Paris 2024 Ceremonies - Verdict

[Sir Rols]

5 minutes ago, PikyoK said:

Yes but instead of drag queens, it's with actual well known famous French models

Oh, so it’s okay to parody the Last Supper with models, but drag queens crosses the line?

The Last Supper gets parodied all the time - films, TV shows, animations. Even advertisements.

But use drag queens and suddenly that becomes sacrilegious. That’s just sheer bigotry. 

[PikyoK]

On 7/27/2024 at 8:29 AM, Olympic Fan Darcy said:

I’ll give a more in depth response later but nobody can honestly give this anything above a C+. 

 

All I can say or show for now is this image. What an embarrassment for Paris. 
 

 

Sure was. And there was one or two children in the dance troupe that had to see this.  Not to mention families with children watching around the world.

On 7/27/2024 at 8:41 AM, Michelle said:

I had not realised at the time, but the background image apparently was a reenactment of the last supper of Jesus Christ. 
 

that was a choice. The organisers chose that for a reason.

I wonder why?

On 7/27/2024 at 8:55 AM, LOUIS said:

After Paris, I have a newfound respect for Beijing, Athens, (even) Sydney. A "golden age" of OLYMPICS opening ceremonies.  No eurovision style entertainment.

5/10

 

They were the best. Bring back the 90s and 2000s ceremonies!

On 7/27/2024 at 9:00 AM, baron-pierreIV said:

Pretty much agree with Sir Rols.  Can I use this in my ISOH Journal Review?    j/k

I'd give Paris credit.  It's more like relief that it didn't turn out worse -- and indeed quite regretful that the weather messed it up.  So who the hell was the Flame-Thief?  Would have been great if Charles Costa (the Centenarian in the wheelchair) unveiled himself to be the Flame-Thief!  

As I originally rated it, a B+.  With the rain, if I had to do it over, I'd move the show to a stadium -- and just do pre-packaged bits about the rest of Paris.  But that's me.  

I think Charles Costa should've ignited the cauldron. 

On 7/27/2024 at 9:26 AM, MisterSG1 said:

Dude, are you literally serious?

A long Olympic torch relay occurred with a real flame, just so they could ignite a pretend flame. Forget about the design of the cauldron, the fact remains that the cauldron isn’t real fire. Think about that for a second.

Next, there’s Charles Coste, god bless his soul, who probably had a traumatizing time in his prime years during World War II. I don’t know if he had any military history in that war. Obviously WW2 made a 1944 Olympics impossible, so there’s an entire Olympics he missed out on, and with that, he was not the one to light the cauldron. 

Would love to see a close-up of the cauldron. And yes the title of cauldron lighter should've gone to Charles Coste.

On 7/27/2024 at 10:20 AM, guilherme b said:

 A ceremony meant to shock rather than entertain. The circus of horrors in Paris.

More than a disappointment! What I witnessed was easily the worst Olympic opening ceremony, at least among those I have attended.

A complete freak show, without cohesion, sense, continuity, or connection to the Olympics, athletes, and the games.

It seems someone on the committee decided to put a bunch of gays and make a totally woke ceremony, defending the progressive agenda, to then intermingle with athletes and try to relate it to the games. The result was an amalgamation of exaggerations with a circus of aberrations.

I expected the Olympics to be a place beyond political platforms. A place of respect, unity, and acclaim of the Olympic spirit, based on overcoming challenges. The organizers think differently.

The Olympics is supposed to be about the best of the best. People that strive, suffer, and sacrifice to push themselves to be better individuals. What do these people have do with excellence?

The best of Paris, which could be expected through art, music, and ambiance, was thrown away. Instead of can-can, we have trisal sex; instead of eternal works of art, we have a gay Last Supper. Instead of ballet, we see vogue dancers waving their hands as if swatting flies in the middle of strokes. Instead of the best classical music and opera, techno and rock performances.

The appearance of the tattered masked figure seemed to come from the right place: the sewers, to properly represent this ceremony. No surprise, just random races.

Also unsurprisingly, the athletes’ parade. The big novelty is that they came on boats, as if that made any difference besides making something that is always boring even more monotonous. And the rain was the least of the ceremony's problems. You can’t blame the water for the poorly placed and definitely lost cameras. Cameramen appearing in the focus, abrupt cuts, interspersing live and recorded images.

You think: "My God, can it get worse?" Enter the speech segment to make tedious what was already ridiculous.

My little enjoyment in this ceremony was seeing those responsible for this trash under torrential rain. A welcome pneumonia should come. Congratulations, Paris, it takes talent to make the purest juice of **** (although the ending with Celine Dion added some perfume to this manure).

If the grade goes from A to F, I’d give Paris a Z-.

 

Love this honest review. Everything you said is true. 

On 7/27/2024 at 11:09 AM, guilherme b said:

 

 

The question that should be asked in relation to this ceremony: Was this necessary? Does it contribute to the Olympic spirit? Does it represent the ideals of the Games? Does it bring any improvement to the overall situation in the world?

Unfortunately, no one will answer these questions, nor will anyone be held accountable for this absurdity. They should. Congratulations Paris, you have added a few more kilometers to the division between people.

It wasn't necessary. This had nothing to do with France, Paris, sport, and athleticism. If they were scattered around the catwalk or walked in behind the DJ girl, the division between viewers would've been avoided. 

On 7/27/2024 at 1:49 PM, Sir Rols said:

Exactly, it’s one of the most parodied artworks in history

I understand the painting has been parodied from time and time again, but Jolly and whoever parodies the Last Supper must understand that it's a depiction of a religious event and one should be respectful towards it. I wonder what would've been the outcome had Jolly subliminally parodied something out of other religions like Islam?

On 7/27/2024 at 2:27 PM, MisterSG1 said:

Yeah, the same Sydney who would have a rock band singing a hypocritical song while wearing shirts that said “Sorry” on them.

If that hypocrite from midnight oil actually believed in that nonsense, perhaps he should move to whatever ancestral land he is from. But he won’t do that now, will he? He’s a hypocrite. A moment of celebration at the closing ceremony instead becomes a guilt tripping exercise.

Yes it does affect me when drag queens and freaks do this kind of nonsense, ever hear of Drag Queen Storytime Hour, that kind of nonsense should never be acceptable and instead of society refusing to stomp it out, we now have a society like the weird sisters said “Fair is foul and foul is fair”

Preach! Ceremonies should be about the host nations culture, sport and unity. It's a shame Jolly didn't have the foresight to understand that this would create division and disgust towards France and the Games.

On 7/27/2024 at 4:22 PM, JesseSaenz said:

A few things. I paid slightly more because I just KNEW some of the outer sections would only see the boats. 

So I paid to be in Category "A" right where all the main acts are supposed to be.

However, you don't get to select your seat! So many of us were tucked in little corners or sections where we couldn't even get a good view of the pathetic little screen.

The rain was almost an after thought. 

The drag queens and last supper bit. My god. I'm not even religious but kept asking "Why!?" Was that necessary? On the biggest platform. 

Most of the Eiffel Tower was blocked so that really cool laser show wasn't visible by the vast majority of ticket holders.

I knew it would be difficult but boy am I completely let down. Keep it in stadiums in a singular location. 

LA has a lot to learn from this. So many things to avoid. 

What a shame.

Nice to get a review from someone who was right there on the Seine. It was rather a made for TV production. Jolly should've taken into account the audience or better still have everything at the trocadero and have small segments take place in particular sites with people surrounding the artistic spaces. 

53 minutes ago, Sir Rols said:

Oh, so it’s okay to parody the Last Supper with models, but drag queens crosses the line?

The Last Supper gets parodied all the time - films, TV shows, animations. Even advertisements.

But use drag queens and suddenly that becomes sacrilegious. That’s just sheer bigotry. 

I understand the Last Supper gets parodied which is rude and religious depiction no matter what faith it is must be respected. No one, not even models, should be depicting the Last Supper. The same outrage would've happened whether there were drag queens or not. If they were scattered around the catwalk or walked in behind the DJ girl or on the catwalk, the division between viewers would've been avoided. 

[LOUIS]

8 hours ago, sebastien1214 said:

 

Well, I'm going to disappoint you... but the French press generally loved it.

https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/jo-paris-2024/article/la-ceremonie-d-ouverture-des-jo-etait-pleine-de-moments-geniaux-que-seuls-les-francais-ont-pu-apprecier_237525.html

https://www.liberation.fr/politique/ceremonie-douverture-des-jo-de-paris-la-france-reconcilie-le-wokisme-et-luniversalisme-20240727_HOO2DRR2ERES7E4YC5VWJJZOV4/

https://www.lemonde.fr/sport/article/2024/07/27/jo-de-paris-2024-de-la-tension-securitaire-a-une-fete-grandiose-le-recit-d-une-ceremonie-d-ouverture-historique_6259275_3242.html

(and I could add many more, if it wasn't too late in France and I had to go to bed soon)

 

I 'm glad that the French liked it. Internationally I 've never seen such negative feedback on the net before...for any OC. The press is neutral to positive (criticizing an OC is a faux-pas), but what is hapenning with netizens is unorecedented...

[PikyoK]

11 minutes ago, PikyoK said:

The same outrage would've happened whether there were drag queens or not. If they were scattered around the catwalk or walked in behind the DJ girl or on the catwalk, the division between viewers would've been avoided. 

Having said this, it would've been more appropriate and the message would've gotten across much better with models since that segment was dedicated to French fashion...add in some famous French ones and people would've enjoyed it much more...but still get rid of the Last Supper emulation at the beginning.

[Michelle]

1 hour ago, Sir Rols said:

Oh, so it’s okay to parody the Last Supper with models, but drag queens crosses the line?

The Last Supper gets parodied all the time - films, TV shows, animations. Even advertisements.

But use drag queens and suddenly that becomes sacrilegious. That’s just sheer bigotry. 

For me, it shouldn’t be okay for this to be legitimised no matter who does it. (Having drag artists in the show didn’t offend me in the slightest) 
 

The question remains, why did the art director choose to be antagonistic and disrespectful to those of faith? 
 

While I’m fully aware - absurdist, surrealist and dadaist traditions in French culture linger long… that doesn’t mean we should tolerate, or lazily look past this unnecessary jibe at Christianity. Seemingly, done to cause maximum offence. And for what? To cause hurt? This toxicity should be called out. As it would be if the roles were reversed  

[Bear]

1 minute ago, Michelle said:

The question remains, why did the art director choose to be antagonistic and disrespectful to those of faith? 
 

While I’m fully aware - absurdist, surrealist and dadaist traditions in French culture linger long… that doesn’t mean we should tolerate, or lazily look past this unnecessary jibe at Christianity. Seemingly, done to cause maximum offence. And for what? To cause hurt? This toxicity should be called out. As it would be if the roles were reversed  

he did not choose to be antagonistic - you all are just choosing to be offended.

[Michelle]

8 minutes ago, Bear said:

he did not choose to be antagonistic - you all are just choosing to be offended.

Suggesting I'm 'choosing' to be offended is a tactic to avoid accountability.

Edited July 28 by Michelle

[Bear]

Just now, Michelle said:

Suggesting I'm 'choosing' to be offended is a tactic to avoid accountability. Lazy. 

what accountability is there to take?

[Bear]

also making your text intentionally bigger is kinda cringe ngl

[Michelle]

1 minute ago, Bear said:

also making your text intentionally bigger is kinda cringe ngl

You’re feisty…

my failed edit was trying to rectify that. It wasn’t intentional. 
 

Accountability is about acknowledging the impact you have on others. 
 

You seem to scoff at that. We are all allowed an opinion in this space. Scorning on those who object and using words such as ‘choosing’ just detracts from you.
 

 

[sebastien1214]

A lot of bandwidth spent here trying to hide homophobic opinions. It's embarrassing. There are plenty of people here who didn't like the ceremony for reasons that are legitimate and that I completely understand; but some still feel compelled to dangerously drift towards a form of unacknowledged homophobia in order to criticize. It's that your problem is not just the ceremony (and even less the question of doing it in a stadium or not).

[Michelle]

1 minute ago, sebastien1214 said:

A lot of bandwidth spent here trying to hide homophobic opinions.

Another tactic. Same old! Trust me, if I held homophobic views I would not be on this forum. It’s gayer than a walk down the yellow brick road with Judi Garland. A road I’d happily walk down, btw  

All I’m saying, and all I’ve ever said, was this element of the ceremony was crass. 

[Bear]

Just now, Michelle said:

Accountability is about acknowledging the impact you have on others. 
 

You seem to scoff at that. We are all allowed an opinion in this space. Scorning on those who object and using words such as ‘choosing’ just detracts from you.

okay but you're putting thoughts / intentions onto the director, saying that he's "choosing" to be "antagonistic and disrespectful to those of faith" - when this is quite obviously not the case.

Quote

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, he said that his intention had not "been to be subversive or to mock, or to shock."

"Above all I wanted to send a message of love, a message of inclusion, not at all to divide," he added.

"In France, you have the right to love as you like, who you like. In France, you can believe (in religion) or not believe. In France, we have lots of rights," he added.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240727-upset-bishops-and-mixed-reviews-for-paris-olympics-ceremony

3 minutes ago, Michelle said:

Another tactic. Same old! Trust me, if I held homophobic views I would not be on this forum. It’s gayer than a walk down the yellow brick road with Judi Garland. A road I’d happily walk down, btw

this is giving "i cant be homophobic, i have gay friends!" - not saying you are homophobic, but this isn't the slay you think it is

[Michelle]

1 minute ago, Bear said:

this is giving "i cant be homophobic, i have gay friends!" - not saying you are homophobic, but this isn't the slay you think it is

You’ll know a slay from me when it’s delivered. This was not that. All I have been to you is respectful. While also pointing out why I consider this part of the ceremony insensitive. Evidently I can’t hold that opinion here and am being openly accused of homophobia. 

C’est la vie! 

[Bear]

Just now, Michelle said:

You’ll know a slay from me when it’s delivered. This was not that. All I have been to you is respectful. While also pointing out why I consider this part of the ceremony insensitive. Evidently I can’t hold that opinion here and am being openly accused of homophobia. 

C’est la vie! 

girl i wasn't calling you homophobic, just that I wouldn't necessarily... say what you said as evidence of one being non-homphobic 🙂

[sebastien1214]

11 minutes ago, Michelle said:

Another tactic. Same old! Trust me, if I held homophobic views I would not be on this forum. It’s gayer than a walk down the yellow brick road with Judi Garland. A road I’d happily walk down, btw  

All I’m saying, and all I’ve ever said, was this element of the ceremony was crass. 

Even if you are not sincerely and deliberately homophobic (which is why I did not cite a specific person because I was not going to go that far either), these are comments that encourage and legitimize openly homophobic speeches. Consequently, even indirectly, saying "we should not blaspheme in general" when we deliberately know that 80% of the comments explicitly allude to the presence of drag queens (therefore clearly homophobia), in this context even if you were thinking in a general way and not targeted at drag queens, it still reinforces the speeches of the 80%. And it contributes to making the debate more toxic. Whether you like it or not. Because with a minimum of intelligence, and I think you have it, you know perfectly well that the main problem of those who criticize this scene is not the fact that it was parodied, but that it was parodied with drag queens.

[Ikarus360]

14 hours ago, mr.bernham said:

Paris is notoriously raining this time of year. 

Having an outdoor ceremony was a super risky gamble. It was more likely than not they’d have rain. 

In that sense, I think you can absolutely blame the organizers.

Even more when you already have existing technology to bomb the clouds. Its fun that, of all the things they worried about which would happen friday night, they forgt the most basic one.

Anyway...one of the biggest criticism regarding the parade of nations/boats was the placards and how they blocked the view of many flagbearers. Also the way the flagbearers were positioned in many of the boats. Seems like they didn't really thought about this happening and it stole the spotlight from them.

Also, many newspapers are also taking note that Lady Gaga performance wasn't live. Imagine paying hundreds of Euros just to sit there and watch a prerecorded rehearsal.

The more I rewatch the ceremony, while the parts I did favored are still of my liking, the parts I disliked the most get worse as I see them.

 

[Bear]

1 minute ago, Ikarus360 said:

Anyway...one of the biggest criticism regarding the parade of nations/boats was the placards and how they blocked the view of many flagbearers. Also the way the flagbearers were positioned in many of the boats. Seems like they didn't really thought about this happening and it stole the spotlight from them.

 

my god yes this was one of the first things i noticed with the boats - they really should have put the placards on the railings or hanging on the side of the boat

[sebastien1214]

3 minutes ago, Ikarus360 said:

Even more when you already have existing technology to bomb the clouds. Its fun that, of all the things they worried about which would happen friday night, they forgt the most basic one.

This kind of method is not very popular in France. But even beyond that, the problem is that even 24 hours before the ceremony we thought it wouldn't rain. It was really on the night of Thursday to Friday that there were the first forecasts announcing rain. Because it was a very unstable disturbance and difficult to predict several days in advance. So wasn't it already too late anyway?

[Sir Rols]

Is there any more, more detailed coverage of the Jolly press conference? Anything about things that might have been cut because of the rain, what changes they made?

[sebastien1214]

3 minutes ago, Sir Rols said:

Is there any more, more detailed coverage of the Jolly press conference? Anything about things that might have been cut because of the rain, what changes they made?

I should take the time to make a detailed post on the general thread of the ceremonies because in addition to that Jolly also gave some interviews. I will try to do that tonight (well, for you, next night) if I have time.

[Sir Rols]

1 minute ago, sebastien1214 said:

I should take the time to make a detailed post on the general thread of the ceremonies because in addition to that Jolly also gave some interviews. I will try to do that tonight (well, for you, next night) if I have time.

Thanks, would love to know more.

[BigVic]

The next Opening Ceremony will be in the Coliseum which is a proper stadium and an iconic venue which will be the 3rd time the Coliseum will be used for an Olympic Games Ceremony. They'll not attempt to use the Sunset Strip for an open-air ceremony 

[FYI]

15 hours ago, mr.bernham said:

Paris is notoriously raining this time of year. 

Having an outdoor ceremony was a super risky gamble. It was more likely than not they’d have rain. 

In that sense, I think you can absolutely blame the organizers.

I won’t blame the organizers for wanting to try something different. The fact is, it can rain anywhere. There have been plenty of Summer Games where rain has been a factor. 

The closing ceremonies for Rio 2016 (albeit they were in a stadium, but the end result was not good due to weather) where half the stadium was empty because many could not get to the stadium because of a bad storm on the very last day of the Rio Olympics. So are we suppose to blame the organizers there too for holding the Games in a timeframe where there could be thunderstorms? Rio was maybe lucky that bad storm didn’t happen right in the middle of the Games.

No one can predict the weather. Instead of rain, Paris could’ve dealt with a heatwave at the Opening (which was also a concern at one point). And like it’s mentioned here from time-to-time, luck also has a lot to do whether a Games will be very successful or not so much. So I’m not going to grill Paris 2024 organizers for wanting to push the envelope for a change. They took a gamble, & the end result was so-so. And from the looks of it, the athletes still had a blast (which is who the Games are suppose to be for anyway). 

[FYI]

Quote

You’re feisty…

 

Quote

if I held homophobic views I would not be on this forum. It’s gayer than a walk down the yellow brick road with Judi Garland.