Back in the early '90s, a pop group called Milli Vanilli had their Grammy award revoked after it was revealed that the two "faces" of the group weren't the actual voices. Needless to say, there was a substantial backlash when this was discovered.
Now, Lip synching is not unusual in the world of music. There have been some fiascos from it. Such as a certain celebrity's appearance on Saturday Night Live. However, there has been lip synching done at the Olympic ceremonies before, by none other than Luciano Pavarroti. However, in those cases the artist was lip synching their own voice, because of health of environment issues.
Now, enter Lin Miaoke and Yang Peiyi. Lin Miaoke is the one who stood in front of the cameras, giving the impression that China wanted the rest of the world to see. However, the voice coming over the loudspeakers was of Yang Peiyi.
“The reason was for the national interest,” explained Chen Qigang, general music designer of the opening ceremonies, who revealed the deception during a Sunday radio interview. “The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feeling and expression.”
Then, there's the fireworks sequence, at least for those viewing at home. The filmmaker, Zhang Yimou, is apparently a fan of George Lucas.
...to achieve the spectacular, Mr. Zhang faked not only the song; organizers also have admitted that one early sequence of the stunning fireworks shown to television viewers was actually created using digitally enhanced computer graphics for “theatrical effect.”
It seems that the Chinese government has always wanted to give the impression of China being perfect to the outside world. However, now it's coming out what lengths they'll go to do so. Of course, if they'll have the head of their FDA put to death, then it doesn't surprise me that those in charge of providing that image will go to great lengths to do so. However, they don't seem to realize the unintended consequences of their actions.
Now, I'm questioning how good the Chinese olympians really are. Is it the athletes performing, stand-ins, or CGI?
3 comments:
You forgot to mention the women's gymnastic team from China. Up until very recently, three of the team members were written up in the media as being twelve or thirteen. Meaning, they are fourteen now. Problem: the rules for competition say you must turn sixteen in the Olympic year. And, what about those articles and previous competition forms with the real ages on them? Why, they were all mistakes. The GOVERNMENT ISSUE PASSPORTS presented to the Olympic officials are correct and both girls are now sixteen. Right.
I think it's cute that you posted a little primer on Milli Vanilli. Their album was one of my first, so I knew exactly who you were talking about, just from the title.
Blame it on the rain!
@ P-Momma:
I hadn't even heard about that. The only reason I read about the lip synching thing is a few minutes on Google News during lunch.
It doesn't surprise me, though. It'll be interesting to find out what comes of it.
@ Terra:
"Girl, you know it's true."
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