To add (now that I'm on lunch and on my laptop not my phone), I think Nathan's artistry is polarising because of the actions of the USFS.
Even the most die-hard Nathan fan has to admit that he has been the beneficiary of an unprecedented level of propaganda orchestrated by USFS, attempting to portray him as the greatest artist of all time. The constant yapping about the ballet training, the comparisons to famous ballet dancers, and let's not even get started on Nathan's FS at Nationals this year being scored higher in PCS than Jason's.
The thing was, especially when he first hit the scene, he really wasn't that great. There was practically no choreography, a lot of skate-skate-jump, and not a single hint of that ballet training showing through. Of course he has improved since then, but the USFS narrative that he was the greatest artist ever started while his standard tactic was "adding another quad? throw out more choreo!". Which was also particularly rankling given other skaters who could land quads were not being given the same leniency on the second mark.
I still don't think Nathan is a 90+ skater. But I also think there are only two men in the world who are - and only when they are on. Nathan has improved quite a lot in the last couple of years - the problem was that it was forced down our throats that his starting point was higher than it really was. And when USFS are trying to do stupid things like claim Nathan is a better PCS skater than Jason - they're going to cause a backlash.
Even the most die-hard Nathan fan has to admit that he has been the beneficiary of an unprecedented level of propaganda orchestrated by USFS, attempting to portray him as the greatest artist of all time. The constant yapping about the ballet training, the comparisons to famous ballet dancers, and let's not even get started on Nathan's FS at Nationals this year being scored higher in PCS than Jason's.
The thing was, especially when he first hit the scene, he really wasn't that great. There was practically no choreography, a lot of skate-skate-jump, and not a single hint of that ballet training showing through. Of course he has improved since then, but the USFS narrative that he was the greatest artist ever started while his standard tactic was "adding another quad? throw out more choreo!". Which was also particularly rankling given other skaters who could land quads were not being given the same leniency on the second mark.
I still don't think Nathan is a 90+ skater. But I also think there are only two men in the world who are - and only when they are on. Nathan has improved quite a lot in the last couple of years - the problem was that it was forced down our throats that his starting point was higher than it really was. And when USFS are trying to do stupid things like claim Nathan is a better PCS skater than Jason - they're going to cause a backlash.