To say I loved the opening ceremony?

[scottishheather86]

I really enjoyed the show last night! It was bold and ambitious and all
Encompassing! It was a shame about the rain, but I think overall it was really great! But shocked how many utter miserable responses to it there have been!

I'm shocked that people are still complaining that there were trans people performing and a cheeky scene that insinuated a threesome! Love, passion and style are all big French themes! Can we get past the British stiff upper lip and just enjoy it for what it is?

Remember, we had David (not holier than thou) Beckham driving a boat up the Thames and loads of weird and quirky things at our opening ceremony, that would have gone over the heads of most of the rest of the world.

Olympic ceremonies peaked with the jetpack in Los Angeles.

You can prance around a stage half naked giving it the love symbol with your thumb and forefinger all you like, but nothing will compare to 1984.

It was awful.

You can love it, I thought it was terrible. The only impressive thing was the Ballon torch.

We had the Queen and James Bond.
They had sweaty, nude blue dude and a load of men in woman face parodying women hood.

So no, I pretty much thought it was shite and lacked the dignity that reflects the French.

@LlynTegid yeah all the athletes that were interviewed about it seemed to have loved it!

I thought it was really interesting. It's was a real shame about the rain.

My highlights included the mechanic horse, the streamers of blood, the Olympic torch rising into the air, Celine Dion, and, of course, seeing all the athletes on boats.

I thought there were some magical great bits but river stuff never works as well as you think it will (remember the diamond jubilee).

I also hated the trashy drag stuff - just..why.

Well it gave me a good laugh, but no, very eurotrash on acid I thought. So many wtf moments. My DS came home to find me with tears streaming down my face coz I just lost it at that point (blue smurf scene)

@iamtheblcksheep come on the threesome scene was so tame, that unless you knew what was going on you wouldn't have had a clue what it meant!

Trans people not being allowed in the ceremony is a whole different conversation. Not sure how seeing a trans person on TV would affect children?

I also loved it.

I thought it made sense to focus on the Tv audience rather than having it in the stadium mainly catering to just a few. It also felt more relevant to the athletes.

Some of it was a little risqué but that’s the French and I don’t think it crossed the line that would make any children ask questions. I saw the movie Grease for the first time when I was 8 and all the adult stuff went straight over my head.

The performers all seemed to be giving it their all and I loved seeing the buildings and the river. The lighting of the cauldron was spectacular

It was like Saturday 'light entertainment' meets kink for beginners.

Ah well, I'm sure they thought they were being very bold.

I wish I'd seen Celine as I lost heart well before she came on.

As PPs have said you're entitled to your opinion. Mine differs.

I usually love seeing the nations parading in to the stadium but the endless parade of boats in the pishing rain was extremely boring. I had no interest in the sideshow antics and, knowing nothing about history, had really no idea what they were meant to represent.
As for the torch lighting ceremony, every time it got passed to another person I thought "This will be the last one" but no, it went on and on and on. In the end I was shouting "Just light the fucking thing"
I felt really sorry for the 100 year old former champion sitting in his wheelchair getting absolutely soaked.

I think Paris thought they'd show the world how cool they are but it failed miserably. I wouldn't even have enjoyed it if it hadn't been tipping it down.

Very blasphemous and very telling that the last days might already be here…that’s my opinion.

Irish lass here, me and my children loved it. They didn't combust into smoke by knowing some people are in a 3 person relationship, my ten year old reckons its probably a good idea because then you always have someone to hang out with.

But on here there are people practically accusing it of being porn. Forget the pearl clutching its a level beyond.

The 16 year old wasn't threatened by the drag queens either. I loved the joy, the dance, the horse on the water was amazing. We were fighting over how many people where carrying the torch and we want a go on the pole things.

I felt it was beautifully elegant and reflective of french culture with humour. The outfits were eye-catching.

My absolute favourite, actually caught me off guard was Celine singing. I know my late mum would have loved it and would have been texting us about the "running" in the library 😁

From what I've seen, some good bits, some bits that would have worked better without the monsoon (eg the boats, using the Seine) and quite a lot of "Just why?"

I'm probably alone in finding the beheaded Marie Antoinettes in extremely poor taste.

Goady post. Are you French?

https://x.com/OliLondonTV/status/1817005622665027634?t=8OpBo-iS1Pk6NQK7f-rpg&s=19

Unnecessary. Just look at who designed the whole charabang

Over 1 Billion people around the world are watching the Olympics Opening Ceremony.

And this is the best France could do.

A man dressed as a Smurf surrounded by drag queens and a plus sized woman with a giant crown.

I agree with you, I loved every minute of it.

I didn't watch it so I'm probably not qualified to comment but weren't they "drag queens" rather than transwomen? I thought drag queens were usually gay men who parodied women for entertainment purposes whereas transwomen are men who actually want to be women. In which case, wouldn't it have been more apt to have the latter rather than the former?

@FairyLightBan sadly not! Wish I was! Haha, hence why I probably enjoyed it!

@scottishheather86 I completely agree with you , I think we’re in danger of glorifying the 2012 opening ceremony and forgetting its many “weird and quirky “ elements !

What on earth do showing threesomes to a (in your case very naive) 10 year old have to do with representing culture and celebrating a sporting event? What is sex representing in this showcase of entertainment deemed for everyone of all ages?

The 16 year old wasn't threatened by the drag queens either.

Drag queens threaten no one, more and more people are seeing them for what they are, especially after that grotesque display. Though (and I say this as a firm atheist), surely the extreme insult to those who hold deep Christian faith with a blatant mockery should be enough to understand why others are angry. Just because a 16 year old who hasn’t the life experience doesn’t understand why drag queens are a living mockery in general doesn’t mean this was some wonderfully inclusive art show.

I live in France, we have a 12th Century church and we have culture and history and art and music and food and that's just in our tiny little village and you think THAT abomination was enjoyable?

It was embarassing. Queer theory mind virus on acid.

Absolutely 💯

You're not alone. I thought it was disgusting. What idiot thought that was appropriate is beyond me.

It was cringe and embarrassing. It had no self awareness and showed inability to read the room of the global audience if it was trying to be somehow edgy. Being queer is so mainstream in the West these days, it’s just boring.
I feel embarrassed fir the French they are having that show being presented as somehow representing the height of French achievement and culture.

I enjoyed it too; the boats dragged a bit and the weather was unfortunate, but I loved seeing so much of Paris instead of just the inside of a stadium. I particularly liked the statues, the horse and Marie Antoinette and I thought the torch/balloon was lovely. I enjoyed the dancing but I would have liked more French songs.

I must have missed something during the 'library' scene - I just remember some brief kissing and a door closing when judging from some posts there must have been extended pegging in full HD?