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Abstract
This essay focuses on the coverage of the past seven Olympic Opening Ceremonies (1984–2008) through the lens of one national broadcaster: China Central Television (CCTV), which has been the sole Olympic TV rights holder within the Chinese mainland during this period. Through textual analysis of CCTV's live broadcast narrative, I hope to first shed light on how the concept of liminality may be used to analyze the coverage of a highly ritualized sports event. Second, I look for changes in the media's ritual practices and ritual language across these years and search for possible explanations.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank Professor James Ettema for his many valuable suggestions throughout the writing of the article. The author is also grateful to Mr. Zhang Zhaoxi of CCTV for his great help in gathering the video clips used for analysis in this article.
Notes
1 CitationTurner, The Ritual Process, 96. Van Gennep, The Rites of Passage
2 MacAloon, ‘Olympic Games’, 262.
3 CitationGoffman, Frame Analysis.
4 CitationMacAloon, ‘Olympic Games’.
5 CitationMacAloon, ‘Olympic Games’, 253.
6 CitationDayan and Katz, Media Events.
7 CitationDayan and Katz, Media Events, 10–14.
8 See CitationLukes, ‘Political Ritual’, 289–308; and CitationCouldry, Media Rituals.
9 CitationAnderson, Imagined Communities; CitationCarey, ‘Political Ritual’.
10 De Moragas Spà, Rivenburgh, and Larson, Television in the Olympics, 143.
11 Larson and Park, Global Television, 207–212.
12 The video material used here may not represent the full length of the actual CCTV coverage of each opening ceremony. But judging from the available material, CCTV did manage to introduce all or nearly all of the participating nations appearing in the video.
13 De Moragas Spà, Rivenburgh, and Larson, Television in the Olympics, 156.
14 From CCTV's coverage of the 2004 Olympic opening ceremony.
15 Interviews with various CCTV employees involved in the 2008 Olympic media production.
16 In response to Taiwan's pro-independence leader Lee Teng-hui's visit to the US, where he propagated his independence agenda, the Chinese government carried out military exercises over the Taiwan Straits in March, 1996. Alarmed, the US army sent two aircraft carriers to the region for intervention.
17 From CCTV's coverage of the 2000 Olympic opening ceremony.
18 Turner, The Ritual Process.
19 CitationRoche, Mega-Events and Modernity, 197.
20 NBC's coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.
21 De Moragas Spà, Rivenburgh, and Larson, Television in the Olympics.
22 De Moragas Spà, Rivenburgh, and Larson, Television in the Olympics
23 De Moragas Spà, Rivenburgh, and Larson, Television in the Olympics See CitationBrownell, ‘Cultural Variations’, 26–41.
24 From CCTV's coverage of the 2004 and 2008 Olympic opening ceremonies.
25 From CCTV's coverage of the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony.
26 From CCTV's coverage of the 1992 Olympic opening ceremony.
27 From CCTV's coverage of the 1996 Olympic opening ceremony.
28 CitationBrownell, Training the Body for China, 124.
29 From CCTV's coverage of the 2000 Olympic opening ceremony.
30 From CCTV's coverage of the 2004 Olympic opening ceremony.
31 CitationBrownell, Training the Body for China, 145.
32 MacAloon, ‘Olympic Games’.
33 From CCTV's coverage of the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony.
34 From CCTV's coverage of the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony
35 Interview with a US journalist involved in covering the Beijing Olympics.
36 De Moragas Spà, Rivenburgh, and Larson, Television in the Olympics.
37 Brownell, ‘Cultural Variations’, 26–41.
38 Interview with Zhang Wei, vice supervisor of CCTV Sports, October 28, 2008.
39 CitationJiang, ‘The “Truly Exceptional”’, 11–14.
40 Brownell, Training the Body for China, 124.
41 CitationRothenbuhler; Ritual Communication.
42 Jiang, Heping, Controller of CCTV Sports, 23 October, 2008.