Study On The Historical Evolution Of Opening Ceremonies Of Modern Olvmpic Games

The opening ceremonies are a series of procedures specially designed to mark the beginning of the Olympic Games and it is a good opportunity for the host country and city to display their historical and cultural charm,local characteristics and social state,as well as their own understanding of Olympism and Olympic Spirit.Those social factors that influence the development of the Olympic movement also have an impact on this concentrated occasion,and it is point of interaction to study the multi-cultural diversity.This study regards opening ceremonies as main object and uses the methods of previous literature study,induction study,observation study, interviews study,comparative analysis and historical analysis and so on to have a survey.On the base of analyze the basic structure of the opening ceremonies,this study summarize its features and functions.Then, this study divided the history of opening ceremonies into four periods, which is1896 ~1912,1920 ~1936,1948 ~1976 and 1980-present,and the main conclusions are as follows:1.The structure of opening ceremonies includes figure structure and significance one,in which the latter one is the base of the former one and the figure structure is external appearance of significance.2.The components of opening ceremonies figure structure includes five parts,which is time,space,implements,roles and behavior components.Time of opening ceremonies developed from day to night.Space of opening ceremonies from combination of stadium and church to stadium itself,and then developed to linking with the surrounding landscape. The dimensions of stadium are extremely increasing used.The perfection of the Olympic logo and the trend of performances prop's increasing larger is what change the implement of opening ceremonies made.When it comes to role,apart from the male-dominated to gender development,the scope of the audience and actors range from single one into multi one, which including both present audience and TV audience as well as audience and delegations.Behavior was mainly means parade style,torch lit and relay changes.3.The trend of opening ceremonies development is from ritual to show. Its basic structure was formed before World War I and developed well between the two world wars.Meanwhile the performance reached a peak as well at the same time,yet the ritual is still the base of it.From after World Warâ…¡to the 1970s,ritual gave its way to show,which provide new style to opening ceremonies.After 1980's,show,but not ritual has become an essential part of the opening ceremonies.Admission type,and so on,the ceremony has begun to show services.4.Opening ceremonies reflect the profound social changes,such as political,economic,cultural,media and technology.5.Opening ceremonies also enjoy a certain degree of independence, which is mainly determined by its significance structure.6.Whether ritual or show is the main base and how to maintain the effectiveness of the ritual has become a life-and-death issue affecting the development of the opening ceremonies.The Olympic movement may need to start a war to defend the effectiveness of the ritual and to maintain the significance structure of opening ceremonies.