Paris 2024 Ceremonies - Verdict

[guilherme b]

Olympic charter rule 55

https://library.olympics.com/Default/doc/SYRACUSE/3154785/olympic-charter-in-force-as-from-15-october-2023-international-olympic-committee

Also Imagine is in the factsheet The opening ceremony of the Games of the Olympiad

 https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/Olympic-Games/Factsheets/The-opening-ceremony-of-the-Games-of-the-Olympiad.pdf

 

 

Its not about moving on. Is about  reaffirm Ekecheiria 

[Bear]

1 hour ago, Michelle said:

Wondering why the French decided on Jolly for everything. Is that unusual? I am not an aficionado on Olympic ceremonies though. Maybe Baron could enlighten us. 

i dont think its common but its also not unusual - for example, Zhang Yimou directed all four of Beijing 2008's and all four of Beijing 2022's ceremonies

[JMarkSnow2012]

34 minutes ago, guilherme b said:

Olympic charter rule 55

https://library.olympics.com/Default/doc/SYRACUSE/3154785/olympic-charter-in-force-as-from-15-october-2023-international-olympic-committee

Also Imagine is in the factsheet The opening ceremony of the Games of the Olympiad

 https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/Olympic-Games/Factsheets/The-opening-ceremony-of-the-Games-of-the-Olympiad.pdf

 

Thanks for the factsheet tip. I had checked the Charter itself, but for all Ceremonies details it simply referred to the documents I was requesting, and as of 2015, Imagine wasn't in them.

[Rob2012]

1 hour ago, Michelle said:

(I was unaware of the lack of moderation. There has been a few suspect posts that I thought could have been moderated. But now I see why they weren’t). 

OK lol, I might be wrong on this, I've just seen GBMod has been threatening bans in the other ceremonies thread. But it's the first time I've seen this for a long while. I guess most of the time this forum isn't really that active anymore with the way the bidding process has changed.

Edited July 30 by Rob2012

[Sir Rols]

36 minutes ago, Rob2012 said:

OK lol, I might be wrong on this, I've just seen GBMod has been threatening bans in the other ceremonies thread. But it's the first time I've seen this for a long while. I guess most of the time this forum isn't really that active anymore with the way the bidding process has changed.

Yeah, GBMod was quite active with warnings (and a suspension) ahead of the opening. And there WAS a warning and a suspension handed out in this one yesterday.

 

[Michelle]

1 hour ago, Bear said:

i dont think its common but its also not unusual - for example, Zhang Yimou directed all four of Beijing 2008's and all four of Beijing 2022's ceremonies

Did not know that!! And that opening was truly amazing. Tho did lack a touch of human emotion, which I love. But a truly standout show. 

[Michelle]

1 hour ago, Rob2012 said:

OK lol, I might be wrong on this, I've just seen GBMod has been threatening bans in the other ceremonies thread. But it's the first time I've seen this for a long while. I guess most of the time this forum isn't really that active anymore with the way the bidding process has changed.

Interestingly I didn’t even know the French Alps had been awarded the 2030 Winter Games until earlier today! I remember being present on these boards in 2005 when London won out over Paris - a truly unparalleled bidding process for excitement. 

Edited July 30 by Michelle

[FYI]

3 hours ago, Michelle said:

however, I suspect if I was in the U.S., I’d be accused of being one of those angry cat ladies by the right

Yeah, by that guy who humps couches & is now on ticket for veep on the right. 

[FYI]

29 minutes ago, Michelle said:

Interestingly I didn't even know the French Alps had been awarded the 2030 Winter Games until earlier today!I I remember being present on these boards in 2005 when London won out over Paris - a truly unparalleled bidding process for excitement. 

And this just shows what a massive fail the IOC's "new-norm" process is in regards when the citizenry of a particular country doesn't even know that they now have a future Games, because of the very real lack of transparency in the IOC's so-called new & better vetting process.

[Olympics2028]

23 hours ago, Sir Rols said:

You can’t seriously be suggesting that progressive movements should just shut up and stop being visible so they don’t annoy conservatives? LGBTQ+ people should all just go back in the closet and hide themselves? Indigenous people should know their places and be happy for when the “mainstream” begrudgingly gives them some charity.

I don't care for Olympic ceremonies where the planners like throwing in too many themes, concepts, ideas.  Beyond the politics of leftwing versus rightwing, I didn't like the way, as another example, the 2012 summer opening seemed more like a British music awards show than the "Olympics."

Various aspects of the 2024 games have been off, going back to the logo that the 2024 OOC selected a few years ago. Or the emblem that looks like it's for a beauty product or hair salon.

I recall when the 2012 games unveiled their logo, some described it as an X-rated version of Lisa Simpson.

But Paris 2024 will at least do well in regards to its budget and attendance. However, it's the continuation of a pattern that goes back over 20 years. Even the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, although very technically impressive and preferable to 2024, didn't seem as "Olympics" as much as it did "People's Republic of China."

[MisterSG1]

So I am to believe that no one has the right to an opinion, only what GB Mod dictates.....say it ain't so.

The drag queen stuff was but a portion as we know of a ceremony that was a dud.

The issue I have personally with drag queens, is well think of it like this. When libraries host Drag Queen Story Hour, it's promoted for children, and where do you most often see drag queens, it's what is considered adult entertainment. Likewise, I would have the same problem if that iconic painting was recreated with strippers. Just as I would be against a potential concept of "Stripper Story Hour", in which the stripper doesn't strip, but makes suggestive poses on a pole while reading to children.

Opening Ceremonies are meant to be a family friendly atmosphere, like the Toronto Santa Claus Parade or Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, this segment especially felt like something from a Pride Parade, which is clearly NOT family friendly whatsoever.

I have been a member here for quite some time, and I point out things that are not right, like the corruption of the IOC and why for example Toronto was right to dodge the bullet of entertaining a 2024 or 2028 bid. So I didn't just sign up here overnight.

[FYI]

Quote

Opening Ceremonies are meant to be a family friendly atmosphere, like the Toronto Santa Claus Parade or Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, this segment especially felt like something from a Pride Parade, which is clearly NOT family friendly whatsoever.

MANY families do attend the Pride Parades, though.

Quote

I have been a member here for quite some time, and I point out things that are not right, like the corruption of the IOC and why for example Toronto was right to dodge the bullet of entertaining a 2024 or 2028 bid. So I didn't just sign up here overnight.

You didn't, but others here with your same POV in this thread, did sign-up overnight. And while you may have been a member of these boards for quite some time, you're not really that much of an active one in regards to the Olympics. You just pop-up from time-to-time, here-&-there. It just seems that you come on here when you want to stir-the-pot, as they say.

[Sir Rols]

Moderation here has traditionally been quite relaxed - we do welcome robust debate.

That said, this is a privately owned forum - GBMod has the right remove any posts or suspend or ban members he deems problematic. That’s customary on any private forum like this.

Many posts here have moved beyond commentary on the ceremony into just being a soapbox for extreme views. They’ve gone well off topic and been just extremist rhetoric.

I wish as much as anyone that this thread would focus back on geekish ceremony discussion. But I will call out posts and posters who just want to use this as a soapbox for general bigotted homophobic, racist or misogynist diatribes. 

 

Edited July 30 by Sir Rols

[Michelle]

5 minutes ago, MisterSG1 said:

The issue I have personally with drag queens, is well think of it like this. When libraries host Drag Queen Story Hour, it's promoted for children, and where do you most often see drag queens, it's what is considered adult entertainment. Likewise, I would have the same problem if that iconic painting was recreated with strippers. Just as I would be against a potential concept of "Stripper Story Hour", in which the stripper doesn't strip, but makes suggestive poses on a pole while reading to children.

 

Your opinions are entirely valid. 

I agree with you to a point; I don’t actually consider drag art to be ‘adult entertainment’. I’m unsure where that idea originates. Drag seems to be seen through the prism of being overly sexual, I suspect people connect drag with Ru Paul’s drag race, which rightly or wrongly might reinforce this notion. However be mindful that other art forms like dance can have sexual elements, and wouldn’t be described as ‘adult’ entertainment. 

However, to me drag is so much more. It’s artistic expression at its finest. Involving performance, fashion and makeup. It’s also incredibly diverse in its nature - whether it be comedic or entirely political. 

My complaint with the depiction of the last supper, wasn’t that it was drag queens, just that the parody was taking place at all. It just felt contrived when I saw it back. (I’ll caveat this by saying drag never takes itself too seriously and it was probably thought this scene wouldn’t draw the criticisms due to this… sadly it was too close to the bone!)  

Im not trying to counter your legitimate views. I just wanted to point out that drag is more than just adult entertainment. It more nuanced than that! 

[JMarkSnow2012]

1 hour ago, Michelle said:

My complaint with the depiction of the last supper, wasn’t that it was drag queens, just that the parody was taking place at all.

Except, technically it wasn't, because the scene did not refer to a Christian painting in Italy, but to a painting of the Olympian gods in Dijon.

1 hour ago, Michelle said:

I don’t actually consider drag art to be ‘adult entertainment’. I’m unsure where that idea originates.

Which is the logical attitude. Consider who played Brian's mother in Monty Python's Life of Brian- and a broader tradition of gender-swopping in family entertainment from Mrs Doubtfire to traditional British Christmas pantomime.

[JMarkSnow2012]

1 hour ago, Sir Rols said:

GBMod has the right remove any posts or suspend or ban members he deems problematic.

No way! I have inalienable righ

[Juso]

A verdict from Ric BIrch himself in the Sydney Morning Herald today:

Paris Olympics 2024: opening ceremony was a creative tour de force, but let athletes down (smh.com.au)

[Sir Rols]

And the Onion verdict

Paris Opening Ceremony Features Tedious 45-Minute Discussion Of Godard’s Early Works

[Sir Rols]

Sorry, couldn’t resist 

[Faster]

Well if I am going to get banned it might as well be for this.

American Christianity is blasphemous. It is heresy. It lacks any basic understanding of the Bible nor the context in which the Bible was written. Irenaeus would be shocked and appalled by beliefs held by Christians in America. American Christians have corrupted the Bible, Jesus and the Church to justify and glorify their own sense of self-importance and superiority. To the point they gave the world Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. 

Jesus was the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end, emphasis on the end. No new revelation was to come after the word of Christ. Yet here comes the Americans and all their supposed "Great Awakenings' giving us prosperity gospels and televangelists. Yet Jesus said it would be easier to fit a camel through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into heaven. 

And don't get me started on how those 'beliefs' compelled you to elected the felonious serial philanderer and admitted sexual predator that is Donald J Trump. Who looks like he has another failed marriage on his hands.  

And y'all want to act scandalized by a fat lesbian white woman playing the role of a brown middle eastern Jew riffing on a painting that depicted a bunch of middle eastern Jews as a bunch of white dudes. Look at yourself.

Edited July 31 by Faster

[Red Centaur]

Ric Birch gives his views in the Sydney Morning Herald today:
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/a-noble-failure-the-paris-opening-ceremony-was-a-creative-tour-de-force-but-let-athletes-down-20240730-p5jxl6.html

A noble failure: The Paris opening ceremony was a creative tour de force, but let athletes down

Ric Birch
Producer and director
July 31, 2024 — 5.30am

It went on and on but seemed slow to get going: the tricoleur pyro curtain at Austerlitz went off with a bang and then nothing happened. Finally, a boatload of Greek tourists having an office party appeared under the bridge and the show began. The traditional Parade of Nations, this time on water, was underway, while the Olympic torch began the final leg of its 2024 journey.

Reviews of the Paris 2024 Olympic opening ceremony range from fawning to outraged and, indeed, the creative content often seemed intended to be controversial. There’s no doubting it was at times incoherent. The chaos only reinforced why there are words in French like mélange, montage, pastiche and collage, none of which explain the ceremony in its entirety.

I saw it as a big budget French revue, paying homage to every theatrical meme the creators could think of, from Grand Opera to Grand Guignol and Folies Bergère, accompanied by videographers at every step. Unfortunately, this was a ceremony that could not be enjoyed, understood or even seen by a live spectator as it only made sense (sometimes) if you watched the entire spectacle on a screen.

The parade of boats was interminable but bearable on television because of the creative interruptions, apart from the logistical issue of showing the name of each country’s team mostly in English but forming the parade in French alphabetical order. The deluge of rain throughout was either a sign of the Almighty’s displeasure or just one more thing to overcome in the great theatrical tradition of the show must go on.

On the river, the boats kept coming while Lady Gaga appeared in a swarm of pompoms and sang very seriously on a golden staircase surrounded by men helping her undress in a choreographic homage to Marilyn Monroe’s Diamonds are a girl’s best friend routine and the set designer added a signpost saying “Paris” in case we thought we were in New York.

It took a while but, eventually, a variety of burlesque acts unfolded on buildings and bridges as the boats moved slowly downstream, their international passengers grinning like gargoyles in the rain and waving national flags like crazy. It was apparent that many of the passengers were far too old to be athletes and that technical staff had been roped in to make up the numbers. National flag bearers, traditionally a post of great honour for an athlete, were completely unidentifiable among the throngs of passengers.

“Colourful” seemed to be the order of the day for costume designers, and the menage à trois reference was particularly colourful. From out of nowhere and for no particular reason we cut to the rooftop of the Grand Palais where mezzo soprano Axelle Saint Cirel was perched on a platform singing the Marseillaise with a couple of French flags nearby. It’s the best anthem in the world and Axelle sang as though her heart was breaking for the Republic, whose creative excesses were taking place all around and far below her.

Bizet’s Carmen on a boat, Charles Aznavour references, sway pole performers trying to brain themselves on the pavement or each other, dancers backed with a cloth of gold bravely performing their water dance in a fountain and the rain. Dionysus reclining in the centre of a fruit salad, looking like a blue Smurf sitting on Carmen Miranda’s hat. Skateboarders and BMX bikers doing their best on a wet and slippery stage.

As we neared the end of the alphabet, Australia still hadn’t appeared. Had they missed their boat? No, finally they appeared in line ahead of the US party barge with France coming up astern to great applause from the drenched and long-suffering crowds along the Seine. It was the end of the “artistic” part of the ceremony which had apparently been presented in eight segments but for the life of me I couldn’t tell them apart.

In summary: the Paris 2024 opening ceremony was a noble failure, and an element of that failure was the decision to introduce the Olympic athletes to the world on boats motoring down the Seine.

The athletes are the stars of an Olympic opening ceremony, and they should enter a stadium, the traditional site of sport from the earliest days of the ancient Greek Games, on foot rather than be treated as extras who can be positioned on vessels and paraded past spectators too far away to be visible without telephoto lenses.

Athletes should make their way into a stadium as national teams and gather with all other competitors in a formal assembly appropriate to the serious business ahead. In Paris, they were transported on boats and then delivered to the Trocadero where they just mingled together like tourists on holiday.

If Danny Boyle in London 2012 had put 10,000 athletes into 250 open-top sightseeing buses and driven them past London landmarks and called it the athlete’s parade there would have been an outcry.

The nobility of Paris’ failure lies in the attempt to devise new ways to energise the opening ceremony while incorporating the Olympic elements but, unfortunately, this was not particularly successful.

I have no issues at all with the creative ideas and artistry of the eight creative segments that preceded the Trocadero stage. They were the legitimate ideas and concepts of a creative team interpreting Paris and France for an Olympic ceremony, and they were collectively a creative tour de force. The failure arises from trying to integrate the parade of athletes and even the national anthem into those same creative elements.

In future, I hope that the IOC understands and respects the difference between the formal elements of an opening ceremony and those parts that celebrate the outpouring of a nation’s most creative individuals and doesn’t try to combine them. By all means, allow tourism authorities to have their landmarks celebrated and displayed to a global audience by staging an artistic introduction in and about a city rather than in a stadium. That is not a problem.

But the IOC should insist that athletes enter a stadium, their rightful environment, to be introduced to the world rather than being treated in the same way as tourists coming to town. They should enter on foot, perpetuating and honouring the way athletes since ancient times have entered a place of competition and are introduced to spectators. And then the formal elements of the ceremony take place and the Games can begin.

Ric Birch is a producer and director who has been involved in the planning and delivery of opening and closing ceremonies for five Olympics including in Sydney 2000 Games.

[guilherme b]

 

 

24 minutes ago, Sir Rols said:

Sorry, couldn’t resist 

Lets start a meme war topic for paris 2024. Im ready.

[Sir Rols]

I tend to agree with Bach’s summary.I’d always assumed the athletes would have heir cruise past the cultural showpieces, then still march into the Trocadero as teams. Instead they were really let down being dispensed with before the ceremonials.

My other major olympian beef as the blatant commercialism creep. That Louis Vuitton segment was not subtle at all. The Minions were a weird addition, but I can sorta forgive them having since found out the French production credentials behind them. But LVM? Nuh, that crossed a line.

[PikyoK]

15 hours ago, yoshi said:

Imagine is protocol, as its use is mandated by the Charter iirc. Although obviously it's a piece of protocol that the organisers can stage however they want. Interesting about the TV filming, there was a lot which felt odd or missing which I kinda assumed was due to the rain, but being unable to have a rehearsal probably made it all a struggle. I'd particularly like to know what that long shot at the end of La Marseillaise was supposed to be showing. Tbh I'd really like to read the media guide, we normally get those on the Olympic World Library site after a while don't we?

But why the song Imagine? Does Yoko Ono or John Legend's relatives get royalties from the IOC for the song to be performed at every Opening Ceremony? I get that it's about peace and unity for everyone around the world but I'm sure there are other songs out there that also explain peace, harmony and coming together rather than Imagine. It does get a bit boring after a few ceremonies.

As for the media guide, I was looking on the Olympic World Library website yesterday to see if a media guide is available. I wonder if the commentators were given media guides. If not, is the media guide being prepared as we speak so that the IOC, POCOG, and Jolly can cover up the controversies during the Opening Ceremony? I would dearly love to get my hands on that guide/programme once it comes out. 

4 hours ago, Red Centaur said:

Ric Birch gives his views in the Sydney Morning Herald today:
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/a-noble-failure-the-paris-opening-ceremony-was-a-creative-tour-de-force-but-let-athletes-down-20240730-p5jxl6.html

A noble failure: The Paris opening ceremony was a creative tour de force, but let athletes down

Ric Birch
Producer and director
July 31, 2024 — 5.30am

It went on and on but seemed slow to get going: the tricoleur pyro curtain at Austerlitz went off with a bang and then nothing happened. Finally, a boatload of Greek tourists having an office party appeared under the bridge and the show began. The traditional Parade of Nations, this time on water, was underway, while the Olympic torch began the final leg of its 2024 journey.

Reviews of the Paris 2024 Olympic opening ceremony range from fawning to outraged and, indeed, the creative content often seemed intended to be controversial. There’s no doubting it was at times incoherent. The chaos only reinforced why there are words in French like mélange, montage, pastiche and collage, none of which explain the ceremony in its entirety.

I saw it as a big budget French revue, paying homage to every theatrical meme the creators could think of, from Grand Opera to Grand Guignol and Folies Bergère, accompanied by videographers at every step. Unfortunately, this was a ceremony that could not be enjoyed, understood or even seen by a live spectator as it only made sense (sometimes) if you watched the entire spectacle on a screen.

The parade of boats was interminable but bearable on television because of the creative interruptions, apart from the logistical issue of showing the name of each country’s team mostly in English but forming the parade in French alphabetical order. The deluge of rain throughout was either a sign of the Almighty’s displeasure or just one more thing to overcome in the great theatrical tradition of the show must go on.

On the river, the boats kept coming while Lady Gaga appeared in a swarm of pompoms and sang very seriously on a golden staircase surrounded by men helping her undress in a choreographic homage to Marilyn Monroe’s Diamonds are a girl’s best friend routine and the set designer added a signpost saying “Paris” in case we thought we were in New York.

It took a while but, eventually, a variety of burlesque acts unfolded on buildings and bridges as the boats moved slowly downstream, their international passengers grinning like gargoyles in the rain and waving national flags like crazy. It was apparent that many of the passengers were far too old to be athletes and that technical staff had been roped in to make up the numbers. National flag bearers, traditionally a post of great honour for an athlete, were completely unidentifiable among the throngs of passengers.

“Colourful” seemed to be the order of the day for costume designers, and the menage à trois reference was particularly colourful. From out of nowhere and for no particular reason we cut to the rooftop of the Grand Palais where mezzo soprano Axelle Saint Cirel was perched on a platform singing the Marseillaise with a couple of French flags nearby. It’s the best anthem in the world and Axelle sang as though her heart was breaking for the Republic, whose creative excesses were taking place all around and far below her.

Bizet’s Carmen on a boat, Charles Aznavour references, sway pole performers trying to brain themselves on the pavement or each other, dancers backed with a cloth of gold bravely performing their water dance in a fountain and the rain. Dionysus reclining in the centre of a fruit salad, looking like a blue Smurf sitting on Carmen Miranda’s hat. Skateboarders and BMX bikers doing their best on a wet and slippery stage.

As we neared the end of the alphabet, Australia still hadn’t appeared. Had they missed their boat? No, finally they appeared in line ahead of the US party barge with France coming up astern to great applause from the drenched and long-suffering crowds along the Seine. It was the end of the “artistic” part of the ceremony which had apparently been presented in eight segments but for the life of me I couldn’t tell them apart.

In summary: the Paris 2024 opening ceremony was a noble failure, and an element of that failure was the decision to introduce the Olympic athletes to the world on boats motoring down the Seine.

The athletes are the stars of an Olympic opening ceremony, and they should enter a stadium, the traditional site of sport from the earliest days of the ancient Greek Games, on foot rather than be treated as extras who can be positioned on vessels and paraded past spectators too far away to be visible without telephoto lenses.

Athletes should make their way into a stadium as national teams and gather with all other competitors in a formal assembly appropriate to the serious business ahead. In Paris, they were transported on boats and then delivered to the Trocadero where they just mingled together like tourists on holiday.

If Danny Boyle in London 2012 had put 10,000 athletes into 250 open-top sightseeing buses and driven them past London landmarks and called it the athlete’s parade there would have been an outcry.

The nobility of Paris’ failure lies in the attempt to devise new ways to energise the opening ceremony while incorporating the Olympic elements but, unfortunately, this was not particularly successful.

I have no issues at all with the creative ideas and artistry of the eight creative segments that preceded the Trocadero stage. They were the legitimate ideas and concepts of a creative team interpreting Paris and France for an Olympic ceremony, and they were collectively a creative tour de force. The failure arises from trying to integrate the parade of athletes and even the national anthem into those same creative elements.

In future, I hope that the IOC understands and respects the difference between the formal elements of an opening ceremony and those parts that celebrate the outpouring of a nation’s most creative individuals and doesn’t try to combine them. By all means, allow tourism authorities to have their landmarks celebrated and displayed to a global audience by staging an artistic introduction in and about a city rather than in a stadium. That is not a problem.

But the IOC should insist that athletes enter a stadium, their rightful environment, to be introduced to the world rather than being treated in the same way as tourists coming to town. They should enter on foot, perpetuating and honouring the way athletes since ancient times have entered a place of competition and are introduced to spectators. And then the formal elements of the ceremony take place and the Games can begin.

Ric Birch is a producer and director who has been involved in the planning and delivery of opening and closing ceremonies for five Olympics including in Sydney 2000 Games.

I agree with this view! It did seem dada-ish and disjointed but some segments were enjoyable to watch. If I were a director, I would have the main site of the Opening either at the Trocadero or the Stade De France, have the parade of Athletes, Olympic Protocol and some artistic segments there but also have some artistic segments on the bridges or at live sites with an audience so that everyone can be included in the show, it won't seem empty and you're showing landmarks and the beauty of Paris at the same time!

This gives me an idea. Why don't I pretend to be a director and start planning a hypothetical opening of Milano Cortina 2026? 

[Ikarus360]

6 hours ago, Juso said:

A verdict from Ric BIrch himself in the Sydney Morning Herald today:

Paris Olympics 2024: opening ceremony was a creative tour de force, but let athletes down (smh.com.au)

I agree with some of the things he said. At least he was respectful and passive with his review. Shame that ever since Rio (on which i recall he quit at last minute for creative differences) he seems to have totally stopped participating in olympic ceremonies (or hasn't been called again).

Then again most of the old guard in ceremonies have been replaced as of recently except for Marco Balich.