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.

Just seemed very chaotic and amateurish to me. Regardless of the over representation of drag queens it just didn't flow and went on and on. As others have said the horse was good but again, went on far too long. It was a bit boring.

Its a nil points from me.

I liked the horse and the bridge thing, and I didn't find any of the prancing offensive - the whole thing was so chaotic you would need to be paying very close attention to find offence.

However...it is THE OLYMPICS. I want to see a stadium, I want to see the teams, I want it to feel Olympic. I want to hear the roar of the crowd looking at the heros in the arena. I feel that element was lost in all the palaver last night, which seems a shame.

Because with drag, the main joke is “this is what a woman is and isn’t it ridiculous and gross?” - it’s why people call it “woman-face” because it’s tantamount to blackface. It’s parodying women with the message that actual women are vain, stinky, sluts.

Look at drag names. Lots of them are jokes about how disgusting women are - how smelly their vaginas are, what slags they are etc etc.

Lots of people just take it at face value - but when you actually look at what’s being said, then it’s not hard to see why it’s so controversial.

I thought the concept and ambition behind it is to be lauded, but the execution (pun-intended) was weak. But Celine, oh Celine!

We were thoroughly entertained throughout.

I agree. I didn't watch it all but no one is going to like everything.

It seems that some people were terribly offended though.

I loved it . But Î’ve lived in Paris for many years and understand the references . It was a shame about the rain ,I think the intention of the dancing parts was for it be like a big party for the audience at the point sadly hindered by the weather. It was a good representation of France, mixité fraternité solidarité liberté. Vive La France !

YANBU @scottishheather86, I loved it.😍 It was bonkers, beautiful, poignant and wonderfully French. It's a shame about the rain.

Paris did a great job.🎈

I enjoyed the beautiful shots of Paris ! The city looked incredible.
And Celina singing that amazing song on an illuminated Eiffel Tower !!!
Im still getting goosebumps.
Amazing 🤩!!

Overall I'd say it was a success. A bit uneven, but the end was spectacular and Celine was amazing.

I think the broadcasters could have been better briefed as a lot of the references were missed. I expect that was true of London too.

I quite liked it and was surprised to see the responses to it this morning. My ds enjoyed what he saw too, especially the minions bit. We didn’t comment on the ‘threesome’ part at all, it was just one element of many. I thought the headless Marie Antoinette would cause more of a stir!

Only had the tv on as dgd wanted to watch it. Enjoyed Celine Dion singing, plus the mechanical horse galloping up the Seine was inventive and lovely(though a tad too long). The rest of it was utter shite.

It was abysmal. Really surprised at how poor, cheap and amateurish it was as well as very inappropriate/distasteful in parts.

They missed a brilliant opportunity to showcase their country to the world and cocked it up totally. Who would have thought it!

But a dreadful ceremony does not define a games or indeed a nation.

Using the city as the stage was inspired. Taking the athletes out of the stadium and putting them on a voyage down the Seine was a bold and exciting idea.

There were stand out brilliant moments and some duff ones like all opening ceremonies. I didn't pick up on all the cultural references but that's fine.

Given the background of political tension and the immediate pre ceremony sabotage on top of the rain I think they did a magnificent job.

Well done Paris

I wonder how many of the people commenting that it was 'shite' were just offended by the drag queens?

”However...it is THE OLYMPICS. I want to see a stadium, I want to see the teams, I want it to feel Olympic. I want to hear the roar of the crowd looking at the heros in the arena. I feel that element was lost in all the palaver last night, which seems a shame.”

^^I think this is the actual point.

Nothing about last night celebrated the Olympics or athletes. There was no atmosphere, no roar of excitement. Just a distant, brief glimpse of a boat with all the athletes crowded together.

It’s supposed to be an occasion, the start of the world’s biggest sporting event. Not a made-for-TV production with lots of separately filmed segments.

I think some people were determined to be offended as has been demonstrated already.

It isn't about being offended.

I spent my 40th birthday in a bar with Dirty Martini in New York and then watched him pull dollar bills out of his arse on stage.

It is about it being appropriate. Normalising queery theory is not.

I don’t think that’s the case at all. Maybe for a small minority? But I don’t think that’s the case for most of us.

I wasn’t impressed by the very overt use of drag queens for the reasons I explained above but one moment out of four hours wouldn’t be enough to ruin it.

I thought it was dire. Flat. No atmosphere. Nothing more than a distant view of the actual athletes with a load of separate sections that lacked cohesiveness.

The drag queens were relatively close to the end. Twitter was already alight with criticism about what a letdown the ceremony was. People were really bored and disappointed with the ceremony waaaay before the drag queens turned up.

I’m surprised that anyone who enjoys the Olympics as a sporting spectacular thought that this ceremony delivered on any level. I love Eurovision, I love camp and kitsch. But this was supposed to be a celebration of France and the Olympics - and it just wasn’t.

I wasn’t bothered by the drag queens

by that time it was just another eye roll to add to the others

it just wasn’t well put together a few parts
were stunning

I mean drag queens are as offensive as any other privileged group taking the mick out of a less socially privileged or down right disadvantaged one. If you find men mocking women (and in this case, religion) to be inoffensive then you do you as the kids say.

Good bits, liked the boats going past which made a nice change to introducing the teams. The horse on the water was good. Celine dion. can can dancers. the tricolor in smoke.

Bad bits - the heavy metal not a fan, no fireworks, the torch relay going round the louvre, an art gallery (nothing to do with sports) which route was poorly lit. And the cauldron is not lit in the stadium. And the super super long torch relay bit on the boat, with a solitary dancing man dressed in yellow, entertaining thousands of people on a huge stage to fill that bit out.

Weird bits- marie antoinettes heads. Lady gagas piece was strange. The hooded person with the torch, parkour was good, but still strange. And the interupting a possible threesome. like each to their own, but threesomes that common in france to be really a 'french' tradition of sorts?

They had a lot more than just the sweaty nude blue dude though, be fair! The effort and expertise and imagination that went into some things like the horse, the balloon, etc. And Céline’s unbelievably powerful performance of such a meaningful song from the Eiffel Tower, it just took my breath away, and more than made up for the sweaty nude blue dude! Like others,I also loved the way the Paris roofs, bridges, gardens etc, were used as a stage. It is such a beautiful city.

Agreed. There were some stunning bits. As I said not everyone is going to like everything but some people are determined to be offended by the whole event.

@scottishheather86

I agree with you. I loved it! I found it different, I'm fed up with stadium shows, I just loved everything about it. Shame about the weather though...