Self-deprecation as a show of utter confidence.
And for that we need to go back to the 2012 London Olympics.
Let me set the stage for you. The last Summer Olympics were held in China in 2008. It was an important one for China - it was unofficially using it to declare its re-entry back on the world stage. And as of such, they went for the most lavish, elaborate and powerful entry they could - the mother of all opening ceremonies.
I highly advise those who haven’t seen it yet to go check it out. 15,000 perfectly synchronized performers, $100 million spent on the ceremony ALONE, it was lauded as the greatest ceremony ever.
Yup, those are people - a small part of the ceremony…
Needless to say, the UK had some pretty big shoes to fill. All eyes were on their opening ceremony, wondering how they would manage to surpass the incredible spending and wealth that Beijing had brought to the stage.
You know what the UK did?
They brought Mr. Bean into the ceremony. Everyone around is focused on making it perfect, and he just messes things up. It’s a hilarious scene, and I also advise you to check it out.
But more importantly, it was the ultimate power play in response to China.
We don’t need to take ourselves too seriously. We know what we’re worth.
It was the perfect expression of the UK’s power and confidence, and in my honest opinion, was a far better ceremony than Beijing’s (which, I guess, was kinda the point.)
But only the Brits could have pulled that off.