The editors of the Far Eastern Economic Review laugh with, not at, Asia.
The BBC’s Olympic Theme
July 29th, 2008 by admin
Does this strike anyone else as being surprisingly dark for a station ident for a sporting event? With ugly characters, violent action and jarring music, is this meant to presage a failed Olympics?
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on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 9:22 pm and is filed under China, Travellers' Tales.
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How narrow-minded. I think the Gorillaz guys have done a great job here for the BBC, mixing Chinese classics, manga style, some nice visual gags about sport and some pretty cool music in a dub-influenced Mandarin opera style. (What about the music exactly is ‘jarring’?) This ‘ident’ (more of a trailer really at over two minutes) will refresh TV-weary eyes throughout the Olympics and will be remembered long after the Games are over, unlike the kind of bland and/or stupid TV visuals normally used for packaging mass-audience events. I feel lucky to be from the UK where we have a public service broadcaster that can do this, comissioning forward-thinking and original artists to contribute their visual idea to high-profile sports coverage. This kind of thing is the reason why most British people are happy to continue paying their TV licence fee to support the BBC (and no I don’t work for them!)
Well, it’s true that I’d rather watch this a hundred times rather than a cutsey clip of the emetic Fuwas, at the other extreme. But it does seem strange that all of the characters look inbred and cruel. What is this trying to say about the Chinese? The government may be a bunch of goons and thugs, but the Monkey King? This hurts the feelings of the Chinese people!
Funny, I didn’t think the cartoon characters looked inbred and cruel - possibly a little craven at times, but mostly just ????. I guess you’re joking about the cartoon hurting the feelings of the Chinese people, but in a way it should, because like Kung Fu Panda it shows that the Chinese have an amazing cultural heritage that all too often only foreigners can respond to with creative freedom, due to the Chinese film and TV industries being subject to so many ridiculous government restrictions, such as the one that says: ‘All imagery relating to China or Chinese culture must be nauseatingly cute - otherwise foreigners might think we were a grown-up country able to play on the less heroic qualities of our cultural icons.’
The music and designs are adapted from Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s work for a major stage production of ‘Journey to the West’, first shown in Manchester (England) last year, and now in Paris. Although they toured China for research and casting, this trailer probably owes more to their own Western progressive rock and music video tradition than to Chinese culture. But maybe that’s not a bad thing. While part of the cultural purpose of the Olympics is to allow outsiders to meet the Chinese at home, there’s room for a fruitful fusions too.
I’m not able to analyse this in any great depth but I would say that my sons (all under 10) love it. They have been watching the Olympics because of this clip and are now desperate for a cartoon series.
July 30th, 2008 at 10:51 am
[...] strange as NBC’s Olympic Mummy mash-up, but somewhat disturbing nonetheless, is the BBC’s Games promo. [Traveller’s [...]
July 31st, 2008 at 7:53 am
How narrow-minded. I think the Gorillaz guys have done a great job here for the BBC, mixing Chinese classics, manga style, some nice visual gags about sport and some pretty cool music in a dub-influenced Mandarin opera style. (What about the music exactly is ‘jarring’?) This ‘ident’ (more of a trailer really at over two minutes) will refresh TV-weary eyes throughout the Olympics and will be remembered long after the Games are over, unlike the kind of bland and/or stupid TV visuals normally used for packaging mass-audience events. I feel lucky to be from the UK where we have a public service broadcaster that can do this, comissioning forward-thinking and original artists to contribute their visual idea to high-profile sports coverage. This kind of thing is the reason why most British people are happy to continue paying their TV licence fee to support the BBC (and no I don’t work for them!)
July 31st, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Well, it’s true that I’d rather watch this a hundred times rather than a cutsey clip of the emetic Fuwas, at the other extreme. But it does seem strange that all of the characters look inbred and cruel. What is this trying to say about the Chinese? The government may be a bunch of goons and thugs, but the Monkey King? This hurts the feelings of the Chinese people!
July 31st, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Funny, I didn’t think the cartoon characters looked inbred and cruel - possibly a little craven at times, but mostly just ????. I guess you’re joking about the cartoon hurting the feelings of the Chinese people, but in a way it should, because like Kung Fu Panda it shows that the Chinese have an amazing cultural heritage that all too often only foreigners can respond to with creative freedom, due to the Chinese film and TV industries being subject to so many ridiculous government restrictions, such as the one that says: ‘All imagery relating to China or Chinese culture must be nauseatingly cute - otherwise foreigners might think we were a grown-up country able to play on the less heroic qualities of our cultural icons.’
July 31st, 2008 at 8:38 pm
guess this site doesn’t do Chinese characters - what I wrote (’????’) was hou2 po you3 li4, i.e. ‘lively and energetic’.
August 1st, 2008 at 8:36 am
The music and designs are adapted from Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s work for a major stage production of ‘Journey to the West’, first shown in Manchester (England) last year, and now in Paris. Although they toured China for research and casting, this trailer probably owes more to their own Western progressive rock and music video tradition than to Chinese culture. But maybe that’s not a bad thing. While part of the cultural purpose of the Olympics is to allow outsiders to meet the Chinese at home, there’s room for a fruitful fusions too.
August 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 am
I’m overseas Chinese and I find nothing dark and offensive about this clip. It’s pretty good. Lighten up guys!
August 24th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
I’m not able to analyse this in any great depth but I would say that my sons (all under 10) love it. They have been watching the Olympics because of this clip and are now desperate for a cartoon series.