Disappointed in people's critics of Paris OG ceremonies

[Letti9]

I have been reading the disgusting comments about the opening and closing ceremony in Paris games and I am shocked but not surprised about the pathetic and ridiculous criticisms!!! British are so arrogant and always think they can do better...very disappointed with members of Mumsnet who I thought where a bit more open minded. I think it was amazing whether you agree or not!!!

Flouncers rarely actually flounce. They almost always sneak back in.

In my experience, people who actually leave a thread usually do so quietly, without some grand announcement.

I thought the concept of taking the opening ceremony out of a stadium and trying to showcase a beautiful city was a stroke of genius.

But the execution was really poor. Leaving aside the weather (although they really should have thought about that possibility), the whole thing was very disjointed, didn't "flow", seemed to be lots of people doing stuff in different places which didn't link together, and that's before you get to the weird stuff like the blue guy writhing in a plate of fruit. The bit at the end with the lighting of the actual flame was far too long and far too dependent on foreign tennis players and a gymnast from the 70s who nobody recognised. The boats carrying the athletes were also odd, not decorated in any way, looked like they just went to the nearest dock and rounded up what was already there.

Everyone I have spoken to about the Opening Ceremony (friends, relatives and neighbours) said they thought a few bits of it were good but overall it was pretty rubbish and very very boring. News outlets across the world critized it.

Personally I thought 2012 was much much better

I wouldn't have been bothered at all if people around the world hadn't liked the GB opening and closing ceremony in 2012. Maybe they didn't. People are entitled to have an opinion about it. I certainly wouldn't have started a thread picking out a nationality to slag off for not liking it.

She doesn't, she just identified an excuse to slag off English people.

I can't believe that of all the reasons for the OP to come back, it was the wellie bin.

A wellie bin, of course, being the one British combo-icon Danny Boyle forgot to include in the 2012 opening ceremony. Oh well. Never mind.

That river parade had a hint of Dunkirk about it!
Doesn't anyone remember the beach volleyball at Horseguards Parade in 2012?

The River Parade reminded me of the Jubilee Flotilla, which was similarly rainsoaked and teased on social media, but ended up being a celebration of both the Queen and the British love of 'battling through' slightly crap weather.

Oh no - I don't think so, @Letti9. I'm more than happy staying here.

Or do you just want to make an anti English thread, and this gives you the perfect opportunity?

The Seine wasn't a genius venue it was a vanity project.

Funnily enough, what was the reception like for that on MN? Anti French or 'This is a bit shit and has vibes of a sinking fleet rather than amazing'?

Could it be that people just thought it was a bit shit and thought we'd get something better?

I think - as far as I can remember anything from 2012 anymore - was that the Flotilla was greeted with that very British sequence of reactions:

'This is going to be amazing! Think the Spanish Armada meets the Small Boats meets Handel's Water music meets Disney!'

'Wait, it's raining. This is a bit crap, it's just a lot of canoes and the Met Policeboat. ZZzzzzzz, what a load of old pony. Chuh. How much has this cost? Didn't anyone plan for rain?'

'Ah, the rain's easing off. Look, there's the Queen, she hasn't sat down at all, she's over 120, you know. How are they managing to keep everything going at the same speed? War Horse! War Horse at the National, oh the Queen likes that, doesn't she? Actually this is very heartwarming, the last seventeen hours have just flown by.'

It was rather that plus "Wasn't the Duke of Edinburgh amazing being hospitalised, at his age dodging death with a serious infection after being soaked to the skin and probably worrying the Queen half to distraction when she was meant to be celebrating?

That river pageant was not exactly our finest hour but I think most Brits acknowlege it and did not come on MN to rage about the (justifiable) reactions of other countries to the debacle.

@Letti9 your approach is very odd.

I was away for the river thing. But all the news and comment I saw from abroad was that it was a disappointing wash-out.

After I got back, the opinions I got from people here were worse than the media comment.

I don’t think there was any appreciable patriotic re-writing of a soggy procession of boats.