Paris 2024 Ceremonies - Verdict

[FYI]

1 minute ago, Sir Rols said:

I still don’t see how that negates having favourites. 

Cause it's when the "this was the 'worst-ever' OC/CC", etc. comes into play when it starts to murky the (Seine) water. Then it becomes much more than just having "favorites".

[Rob2012]

10 minutes ago, Rob2012 said:

I tend to remember opening ceremonies much better.

 

6 minutes ago, Olympian2004 said:

London 2012 was maybe the only example in recent Olympic history where the closing ceremony was more dazzling than the opening.

Interesting, I can't say I remember that much about our closing either tbh. A lot of bands and British artists on a union jack stage, a glowing London eye, plus the Spice GIrls in a black cab. It got the tone right, I know I enjoyed it at the time....but no, I don't remember it that well.

And looking back at the Wikipedia page about it, I've definitely memory-holed THIS ...

 

 

[Sir Rols]

2 minutes ago, FYI said:

Cause it's when the "this was the 'worst-ever' OC/CC", etc. comes into play when it starts to murky the (Seine) water. Then it becomes much more than just having "favorites".

But you were questioning the ability of people to have “favourites”, which I considered a weird attitude to have.

”Best” or “worst ever” is a different thing. I try to avoid ranking anything Olympic on those terms (even if in my mind I possibly have candidates). It’s still subjective, but then you really have to build your case.

But again, it’s part of the territory of fandom.

[BigVic]

Sydney 2000 had a big fireworks display at the end which was larger than the Millennium display 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmGPzFJW9ss&pp=ygUYc3lkbmV5IGZpcmV3b3JrcyBjbG9zaW5n

[BigVic]

Sydney's fireworks display was the best at an Olympics CC. Loved the way they extinguised the rings to mark the end of the Games 

[Sir Rols]

Just now, BigVic said:

Sydney 2000 had a big fireworks display at the end which was larger than the Millennium display 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmGPzFJW9ss&pp=ygUYc3lkbmV5IGZpcmV3b3JrcyBjbG9zaW5n

When I saw you’d posted, I knew it would be some random fact about Sydney before I even opened it.

[sebastien1214]

1 minute ago, BigVic said:

Sydney 2000 had a big fireworks display at the end which was larger than the Millennium display 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmGPzFJW9ss&pp=ygUYc3lkbmV5IGZpcmV3b3JrcyBjbG9zaW5n

Yes, we get it, Sydney was great, incredible, we know...

Can you be a little less chauvinistic than us, the French? We're supposed to have a monopoly on that

[olimpicgamer]

8 minutes ago, Rob2012 said:

 

Interesting, I can't say I remember that much about our closing either tbh. A lot of bands and British artists on a union jack stage, a glowing London eye, plus the Spice GIrls in a black cab. It got the tone right, I know I enjoyed it at the time....but no, I don't remember it that well.

And looking back at the Wikipedia page about it, I've definitely memory-holed THIS ...

 

 

Exactly. Other than the celebrities, London's closing wasn't that great. The opening, on the other hand, was spectacular. 

Rio's closing ceremony was more memorable to me. 

[Red Centaur]

The Paris Closing Ceremony was note perfect. Well done Paris. Well done LA. Faith restored. 

 

[FYI]

2 minutes ago, Sir Rols said:

But you were questioning the ability of people to have “favourites”, which I considered a weird attitude to have.

”Best” or “worst ever” is a different thing. 

But that's what you usually see around here. This was my "favorite" cause that one was the "worst-ever", or vice-versa. It's like they go hand-in-hand here. I have nothing against stating favorites, as long as it's not disparaging something else, especially when it's all subjective anyway.

 

[sebastien1214]

Apparently the TV director of the closing ceremony is the same as the one of the opening ceremony, Simon Staffurth (an English, not a French). And it was OBS who imposed it (the COJO initially wanted Jérôme Revon for the opening, so I imagine also for the closing).

Voila.

I feel like few people talk about it, but for me, these games were disastrous for OBS. A visual charter that seems to date from 10-15 years ago, a conservatism that we could see in the documentary on the opening ceremony, a desire to impose more than to work effectively with the OCOG.

OBS will have to seriously question itself. Because beyond the ceremonies, I also had the feeling that on the broadcast of the sports events, it was a little below what we had previously.

[Sir Rols]

5 minutes ago, FYI said:

But that's what you usually see around here. This was my "favorite" cause that one was the "worst-ever", or vice-versa. It's like they go hand-in-hand here. I have nothing against stating favorites, as long as it's not disparaging something else, especially when it's all subjective anyway.

 

So what? It goes with fandom territory. I’m not invested so much in ceremonies that’s I’d ever click on the “Ceremonies on YouTube Thread Part 3” to watch the opening of the Pan-American Junior Beach Games or whatever, but I’m glad they’re here and generating discussion and are passionate.

The only time they annoyed me was when some were eagerly clamouring for he Chinese Government to give them a spectacle after the recent dross, and when we got the sudden influx after the Paris opening of people wanting to platform their nasty “I’m not homophobic, I know some gay people, but…” and “I’m not racist, but …” diatribes.

[Red Centaur]

My only fear for Olympic Ceremonies is their transition to becoming a concert for popular singers. 

Have popstars yes, but not in the place of high culture presentations. 

 

[guilherme b]

 

 

 

After this 

 

 and this 

 

 

 

 

We get coletive candle blow 

[yoshi]

I definitely think the artistic director should get to choose who does the TV direction rather than have it as part of OBS, who are very emphatically a live sport broadcaster, a very different thing. After all, 99..9% of those who watch the ceremony - the vision of the director - are watching on the TV. I'm honestly surprised the ceremonies were ever done through OBS at all. 

[Sir Rols]

49 minutes ago, sebastien1214 said:

Yes, we get it, Sydney was great, incredible, we know...

Can you be a little less chauvinistic than us, the French? We're supposed to have a monopoly on that

Yeah, seriously @BigVic, do you have to make EVERY topic about Australia and Sydney, no matter how off topic such comments are? There are threads specifically for the Australian team, or the Sydney games. If you wanna keep patting ourselves on the back, go there.

[FYI]

1 hour ago, sebastien1214 said:

Yes, we get it, Sydney was great, incredible, we know...

Can you be a little less chauvinistic than us, the French? We're supposed to have a monopoly on that

Gosh, I probably would've gotten chastised for making a similar remark. 

[sebastien1214]

3 minutes ago, FYI said:

Gosh, I probably would've gotten chastised for making a similar remark. 

It's all about balance. The right dosage. The tackle followed by the self-tackle on the French. The ying and the yang.

[panamfan]

Well, here is my 2 cents worth. The ceremony was terrible. Very little emotion or chills at all. Cool trick with the vertical piano, which was one of the only memorable things about the ceremony. (And as a historian I can at least appreciate the performance of "Hymn to Apollo" as a callback to the International Congress at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1894 where the decision was made to create the modern Olympic Games. Baron de Coubertin specially arranged for "Hymn to Apollo" to be performed at the Congress - most people would not get the connection.) Even the flame-extinguishing was lame. The Albertville ceremonies have always been my least favorite, but at least the Albertville Closing was better than this. (Jeez!) The sound system was awful. And even the LA handover was bad. As an American, I am embarrassed that the best we could show the world was a bunch of over-the-hill rockers making obscene gestures with their hips! I'm not a fan of rap music, but at least Snoop Dog and Dr. Dre were better. And Billie Eilish mic feed was poor. I am also not a fan of Tom Cruise, but I thought the Hollywood Sign reveal was a nice touch. All-in-all, it was definitely one of the worst Closing Ceremonies I have seen. And I have watched the U.S. broadcast of every ceremony since 1984.

[Sir Rols]

6 minutes ago, sebastien1214 said:

It's all about balance. The right dosage. The tackle followed by the self-tackle on the French. The ying and the yang.

Like I said, you fit here like a glove.

[Juso]

25 minutes ago, Sir Rols said:

Yeah, seriously @BigVic, do you have to make EVERY topic about Australia and Sydney, no matter how off topic such comments are? There are threads specifically for the Australian team, or the Sydney games. If you wanna keep patting ourselves on the back, go there.

As another Aussie I agree, lets leave some humility in our love of Sydney 2000 - so many amazing games have followed.

But I would give BigVic a pass on this comment as being irrelevant to the chat, as I also really expected there to be an amazing fireworks display off the Eiffel Tower (that would fully surpass Sydney's CC fireworks) because when you consider the icons of NYE fireworks include paris and Sydney.

 

Modern sustainability considerations aside, the rings looked incredible on the tower and the fireworks would off it would have been a moment for the ages! It also would have been the right level if 'joy' to balance the reflective and sombre tone of the CC Artistic segments.

[Sir Rols]

10 minutes ago, Juso said:

But I would give BigVic a pass on this comment as being irrelevant to the chat, as I also really expected there to be an amazing fireworks display off the Eiffel Tower (that would fully surpass Sydney's CC fireworks) because when you consider the icons of NYE fireworks include paris and Sydney.

That might have been okay if he’d put it in that contest, but he didn’t. And he does it all the time - inserts random Sydney factoids and Sydney and Oz boosting in the midst of totally irrelevant topics.

Personally, I don’t get the fascination with fireworks. Seen too many. As A Sydneysider, nowadays I switch the TV off at 12:01am on NYE rather than watch yet another display slightly different from the rest.

[Juso]

1 minute ago, Sir Rols said:

That might have been okay if he’d put it in that contest, but he didn’t. And he does it all the time - inserts random Sydney factoids and Sydney and Oz boosting in the midst of totally irrelevant topics.

Personally, I don’t get the fascination with fireworks. Seen too many. As A Sydneysider, nowadays I switch the TV off at 12:01am on NYE rather than watch yet another display slightly different from the rest.

Fair enough on BigVic - I have not been on here enough in recent times to comment.

But, as a fellow sydneysider - I still love a good set of fireworks and I feel there was a missed opportunity to ruturn to the tower during the closing - especially as it was such a focus for all the broadcasts (I am pretty sure most telecasts saw the tower alot more than the cauldron over the past two weeks - it will no doubt the enduring stunning image of the games) Anyway, back to the verdict! 

[sebastien1214]

By the way, it was thought that the absence of fireworks for the opening ceremony was due to ecological convictions, but they still put some for the closing. So, the question I ask myself: were there planned to have fireworks for the opening, but they were cancelled because of the weather? This makes me even more perplexed.

[Sir Rols]

1 minute ago, Juso said:

 

But, as a fellow sydneysider - I still love a good set of fireworks and I feel there was a missed opportunity to ruturn to the tower during the closing - especially as it was such a focus for all the broadcasts (I am pretty sure most telecasts saw the tower alot more than the cauldron over the past two weeks - it will no doubt the enduring stunning image of the games)

Fair enough.

I think athletes parades at the games are boring and tedious now, but I remember how it fired a spark in me first time I saw them as a kid. Similarly, I used to be wowed by fireworks as a 20-year-old who’d get pissed on NYE and go down to Circular Quay to watch them. Now, they’re just same old, same old. I’m more impressed these days by good drone shows or laser shows like at the Eiffel Tower. I don’t watch an Olympics ceremony for the fireworks, or count them as diminished if there are none. I watch for the artistic segments - and am disappointed that those at Paris’s CC were so dull, slow and joyless.