- Joined
- Mar 23, 2014
When? I've seen no proof of any of this...
Yeah....what???
When? I've seen no proof of any of this...
there are some really nice Canadian posters tho who even if they have their biases (like all of us) at least express it in an polite way
For once, I agreed with Tara, when she said the judges were too harsh on Mirai. Both she and Johnny thought her 3A was borderline. Unfortunately, seeing her program on TV, she did look nervous and Johnny was right when he said she was kind of robotic. By the way, I am starting to have a big problem with the criticism of Mirai (and other female skaters) for not smiling or "emoting" or "showing face." This is a standard that appararently doesn't apply to the men. Yuzuru had a serious look throughout his program but got the highest PCS. I can't remember the last time I heard a male skater criticized for not smiling or "showing face."
Yuzuru definitely does give face. Yuzu gives very decent face. He might not be out there giving Evgenia or Ashley levels of face, but that's because it isn't necessary for his music. But he doesn't skate with a blank face - he skates with a fierce/serious face that suits his music, and he seems to often be looking at the judges/audience. Doing Prince definitely required a different kind of face than his usual, and some performances were more successful than others at this, and it did impact how fans/judges responded to that SP.
That said, the better/more complex your skating and choreography, the less you need to give face to communicate, as the skating and the choreography does the communicating instead. Given how empty Mirai's programs are, she would definitely benefit by giving face. Like, Javier Fernandez might not have the choreography of Hanyu, but he gives better face than him, and it does go a long way. Mirai's programs don't communicate with the audience in terms of body language/choreography or face.
Mirai's programs don't communicate with the audience in terms of body language/choreography or face.
The negative comments about "giving face" are almost invariably directed towards women. It reminds me of men who tell women to smile.
Hmmm... It makes quite a large difference to me. Some skaters definitely do this better than others and it does make a large impact. It's an appropriate thing to criticize, in my opinion. It could be the single most important thing about interpretation.
Hmmm... It makes quite a large difference to me. Some skaters definitely do this better than others and it does make a large impact. It's an appropriate thing to criticize, in my opinion. It could be the single most important thing about interpretation.
It's fine to criticize it if it applies to men and women. But I only see it being applied to women. Male skaters are never expected to smile. And don't get me wrong, I like Hanyu a lot, but his demeanor while skating is pretty stoic.
It's fine to criticize it if it applies to men and women. But I only see it being applied to women. Male skaters are never expected to smile.
I think that audiences (in the US at least) are nostalgic for the 2010 Mirai. She is grown up now -- even, by skating standards, an elder statesman. IMHO she does project to the audience, but more subtly than before. However, she has to nail the technical content for the choreography and interpretation to work.
Sounds like a good reason to lower the overall impact PCS has on final scores. The last thing I'm interested in seeing practiced and rewarded in an Olympic sport is the ability to fake a smile. Lol.
FWIW: I love happy smiley Mariah because it fits her natural character but I don't think she should get points for it. To me..that's just silly.
In terms of facial expressions in general...seems pretty far removed the skills I want to see rewarded in figure skating. Obviously YMMV.
I'm inclined to disagree, but then I haven't seen her live to make a complete assessment on that. I'm less bothered by her face (I think a stoic expression is fine for her music, especially Miss Saigon) than I am by the lack of choreography - it's easier to "sell" choreographically simple programs if you're going all in on your facial expressions. Lack of overt facial expression notwithstanding, I just don't get a sense of intention/emotion behind the little choreography there is, such as during the StSq. More of an impression of going through the motions. Gracie Gold has a very similar quality, though her programs usually have more / more impressive choreography, which partially makes up for her weaknesses.
I agree, but the problem is, smiling, miming, emoting etc., are being taken into account in awarding points, at least for female skaters.
There is no longer a score for choreography, so the alleged lack of it (I don't agree that there is no choreography) shouldn't affect her PCS. And it's still early in the season. She just needs to commit more to the choreography she has, which should develop in time, like it did for her in 2016, when she had her best performances at Worlds.