Chez Kay
Andrew Kay is convinced that all that glitters is not under 21-years-of-age
Forgive me for riding the same hobby horse two weeks in a row but I can’t let this one go. If you read last week’s Chez Kay you will have seen how disturbed I was by the uninspired drivel presented at the closing ceremony of the 2008 Olympics. I did not have room to comment on the animated short that ran before that fiasco.
“It’s time to grow up and let the grown-ups have a hand in these important decisions”
The presenters at the BBC announced it by declaring that it had been created by ‘young people in Soho’. Young people in Soho, what could they mean? I sat back to find out.
Well it was a complete disappointment, dull, pedestrian and alarmingly like an existing animated title sequence for one of those TV property shows that litter the weekly schedules. Sat alongside the glorious animated title sequence for the BBC’s own TV coverage of 2008 it looked worse than abysmal.
So who were these ‘young people’ and where in ‘Soho’ are they plying their trade? Are they students, and if so, of what? Were they a random sample of British youth? And if so why were they plucked from the streets of Soho? Why not Ealing, Wandsworth, Kennington, Streatham, Bow?
The truth I suspect is that this is yet more of the tyranny of youth. The obsessive worship of the young at the temple of innocence. Forgive me for suggesting this but it does stink of some form of intellectual paedophilia.
Whilst the closing performance had less artistic and intellectual integrity, and certainly less charm, than a junior school nativity play (well at least the story is a good one), this animation had less integrity or inspiration than a sink cleansing product advertisement.
Good heavens, wake up and take a look at where we are. Exorbitant sums spent on a logo that looks like the games are Aztec in origin, crummy promos, scandal over inappropriate imagery of child murderers…
Time I say, to bring in the professionals. I could list any number of great British artists, designers, directors, authors, typographers, film makers, animators, costume and fashion designers who would do a better job, better because they offer more in terms of experience. It’s time to grow up and let the grown-ups have a hand in these important decisions.
