| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] | Off topic: What did your media make of the Olympic opening ceremony? Thread poster: Phil Hand
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Angus Stewart 
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:20
Member (2011)
French to English
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| In response to Phil | Jul 29, 2012 |
Phil Hand wrote:
Angus - please do tell
"I personally felt did not portray my culture in a manner with which I am at all comfortable. "
See, that's quite interesting. But you didn't say anything about that in your first post. I'd like to hear what bits of the ceremony you thought didn't represent us well. As opposed to just grumping about the fact that people sometimes make mistakes during live TV.
If I didn't emphasize that point in my first post, it is because I felt that in the grander scheme of things a degree of humility was called for. In essence, I regarded the snub to our guests as being a more important issue than the offence caused to myself as a native of these isles.
Of course, I accept that mistakes are sometimes made during live TV (that is part and parcel of the nature of the beast). However, it is the way those mistakes are subsequently redressed (or not) which is most telling and I was taking the incidents as a whole.
Ty Kendall wrote: I'm not Angus, but.....
I thought I'd say what I found irritating about it.......
I can't help but feel that we just opened Pandora's box (when I had been trying to exercise self-restraint). However, this time you did ask, so I'll confine myself to a couple of points that I don't consider that Ty covered adequately:
(1) Whilst unlike Ty, I accept that any condensed representation of our nation's past and present is necessarily going to be selective, if we are only to cover the positive aspects, we should at least ensure that what is portrayed is indeed positive and not negative. As Ty says revelling in the Industrial Revolution and the rather vacuous subject matter of the Third Act was undoubtedly not the most positive self-image we could have chosen to portray to the world.
(2) Post-colonialism and what Ty alludes to as political correctness are very much the issue. In this context, it was not so much what was covered, but the way in which it was done that was the problem. The end result was that it felt less like an integral part of the whole, than something that had been included on account of some official diktat that decreed it should be so, which in itself portrays a rather negative self-image that I am uncomfortable with.
In particular, the grudging coverage of the home nations (and here I'm referring to the somewhat pointed inclusion of the national anthems) jarred with me. The rather pointed way in which this was done left me feeling as though Scottish and English identities etc. were being set up in opposition to each other, whereas (at least in the context of the Olympics) we should be uniting to focus on team GB. In many respects it would have been preferable to have no separate coverage and just focus exclusively on the positive aspects of a united British identity. In this regard, I consider that the recent Jubilee celebrations were altogether more successful.
[Edited at 2012-07-29 16:50 GMT]
| | | | Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:20
Hebrew to English
| Pandora's Box | Jul 29, 2012 |
Angus Stewart wrote:
I can't help but feel that we just opened Pandora's box (when I had been trying to exercise self-restraint).
I'm having to exercise my limits of self-restraint on another thread so it went out the window on this one
| | | | Marina Steinbach
United States
Local time: 14:20
Member (2011)
English to German
| London Olympic Blunder | Jul 29, 2012 |
Phil Hand wrote:
I'm just browsing the British media, who generally liked it. But I imagine the view from overseas was a little different. Any good quotes from the media in your country/your language?
They seem to be talking more about Mitt Romney than they are about the Olympic opening ceremony…
| | | | Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 11:20
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam
Marina Steinbach wrote:
They seem to be talking more about Mitt Romney than they are about the Olympic opening ceremony…
His blunders are far more entertaining...
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Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:20
Hebrew to English
| I take it all back..... | Aug 13, 2012 |
The Closing Ceremony made the Opening one seem positively inspired.
The British press isn't being as kind about the closing ceremony. (If you look outside the BBC who are being typically sycophantic about it).
I'm not sure what was worse: the Spice Girls singing out of tune, the shameful plugging of Victoria Beckham's fashion line, the use of Kate Bush's music without Kate Bush herself, an appearance by the shamed George Michael, the pouting and strutting of just about ... See more The Closing Ceremony made the Opening one seem positively inspired.
The British press isn't being as kind about the closing ceremony. (If you look outside the BBC who are being typically sycophantic about it).
I'm not sure what was worse: the Spice Girls singing out of tune, the shameful plugging of Victoria Beckham's fashion line, the use of Kate Bush's music without Kate Bush herself, an appearance by the shamed George Michael, the pouting and strutting of just about every drug-using model we have ever produced,....
The good bits were few and far between. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Closing ceremony - grotesquely boring | Aug 13, 2012 |
I agree, Ty. The closing ceremony was grotesquely dull - an endless pop concert with dreary "singers" bellowing or whining dreary "songs".
Have the organisers never heard the old showbiz refrain "Leave 'em wanting more"?
Last night's affair left me wanting less.
Jenny
| | | | kmtext
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:20
English
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| I gave up on it | Aug 13, 2012 |
To be honest, I went to bed about halfway through. There's only so much out-of-tune warbling I'm prepared to put up with, especially if the sound quality is as poor as it was last night, and the rest of the show wasn't particularly impressive either. You'd think the organisers would have chosen slightly more cheerful music rather for a "celebration", and I'm sure the fact that the musicians were expected to perform gratis may have been to blame for the absence of some of the bigger names.
... See more To be honest, I went to bed about halfway through. There's only so much out-of-tune warbling I'm prepared to put up with, especially if the sound quality is as poor as it was last night, and the rest of the show wasn't particularly impressive either. You'd think the organisers would have chosen slightly more cheerful music rather for a "celebration", and I'm sure the fact that the musicians were expected to perform gratis may have been to blame for the absence of some of the bigger names.
Saying that, there were a couple of segments I did enjoy and I thought the stylised Union Flag looked pretty good. On the whole, it could have been better, but it could also have been worse! ▲ Collapse
| | | | XXXphxxx (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:20
Portuguese to English
+ ...
| The audio was dreadful | Aug 13, 2012 |
Never have I had to strain to hear Annie Lennox. The Brazilian contribution also got lost on second-rate audio and the absence of any intelligent/informed commentary.
We also have a funny relationship with our flag. We either ignore it completely (10 years ago all it had were BNP/football hooligan associations and you wouldn't be caught dead with a Union flag on your T-shirt) or we go completely over-the-top and annoy every other country by ramming it down their throats.
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