I've seen this before

Every Opening Ceremony for the Olympics Games represents the culture of the host country, and this year it was no different. The 2012 opening ceremony for the XXX Olympiad was nothing short of a spectacular event showcasing the British culture. The Olympics is not only an event to unite nations, but also a chance for the host country to express its culture to the world. Through their various acts such as “The Isles of Wonder” and “Olympic Bedtime Story”, the British demonstrated their long history as a country, their diversity, and their culture.

In the opening video to the 2012 Olympic ceremony we see different areas of Great Britain. The video takes us, the audience, through various British landmarks such as the Thames River, the Tower Bridge, Big Ben, the London Eye, the London Bridge, and the London Underground. In this act we see the pride of Great Britain. Where in the opening act we see famous London landmarks, in “Olympic Bedtime Story” we see some of the British culture. Voldemort, the main villain from the Harry Potter series is seen tormenting little kids. To everyone’s surprise a number of Mary Poppins fly down to defeat Voldemort.

What is special about “Olympic Bedtime Story” is that what is British culture is actually world culture as well. It is hard to find a child around the world who does not know about the Harry Potter series, and in its time, the same situation occurred with Mary Poppins. Both the Harry Potter series and the Mary Poppins series of books and films are icons of British literature as well as icons around the world. My mother recalls reading Mary Poppins and watching the Mary Poppins film in her childhood, while my sister recalls reading and watching the Harry Potter series in her childhood. By including Harry Potter and Mary Poppins in the opening ceremony, director Danny Boyle managed to show the world the greatness of British literature and culture, while at the same time evoking positive emotions from audiences around the world. The Olympic Games are all about inclusiveness and togetherness, and the opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympics did just that. It showed the world the extent of the host country’s culture meanwhile celebrating world culture.

The Olympics is an event that brings different countries together to show the world the best of the best in human abilities. In the process, we get to see cultures from around the world. In The Parade of Nations, for example, we were witness to the first two women allowed to compete from the strongly Islamist nation of Saudi Arabia. Although the Olympic Games show the best of the world, it also shows some of the bad. There is ongoing controversy whether one of the women from the Saudi delegation would be allowed to compete in Judo wrestling. Country officials are demanding that she wear her headscarf, known as hijab, in line with Islamic dress code. However, according to Olympic and international Judo wrestling regulations, participants are not allowed to wear items around their heads. This causes a problem. Does the Olympic committee vow to the religious demands of a single country, or does it force them to follow international standards? It is not in the Olympic Games’ interest to allow a single country to dictate how their athlete should participate. Although Saudi Arabia has a legitimate right to demand that their athlete compete according to their standards, they do not, however, have the right to alter game rules because of religious codes. If Olympic officials were to cave in to their demands, this would cause innumerable more issues to come up later from different countries with different religious, cultural, and political codes. Issues like these tend to pop up from time to time, but over the years the Olympic Games have only gotten more inclusive.