The Worst Pavilion in the World

Yes, it's the US pavilion!  It's embarrassing, but it really was the worst pavilion we saw.

It was difficult, but this pavilion distilled the arrogance of American identity into architectural and cinematic form.  The building was basically two extruded football shapes clad in metal panels.  The result was very corporate-feeling plaza similar to office spaces all over the US.  The queue snaked around in the plaza space, and thankfully we didn't have to wait long since we went late at night.  (The next day we saw a huge line and pitied them.)  Once inside, there was a blonde girl blathering over the PA system welcoming the visitors in atrocious Chinese.  According to Adam, even though he doesn't understand Chinese, he could tell it was painful to hear.  I concur.

The presentation was basically a series of three movies, and the crowd is herded from room to room and trapped into watching the films.  This organization was kind of confusing since most of the other pavilions had films, but visitors are allowed to circulate through at will.   No so for the Americans.  The exit doors are sealed until the movie is over.  When a few people tried to push through before watching the first movie, they were told that those doors are for employees only.  Bottom line: we were trapped and we watched the movie.  (But I stared at the floor for a lot of it.)

The first film was basically a bunch of 'people on the street' interviews where they tried to say things (mostly 'ni hao') in Chinese.  I think they wanted it to be cute and charming, but it came off as patronizing and made Americans look like imbeciles.  Also, as my brother pointed out, it's interesting how there were suddenly no Asians in the US.  The film went on to show celebrities speaking in Chinese, most notably Kobe Bryant.  Was he really the only NBA player they could find?

After this film ended, the 'employee's only' exit doors magically opened and we rushed out only to find ourselves in another auditorium.  As the crowd realized they would be subjected to another movie, Adam and I spied doors at the far end of the room and ran towards them.  But we weren't fast enough.  We ended up in a vestibule between the second and third auditoriums.  An usher got suspicious and asked if we watched the second movie.  We said we wanted to leave.  Mercifully they let us out.

My mother and brother were not so fortunate and watched the second movie.  And poor Dad didn't know we had all abandoned him and he ended up watching all three movies and going through an exhibit at the end.

Personally, in the past decade of being slightly embarrassed and apologetic to be American, this was the nadir.  The whole thing was so patronizing and unimaginative.  Even if they had done a student competition for the architecture or the films, the result would have been better than this.  Almost anything would have been better.

If you can bear it, here's a web tour of the US pavilion.  It includes the cringe-worthy movies (I think.  I couldn't stand to watch them again).

Next: more pictures, fewer rants