Everyone Lost It For This Psychedelic Turtle At The Olympic Closing Ceremony
The Olympics closing ceremony was full of drama and spectacle, but even surrounded by over the top sights, some things stood out. Like this psychedelic turtle, which had everyone gasping when it came out at the stadium. Now, tweets about the turtle at the Olympics closing ceremony are all cheering it for the same reason — it's an amazing, trippy end to the 2018 Winter Games.
The PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics closing ceremony on Feb. 25, folded a lot of technology into their performances. There were lots of colors and moving projections on the floor. It was all pretty interesting, not to mention pretty pretty, to watch. But the "in memoriam" of the closing ceremony was particularly intriguing.
The memoriam portion is a tradition that started during the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in order to honor athletes who have passed. The Korean version is called "A Journey to Remember," and was split up into three sections — all featuring a single turtle that embarks on a journey from life to death over the course of three stages.
Of course a memorial for those that have passed is going to have an air of sadness to it. But from the beginning, the colors of the turtle and the settings around it were so vibrant and colorful that it made it a celebration of life more than a somber moment.
So apparently, a lot of people on Twitter forgot to be sad because they were too damn distracted by how trippy the turtle was.
The turtle may have been the epitome of an LSD wonderland but the whole performance actually held a lot of significance. As I mentioned earlier there were three sections to the "in memoriam" performance.
According to NPR, the first was called "Turtle and Kkoktu." In this first stage, the turtle, along with the kkoktu puppets, started out on his journey across life and death. Everyone's favorite psychedelic turtle sat in the middle while the puppets holding dandelions entered followed by a dancing puppet.
The next stage the turtle goes through was called "The Time Tunnel." In that stage the turtle rode through the purgatory between life and death.
The third and final stage is called "Eternal Remembrance." In this stage the puppets danced and said goodbye to the turtle as he ascended to the heavens.
So despite people being a little distracted by how trippy and colorful "A Journey to Remember" looked, it was really a beautiful way to say goodbye to those that have passed.
Sure it was light and beautiful looking, but it was also a little heartbreaking. I know I teared up a little watching this lone turtle make his passage from life to death. It not only reminded me of my own mortality (which I am usually trying to ignore, thank you very much) but all of those kkoktu puppets coming in to carry him through. They were there to send him off on his journey of life and then they came back to say goodbye as he entered death. I can't. I need a minute.
... OK, I'm back. I'm fine.
I was not the only one who got a little emotional during the performance.
That was obviously a really emotional point of the closing ceremony, but the whole thing brings up all the feels.
For two weeks we have watched these athletes give it their all. They trained so long and hard for the chance to make it to the Winter Olympics and they did not take a single moment of it for granted. They fought to bring home a medal for their country. The Olympics really show you what unity, strength, and teamwork can accomplish. Also it's just nice to see people from all over the world, despite our differences, come together for this one spectacular event. So seeing all the good it brings and how much excitement it drums up, saying goodbye to PyeongChang 2018 ain't easy. With that, I sign off. Till Tokyo 2020!
More to come.
