London Struts on the World Stage
It's been a summer of spectacle in London, from the celebrations of the queen’s Diamond Jubilee to the ambitiously named World Shakespeare Festival, and now the grandest show of them all, the 2012 Summer Olympics, which will formally begin tonight with an extravagant opening ceremony orchestrated by the film director Danny Boyle.
It’s no accident that all this theater is taking place in a Britain staggered by economic meltdown, a controversial austerity budget and a crisis of political legitimacy following the hacking scandal, which exposed the cozy relationship between News Corporation and the nation’s elite. At times of political or economic crisis, the British have always turned to spectacles as a way of projecting — or creating — power.… Seguir leyendo »