The Olympic opening ceremony is in rehearsal. But until it is unveiled in the evening of August 8, the extravaganza will remain a State secret, known to only those involved.
Director Zhang Yimou. [China Daily]
What will the performance be like? Will it be the mother of all stadium shows?
Without any inside information - even if we had, we couldn't tell you, or we'd have to kill you afterwards - we'll mount the mother of educated conjectures, just to intrigue you and make Zhang Yimou's job of creating surprises more difficult.
Now, we know Zhang, artistic director of the
Beijing Olympic ceremonies, is an artist of versatility. He is equally comfortable with art-house flicks and blockbuster epics; he has helmed three tourism-oriented open-air shows and three productions of Western operas.
Unless he reinvents himself from the ground up, a Zhang Yimou aesthetic is not difficult to discern. Our guess is based on his existing oeuvre, which we believe reflects and encompasses his artistic upbringing and convictions.
Zhang has a penchant for bright colors.
The trio of films that established him in the international arena, Red Sorghum, Ju Dou and Raise the Red Lantern, all made daring use of the color red. It is a symbol of passion - sometimes forbidden passion. In folk culture, it is also celebratory. Many of the ornaments for Chinese holidays, such as banners, lanterns and clothes, accentuate red as the essential element in the color scheme.
Chinese icons, such as kungfu performances, may feature at the Olympic ceremonies. [China Daily]
The burst of colors is found in different ways with different implications in his early and late works. The delirious golden shimmer in Curse of the Golden Flower suggests a mental state of the imperial family and may lead to less-than-positive interpretations.
However, there is little possibility Zhang will tone down the color saturation in favor of something such as, say, the Taoist colors of black and white. A Zhang production will not be like a demure watercolor - not a chance for the Olympic gala.
A Zhang Yimou production depends heavily on symbols - anything that yells Chinese, from household bric-a-brac to royal ornaments. He has been ridiculed for this predilection. (Sardonic writer Wang Shuo called him a "home designer".) But there is no denying that symbols represent a country more efficiently than a nuanced picture
Given the size of the overseas audience, symbols may be the only way to go. So, expect bicycles, pandas, dragons and the whole mascot army.
Zhang excels at crowd control. Except for the one who lights up the stadium torch, there is little likelihood that any one person will steal the show. Taking a hint from the Spring Festival gala on CCTV, more than one artist may get the honor to sing the theme song.
