The Olympic Ceremonies
The 2010 Vancouver Olympics finished last night and Terri and I watched almost every waking moment of them over the previous two weeks. There were some incredible stories and events that unfolded which unfortunately will be overlooked because the last sporting moment of the games will be remembered as the defining moment; the Crosby goal. As a proud Canadian I am not going to say anything negative about that moment. It was ecstatic to see knowing that I was breathing a sigh of relief at the same moment as most Canadians.
The major issue that I found with these Olympics is how poor the opening and closing ceremonies represented Canada, especially eastern Canada. The only people that were used in either ceremony to represent us here east of Quebec were Ashley MacIsaac who has not been a positive image in man years and was used to represent a goth plaid sect of somewhere that I have never seen and Misha Gossman who was not used to represent anything except hairspray. I'm sure that someone thought the closing ceremonies were hilarious as they showed what Canada was really all about. The sad fact is that there will be people out there that think we are proud to be known by these pathetic stereotypes. You want stereotypes that we are proud of, how about the fact that our country is self sustaining, economically solvent, inviting to immigrants, social conscience in that we take care of our health needs, lower income needs, senior and student needs and proud of rich environment. Our cities (despite what the closing Olympics ceremonies would have you believe we DO have cities) are vibrant with multiculturalism, engaging technology and welcoming local flavour. I can understand if they did not have any east coast options for musical guests that would truly show our spirit however I know of a few that were there during the Olympics such as Great Big Sea to represent Newfoundland, The Trews representing Nova Scotia or Matt Andersen representing New Brunswick.
Overall check out Canada. You may see a moose, there's a slight chance that you may see a beaver or maybe a Mountie but you will definitely see something that you don't expect; especially if you are basing your interpretation of Canada's tourism industry on the Vancouver Olympics.
Just sayin' ...now I owe a loonie to the jar.
The major issue that I found with these Olympics is how poor the opening and closing ceremonies represented Canada, especially eastern Canada. The only people that were used in either ceremony to represent us here east of Quebec were Ashley MacIsaac who has not been a positive image in man years and was used to represent a goth plaid sect of somewhere that I have never seen and Misha Gossman who was not used to represent anything except hairspray. I'm sure that someone thought the closing ceremonies were hilarious as they showed what Canada was really all about. The sad fact is that there will be people out there that think we are proud to be known by these pathetic stereotypes. You want stereotypes that we are proud of, how about the fact that our country is self sustaining, economically solvent, inviting to immigrants, social conscience in that we take care of our health needs, lower income needs, senior and student needs and proud of rich environment. Our cities (despite what the closing Olympics ceremonies would have you believe we DO have cities) are vibrant with multiculturalism, engaging technology and welcoming local flavour. I can understand if they did not have any east coast options for musical guests that would truly show our spirit however I know of a few that were there during the Olympics such as Great Big Sea to represent Newfoundland, The Trews representing Nova Scotia or Matt Andersen representing New Brunswick.
Overall check out Canada. You may see a moose, there's a slight chance that you may see a beaver or maybe a Mountie but you will definitely see something that you don't expect; especially if you are basing your interpretation of Canada's tourism industry on the Vancouver Olympics.
Just sayin' ...now I owe a loonie to the jar.
posted by Spirtswoosh at 11:40 AM
0 comments
