Paris Olympics - opening ceremony

[puffyisgood]

I hardly need to say which demographic was pushed to the forefront of this, right? I don't think I've ever seen the view that 'cross-dressing men are the very best of us [and most obviously of all better than the boring old type of woman]' being pushed quite so hard?

You must have been out being cross about the queer agenda during the entire segment dedicated to women and feminism

I thought this was going to be about the statues of amazing women.

Two women celebrated for campaigning for French women to have the right to abortion. That's a pretty major statement.

The women involved in the ceremony were vastly out numbered by the gay and transgender men.

It was a travesty.

The part with the drag queens was the least of the problems with this 17hr ceremony.

However the other threads on this are absolutely hilarious…laughed till I cried
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/telly_addicts/5128591-getting-wet-on-a-river-olympic-opening-ceremony-thread-deux?page=40

Celine Dion was magnificent. The rest a bit meh and it was a shame the weather was so awful. #schadenfroide

Social programming at it's finest..
Really regret watching with my 8 & 10 year old. The threesome library scene was bizarre, the snogging in some scenes.. The amount of men in tights, dresses & heels.. Why the need to effiminate so many men?!
The agenda was loud & clear!

Also this thread in AIBU http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/amiibeingunreasonable/5128734-my-pronouns-are-buggeroff

It all feels a bit Boaty McBoatface to me.
Drag used to be outlandish irreverence.
Now there's no reverence left.

I don't see the point of the Last Supper with drag queens, other than to make a really rather mocking statement to Christians. Who are, at the moment, the most persecuted religious group on the planet, to the tune of 360 million persons living under persecution.

I'm just not sure why that's supposed to be edgy.

“I'm just not sure why that's supposed to be edgy”

I see it as echoes of Foucault in modern day Paris on so many levels.

Bear with me, I do have a point to make, but there is a bit of a ramble first.

Hope I'm not being biased, but the London 2012 opening ceremony remains unmatched. Not only that, but some subsequent devisers have struggled to find a style that isn't derived from that ceremony or to reinterpret elements in their own country's vernacular. Danny Boyle's style and vision is casting a long shadow.
New things at the time were the involvement of so many volunteers and amateurs. The unpretentious tone and self deprecating humour.
There were also parts of the ceremony that some people found uncomfortable - the parts relating to colonialism and the dark side of the Industrial Revolution. Some people were offended, or just irritated, thought it was unnecessary/inappropriate to include those aspects of history in a celebration of London. I found it entirely appropriate and honest.
However, and here, finally, is my point, the "offensive" content reflected real events and history which had built London. It could be justified artistically and politically. Not just for shock value or to cause gratuitous offence or to be edgy and cool.

I've only seen the first 20 minutes or so, got it recorded to finish watching today, so I will judge the Paris ceremony as a whole when I have seen it all.

It was just so cliche and cringe. If they wanted to celebrate fashion they should have had some designers/actual models involved. So many fashion houses in Paris! Couture! Could have been amazing.

I turned it off towards the end. Queer, queer, queer..........just too much. I guess this must have been down, in part, to the IOC's instructions and advice?

I imagine the media in many of the participating countries will have had to do some serious editing of the spectacle to make it suitable for their home audiences.

I thought in general, though it was very stylishly put together.....and did enjoy it.

That's what I thought about the part leading up to the floats, and one reason why I stopped watching my recording last night.

It was so hideous. I was so worried the women statutes would include some bloke, but thankfully it was fine in the end. The horse on the water was the best bit in terms of artistic style, really cool, but I didn't quite understand what it was about as missed the commentary. Celine Dion was good. Disabled dancers were awesome. Creepy papa smurf - ye gods... Wtf. And that poor child. Shame about the weather.

We watched the main intro from London 2012 after that just to remember how amazing it was, and the music and storytelling was epic. We would never be able to make it today.

One thing that was good with the catwalk nonsense was how easy it was to tell the sex of the ppl involved no matter what they had on

hips don’t lie

If transwomen want to be seen as normal people, this was a disservice to them.

Using The Last Supper - both the moment it represents in Christianity and everyone’s love for the painting - as a tableau for sexualised drag, was actually trying to be deviant.

It’s weird. I would have thought sports-lovers would be the biggest opponents of men cheating by taking women’s medals.

It all feels a bit Boaty McBoatface to me.
Drag used to be outlandish irreverence.
Now there's no reverence left.

Yes, I've never particularly been a fan but it's just fucking boring now.

Sorry meant to quote you @LilyBartsHatShop

I think the general reaction from the public was that it was awful, but the media keep telling us it was "spectator" and "wowed" people. You can see how we live in an age where the media just lie to the public, and pretend that public opinion is very different to the reality.

Was that the general opinion of the public around the world? The French public? I am just curious.