The 2014 Winter Para-Olympic Closing Ceremony: Part 2.

This should be read as a direct continuation of part one that can be found here; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-2014-winter-para-olympic-closing.html

At the end of the Cossack sequence the UK broadcaster Channel 4 (C4) cut to a commercial break. As I've already mentioned throughout the closing ceremony C4 seemed to be making a deliberate effort to put it's commercial breaks in the most disruptive places possible. Added to that I had to contend with my father who really doesn't get this sort of thing. However rather then simply going in another room and doing something else for two hours my father instead insisted on sitting next to me throughout the ceremony yawning sarcastically and using each commercial break as an opportunity to flip between channels. It was during this break that I finally threw my hands up in frustration and went out for a cigarette. As a result I completely missed this next sequence.

However I gather it saw the return of the majorettes that had been such a big hit in the Olympic closing ceremony and the para-Olympic opening ceremony using their precision marching to form symbols that could be identified from overhead. For example in the para-Olympic opening ceremony the majorettes formed the shape of an Olympic torch. This prompted the para-Olympic themed C4 show "The Last Leg" which was broadcast live a few hours later to pretend they didn't recognise the shape and asked their viewers to identify it on Twitter using the hashtag #TheYellowThing. Later Malaysian authorities claimed they'd spotted "A Yellow Thing" in the search for missing flight MH370 and sent planes and ships to investigate.

Although I can't be sure of the exact sequence I believe that on this occasion the majorettes first formed the para-Olympic "Agitos" symbol to identify this as the para-Olympic games.

Next the majorettes formed up in the shape of the Russian word  "Ura" which roughly translates as "Hooray." However this was spelled out in the Russian, Cyrillic script "YPA" which helps to emphasise the way the Russian language blends the western tradition of using an alphabet to form words and sentences with the Oriental tradition of using symbols to represent words and form sentences. The use of the word "Hooray!" was intended to promote the role that sarcasm can play at the Olympics with nations sometimes being allowed to win events so other nations can have a good laugh at their expense. Simply by putting brackets around the exclamation point "Hooray!" can be changed from an exclamation of joy and success into "Hooray(!)" - a expression of deep sarcasm. That of course played into the importance of grammar in language and general power of language that was present in the sequence in which the word "Impossible" was changed into the sentence "I'm Possible" earlier. The legend "I'm Possible" was of course still hanging above the arena during this sequence.

Finally the majorettes formed up into the shape of a traditional love heart. The purpose of this was to show that Russia indeed loved the para-Olympics and the para-Olympians. This goes back to a long-running point of tension between the International Para-Olympic Committee (IPC) and Russia that goes far beyond the current tension between western governments and Russia. Basically when the Soviet Union hosted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow they refused to host a para-Olympics on the grounds that 'The Greatest Nation in History' simply doesn't have any imperfect citizens. I think the phrase; "The Soviet Union does not produce cripples" might actually have been used. Although the Soviet Union has since collapsed and has been replaced by a Russia that does seem to be taking the issue of disabled rights seriously that is not the sort of attitude that wins friends in the para-Olympic movement and is not the sort of thing that is forgotten easily. As a result Russia seemed to be trying to make a very clear apology.

The return of the majorettes was simply a way to inject a bit of life into what can otherwise be the rather dull, but important protocol of the flag ceremony which I did get to see. As always this involved the lowering of the Russian national flag and the lowering of the para-Olympic flag. The para-Olympic flag was then handed to representatives of the 2018 South Korea hosts before it was re-raised alongside the South Korea national flag. The Russian flag was carried out of the arena by Russian disabled children while the South Korean national flag was was carried into the arena disabled South Korean children. The flag bearers were clearly chosen here in an effort to keep the politics to a minimum. While this was going on the para-Olympic anthem was being played on the piano by blind pianist Oleg Akkuratov. Although Akkuratov personifies the para-Olympic ideal of achieving despite disability this was also a nod back to the way that dozens of pianists had been used to promote discussion about homosexuality versus paedophilia in the Olympic closing ceremony. After all that was a delightfully smutty pun executed in quite some style.

With the para-Olympic and South Korean flags flying side by side it was time for a short sequence welcoming us to South Korea. Normally I don't like to cover these sections in too much detail because the next host now get four years in which everybody else gets to bombard them with questions. However on this occasion South Korea's section entitled "A Journey Together" was so concise that it seemed to be crying out for explanation.

South Korea's sequence centred around a South Korean artist who lost both his arms in an accident but is apparently not worth naming painting hieroglyphs of the five para-Olympic winter sports while traditional South Korean music played and wheelchair dancers danced. Although the artist was painting the five sports the style of his work owed a lot Oriental calligraphy. As such I'm tempted to dub this section "The Art of Language" because it showed off the complexity of written Oriental languages. Not only do Oriental languages use symbols rather then letters to form sentences those symbols are actually incredibly intricate with not only the type of individual strokes (there can be up to 30) but also the order and style in which those strikes are applied contributing to the meaning of the symbol. As such calligraphy is a very big thing in Oriental cultures. This sequence obviously introduces you to that aspect of South Korean culture while linking up with the importance of language theme from the Russian parts of the ceremony which in turn highlights the strength of the relationship between Russia and South Korea.

The South Korean sequence ended with a specially composed song entitled "Song of Unity." For the most part this song was sung in South Korean but it's chorus "Welcome to Pyeongchang" was sung in American accented English. That seemed to be the South Koreans indicating that they're getting as p*ssed off with the USA as everybody else is at the moment.

It was then time for the closing speeches. Normal protocol dictates that these are given first by the head of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and then by the head of the IPC. However on this occasion an exception was made and Russia's speech was delivered by the Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak. This was allowed in order to recognise the role that Kozak had played in personally overseeing the preparations for the Sochi games and in particular his work in making sure that the para-Olympics secured a real legacy of improving disabled rights in Russia. In his speech Kozak played it rather safe simply highlighting how in the run up to the games people had been saying that it would be impossible for Sochi to stage a successful games yet Russia ended up making possible the most successful Winter para-Olympics in history.

In his speech IPC Chair Phillip Craven also acknowledged that the Sochi games had been a success and made of point of thanking the Russian hosts in Russian over and over again. The thing is that the Russian word for "Thank You" is "Spasiba" which sounds a lot like the word "Spastic." Although a purely technical term used to describe the excessive and uncontrolled flexing of muscles often seen in people suffering from Cerebral Palsy "Spastic" has become one of the nastier insults thrown at people with all sorts of disability. As such Craven seemed to be playing around with this insult in an attempt to reclaim it in the same way black people have reclaimed the word "Nigger" and homosexuals have reclaimed the word "Queer." I personally find nothing funnier then being able to describe a para-Olympic crowd as; "going spastic with excitement." Through the force and almost aggression with which Craven used the word "Spasiba" though I felt he was having a deliberate swipe at Russia over the refusal to stage a 1980 Summer para-Olympic games. As that was more then 30 years ago, the regime that was responsible has since been overthrown and the modern Russia has clearly made a very big effort for the Sochi games I personally felt that Craven took things a little bit too far. However as with everything else in these ceremonies my opinion is neither absolute nor final.

With the speeches declaring the games closed it was time for the para-Olympic cauldron to be extinguished. This involved performers of all genders, ages and abilities entering the arena carrying flames in small cardboard lanterns. These were very reminiscent of the Chinese lanterns that featured in the 2012 ceremonies and seemed like a Russian overture of friendship to the Chinese. After all the overall effect of this sequence was very calming.

As the lanterns were brought in three Operatic singers performed a piece I didn't recognise. In all the pre-publicity and media coverage these singers were described as "Three Sopranos." The two Russian female singers - Nafset Chenib and Diana Gurtskaya - were most certainly Sopranos but the male singer - the Spaniard Jose Carreras is a Tenor which obviously posed the question of who knows the difference between a Soprano and a Tenor? Obviously I suspect that the Russian hosts would have preferred to have Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli performing in Carreras' place because Bocelli is blind thus personifying the para-Olympic theme of achieving despite disability. However certain efforts were made to make Carreras resemble Alfonso Cuaron - the director of the much discussed film "Gravity." Also like the rest of us Carreras is not getting any younger so I detected a faint hint of him being used to promote discussion about an ageing population and the disabilities including mobility problems that they bring with them.

The female sopranos were a lot more interesting though. Firstly Diana Gurtskaya who stood on the stage next to Carreras is blind and has sort of made big, black sunglasses her trademark. During the ceremony she was dressed in a masculine style suit which along with the sunglasses gave her a very Mafioso appearance. That was obviously a nod to the Italian mafia, Russian organised crime and the US TV Show "The Sopranos."

Nafest Chenib stood centre stage atop a platform that looked like a crow's nest of a ship. That of course was a reference to Rihanna who is charitably decided as a mezzo-soprano. Chenib was dressed in an ornate white lace dress with an elaborate headpiece. This could be interpreted as her resembling a wintry snowflake or it could be mistaken for a type of wedding dress. That was a jokey little reference to the fact that September 9th's (9/9/12) 2012 Summer para-Olympic closing ceremony is considered my and Rihanna's wedding day. It could also be a reference to the way that the US have subsequently tried to marry Rihanna off first to Chris Brown and then to Drake without much success.

In order to extinguish the Olympic cauldron all the performers leaned forwards as one and blew out their lanterns at the same time. This caused the flame to be extinguished and was a jokey reference to the way the Olympic cauldron had been blown out in a way which was absolutely not a reference to US President Obama's sex life(!) Although they could have chosen any of the performers the Russian TV director decided to focus one boy of a 6 of 7 years old as he blew out his lantern. Building on the Obama reference this was a little nod to the debate about gay-rights versus paedophilia that has been present throughout the Sochi games. As the flame was extinguished the sequence ended with white light falling from the skies as it did during the wedding sequence of the para-Olympic opening ceremony. Again resembling White Phosphorus this "falling skies" effect was supposed to highlight that the international community could have been more helpful in contributing to the gay-rights debate.

Despite the cauldron being extinguished and the games declared close the Russians had prepared one final sequence that I will cover later because I certainly don't want to be dragging this out into a fourth day.

17:20 on 19/3/14 (UK date).

Edited at around 19:30 on 19/3/14 (UK date) to add;

The final spectacular sequence of the closing ceremony had been labelled "Bubble World" in all the pre-publicity. There is something about bubbles that stir an almost childlike joy in people - even saying the word "bubble" is quite fun - so the intention here was to keep everything good natured and quite silly.

However it was also a reference to the way that Olympic and para-Olympic games exist in their own little world inside a bubble made up of sport, sleep, sport, sleep etc. As a result if nations want to bring up political/social issues that are happening at home - as is rather the point of the Olympics - it becomes almost a competition in itself to see if the non-athletic members of the teams (press liaisons, coaches etc) can slip these topics into casual conversation and onto the agenda. Obviously part of the home advantage of staging a games is that everybody in the bubble gets to tune into local TV and radio stations. However as we live in a more inter-connected world this is obviously changing because the worldwide Twitter trends are the same worldwide. As such this closing sequence was intended to promote discussion about the way the Olympic bubble is changing and the changing ways that nations react to it.

The sequence began with performers in star shaped costumes basically bouncing into and around the arena. As these costumes were white, illuminated with LEDS and quite fluffy the performers resembled either Snowflakes or Snowmen depending on how you looked at them. Taken as Snowmen they were a little nod to the video that opened the para-Olympic opening ceremony that resembled the style of the Raymond Briggs cartoon "The Snowman" that C4 show in the UK every Christmas. The performers hats were reminiscent of the whiteface-style clown that acted as the children's guide during the Olympic closing ceremony.  Soon the Snowflakes/men were joined by other performers who were making lots of actual bubbles out of detergent and water. Some of these were firing their bubbles out of cannons. This was a little nod to the snow cannons that had to be used on the alpine venues during Sochi's snow shortages which provoked lots of discussion about climate change.

The party was then joined by the acrobats inside the giant "Zorbing" bubbles that had appeared during the para-Olympic opening ceremony. That was a little nod to the access/censorship debate that they'd initially tried to begin. They were quickly joined all the acrobats who had appeared during the circus sequence of the Olympic closing ceremony who were performing exactly the same tricks and routines. The only difference was that this time the acrobats who were doing ring tricks that sometimes resembled the Olympic rings and sometimes resembled atoms were this time balancing on giant glitter balls. This was a reference to the way people in western nations have been trying to raise the cultural tone by copying the Russians through shows like "Strictly Come Dancing" or "Dancing With The Stars (DWTS)."  For example TeamUSA Snowboarder Amy Purdey went straight from Sochi to appear on DWTS and TeamGB para-Olympians will take part in a special version of "Strictly Come Dancing" during Friday's (21/3/14) "Sport Relief" telethon. Finally all the Cossack dancers joined the party.

During this sequence the music was again being very interesting. It began with what sounded like a Coldplay song which was then joined by a soulful, black female vocal which you could describe as Rihanna-like only a little bit stronger and more polished. This was little nod to 2012 when Coldplay and Rihanna performed together in a ceremony that seemed to take great joy in using songs that people thought they knew only to be embarrassed to discover they didn't. The hymn "I Vow to Thee my Country" which sounds a lot like the anthem of the Rugby Union World Cup "World in Union" being an example that springs to my mind. As with the James Brown sound-a-like in the Cossack sequence this was again Russia going; "Yeah we can do that, we just don't see the point."

As the Coldplay sound faded away the soulful female vocal carried us into a Euro-style electronic dance music beat which we all know from the Eurovision Song Contest. This was intended to promote discussion about Eurovision because surely the US couldn't have thought that a continent that holds such a contest every year could in any way be troubled by Rihanna's antics?! Also the Eurovision Song Contest provides a very good forum for the Russians to practise their soft-power efforts. The problem is that it has become dominated by former Soviet States who are never going to vote for Russia no matter how good their songs are. Although the European Union (EU) and the Eurovision Song Contest are two completely different things this does tend to lead into a discussion about the expansion of the EU into former Soviet States which has been called into hard focus by the situation in Ukraine.

Mainly though it seemed like an attempt to promote discussion about this type of electronic dance/house music. Although music is always hard to explain I think the most well known offenders in this area are the German group "Scooter." While the music they produce is very high energy and popular it lacks the sort of emotional and cultural depth that you normally associate with art. In short it has no soul making it the musical equivalent of empty calories. By using guest vocalists such as Aloe Blacc what Swedish DJ Avicii has managed to do is produce a very soulful style of electronic dance/house music which is proving to be very popular and his efforts were being acknowledged here.

There remains though the question of why the empty calories of acts like Scooter remain popular across continental Europe particularly in Russia and the former Soviet States. I personally have two theories. Firstly people in Russia and the former Soviet States tend to be relatively poor and suffer from limited life options leaving them miserable as a result. People who are miserable don't want emotional depth in their music because it reminds them how miserable they are. Secondly the languages in nations where this type of music is popular tend have a very pounding rhythm to them which is reflected in the music. As a result people who speak those languages are better able to hear the poetry in the music then people who speak more flowing and flourishing languages like English, Spanish, French or Italian.

Suddenly a giant ship made it's way into the arena. As since the return of the majorettes the ceremony had been conditioning you to think that it was simply bringing back the big hits of previous ceremonies you immediately assumed that this was the icebreaker from the para-Olympic opening ceremony. However if you looked closely it was actually a Cruise type ship. A slang term for gay dating is "Cruising" so this ship was meant to point out that the people of Russia and Sochi in particular are nowhere near as homophobic as people think.

As the ship made its way into the arena it started to projecting searchlights around the stadium. It was at that moment you may have noticed a Chinese-looking man in the observation nest on the bow waving a flag reading "YPA!" which is Russian for "Hooray!" As such the ship was a reference to the search for Malaysian airlines flight MH370 which conveniently disappeared on the opening day of the para-Olympics. The MH370 story was so big no-one could avoid it meaning that it forced itself into the para-Olympic bubble. That again feeds into the discussion about the Olympic bubble because pulling a stunt like MH370 would normally be considered cheating.

The fact that is was a Chinese-looking man waving the "Hooray!" flag was supposed to remind us that at its heart the MH370 is about Malaysia killing 152 Chinese civilians and then proceeding to emotionally torture their relatives by refusing the explain what happened. This is the sort of thing that could be considered a Malaysian act of war against China but so far China's response has been calm, considered and patient. Obviously the relatives of the passengers are being allowed to express their anger during the twice daily press conferences but if it was me I would have put someone through a wall by now. By reminding us of the aggression that China has experienced and how calmly they have responded Russia looks like it was trying to strengthen its ties with China in light of the Ukraine situation.

Finally a DJ appeared on a raised platform and the cruise ship was suddenly lit up to resemble a graphic equaliser while the loud dance music played out inviting everyone in the stadium to come on down and join the party. A nice touch was that the Cossack dancers surrounded the ship like stewards trying to stop people climbing on it. That was to remind everyone how brutally the Cossack stewards dealt with protests during the games. The party scene was a reference to the fact that there's actually a little bit before and a little bit after each ceremony that isn't usually broadcast. It is traditional for the closing ceremonies to turn into a big party for the athletes and it's a bit of test of the relationship between nations and the hosts whether people are allowed to join in with that party. Due to mobility problems and everyone being really exhausted after a long and intense two months there wasn't much of a party after this ceremony and there really wasn't much of a mood for one.

As the purpose of the sequence was to remind us that events at the Olympic village don't suddenly end the moment the TV coverage finishes the ceremony didn't really have a big finale. Instead it just sort of faded out rather like this post has to.

23:30 on 19/3/14 (UK date).