smoked meat.
Labatt Blue beer.
GOProud // Mar 2, 2010 at 10:22 am
Peter, as an American living near the border and who owns a summer home on Batchawan Bay in Canada, I too was surprised by the Closing Ceremonies. I think it did, indeed, have every cliche except the people-killing Canadian orca, Tilikum.
Well, maybe that’s one cliche the Canucks would rather us FlatLanders forget?
DFL // Mar 2, 2010 at 11:54 am
My grandfather, RCMP 1932-1952, would not have been amused although he had a fine sense of humor. But the grand finale to the Olympics is fitting with our juvenile, decadent culture. Why have any dignity when you can bounce around like ten years olds.
jferg1 // Mar 4, 2010 at 10:29 pm
I have to somewhat agree with you,Peter. I liked the clown “pulling up” the fourth column; we might as well acknowledge the blunder ourselves and poke fun at ourselves. I didn’t find the “Maple Leaf Forever” number with Michael Buble not very funny. It looked like we were putting on this big Vegas style performance with all our icons. It made me uncomfortable the longer it went on. Now if they would have topped the number off with a giant case of beer delivered by Bob and Doug MacKenzie, then the humour would have been complete!!!
wormsie // Mar 7, 2010 at 12:28 am
Why is there always a lineup of second-rate blogger-cum-”journalists” that are just waiting for another excuse to bitch and moan? The whole show was meant to be tongue in cheek and self-depricating, and as a country that is known for being humble, the only appropriate way to go with a Canadiana theme is over the top. And if you want to talk about things for Mounties to be embarrassed about, just check the recent headlines – this little entertainment number is far from the top.
Hopefully the author gets on top of his deadlines so next time around the rest of us don’t have to choke down a last minute filler piece.