The opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics was spectacular. Artfully choreographed by film director Danny Boyle, it was culturally rich but charmingly parochial, striking a tone of pride in the Best Of British while being quietly conciliatory about the Worst. It was honest, and it was rather beautiful.
The process had begun four years earlier, at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where the staging had a different kind of vibe altogether. Like a Hollywood movie that cuts to a scene set in London and immediately shoehorns Tower Bridge into shot – lest the viewer should be unsure of where they've landed – it was an altogether clumsier affair.
