And some remarks in the comments section are spot on - the gold medal is going to be determined by applause meter. That's why Meryl/Charlie are hitting the show trick/show posing so hard. Derek Hough - the King of trick/pose.
This guy joins their line-up:
He's a world champion cabaret dancer.
wiki describes cabaret dancing as:
It's a solo couple dance where the distinguishing factor is all the lifts and spins that the man does while holding the woman in the air.
IOW - what they're already doing. Not actual rhythm based dancing. Nothing that depends upon an edge. Adagio acrobatics. The guy is a stable base (stolid, not dancing) the woman is two dimensional in space.
That's them all over.
All of this this seems about right. Derek Hough is using a Davis White trick for himself and Kelli Pickler, and Kelli Pickler isn't even a dancer on the floor. She's a singer.
Davis White tricks are not only not about actually skating or using your edges in and out, but they're also not necessarily Olympic calibre or even real professional show dance calibre. They can be done by a very physically fit, non-pro youngish person.
It's going to be a program full of a lot of WTF and bracketing a two second highlight where they pretty much grab the audience with both fists and demand applause. Set up, set up, set up - TRICK!!!! POSE! Then somewhere in there they'll throw in a couple of phrases of skating and throw their arms open to the audience so the audience can applaud the awesome.
Element wise, again, don't look too closely to how they get into it or how they get out of it or how they evolve/transition during it. Just look at the highlight moment. Let's see if getting into it, getting out of it involves more actual skating, less two-footing, less all four hands/arms clutching and unsupported edgework, more running edges out, or if they're just looking for new shapes and angles, but getting in and out the same way. Let's see if they can manage their bodies in space without being bracketed near the pelvis coming, going and during.
It seems to me they're going all in on what they do best. It's the Olympics and they really want that gold. If the ISU has let Tessa and Scott know they want more traditional romantic stuff from them, I wonder if the ISU has told Meryl Charlie that the game is up so they need new shapes. Don't do that prow of the ship thing on his thigh anymore, don't do that split legged rotational. Do something with the exact same basic mechanics - i.e., non-skating entrance with all hands on deck and non-skating exit, but alter the visual a little. We'll think it's brand new.
I'm betting now that there will be at least one moment in Davis White's free dance where they make a big show of doing something SLOWLY. It won't matter where Charlie's feet are, how they got in, how they get out - it will be some type of arial where the final transition and then the pose will be SLOW - but SLOW with an exclamation point. Like what fabulous control! How amazing! I think only Tony Dovolini and his winning All-Stars partner Melissa Rycroft would come near it.
It's going to be that type of game. I'm going to be watching the feet.
The judges are also supposed to be watching the feet. This time it's to be hoped the questioning about what DW are actually SKATING becomes loud and insistent. And yes, it should also be compared - in minute detail - to what VM do.
ReplyDeleteI love Derek but he's trick based. He choreographs in two dimensions for his partners. He's a very savvy showman. His celebrity partners are props, but he keeps everything moving. One of his big tricks is to do three of something while his partner does one of something and the overall impression is OMG they just did four amazing things. He never has his partner just stand there while he does stuff, like some other over-dancers do, or like the "gentleman partners" do. They're always involved, it's just that he's doing more and they're supplementing, but it's at the same time, or they get the "button" (the final moment) - so it looks like two people doing something fantastic.
DeleteHe's the trick-meister.
Via the above we can see that caberet dancing is an acrobatic discipline - it's not about rhythm, knee action, or real partnering. It's showy shapes.
P.S. - I suspect they'll use skating the way they use tricks. They won't skate in (and especially not run an edge out) of an element. Certainly not both of them at the same time in unison, as Scott and Tessa do all the time. They'll position the skating as a highlight. If they have a non-element musical phrase where one of them is actually turning on an edge, the audience will be cued to fall down in amazement. Athletic, fast AND they can skate! Look there - that part! They just did it!
ReplyDeleteThey don't skate throughout like VM - who also have harder elements and better technique/mechanics. And more power and speed.
Have you seen any of that dancer's videos? I think you'll find that some of their positions are already being used and not by D/W.
ReplyDelete6:04
DeleteIt's not about positions per se but how they're executed, and for ice-dance it's supposed to be important if one actually skates into and out of the positions, how the body is held during the position, how the position/execution follows CoP guidelines. So many little important details. I'm sure you know about that.
To me the gist of this post is that D/W are all about tricks than actual skating and look here is more proof. This acrobatic dancer is working with them. So my comment was to point out that many other teams use acrobatic types of lifts. I believe all of the Canton teams have consulted with acrobats. Its not just D/W. I wasn't referring to quality of positions at all.
DeleteHmmm..another name drop by D/W to indicate that they are working with outsiders...specifically for lifts...wow that Johnny Johns must be absolutely horrible in that area...I guess Marina couldn't find a picture in a ballet book a la Goose for D/W...and yet V/M have come-up with a plytheora of lifts over the years...with Zoueva and Johns...I wonder why? We all know the answer but you have to wonder what new tricks or lifts they can do this year that other teams haven't already used and are deemed legal? I guess we will have to wait and see...but again it's not about the skating...it's about the perception of working outside the box...which is totally funny since they are the one team this quad who really have not gone outside their comfort zone...whether in the sd or the fd...
DeleteExactly, it's about a bunch of ice network articles and commentators going wow they've really gone all out with lifts (when they do the same basic lifts but with a different arm position), and they're so ballroom now (Derek and Grinenko) and having new fans who know nothing about skating tweeting #sochigold all over the place. And oh they're working so hard, didn't do any shows, they really want this and they've worked so hard so they deserve it... blah blah blah Tanithcakes.
Deletev/m have not only been working with zoueva and johns. they work with cirque du soleil.
Delete12:58 - i think us fans needs to reclaim the tag and spam it with photos of v/m lol
Delete8:31 - Someone should start an #actualolympicchampions hashtag for VM.
Delete7:32, you said:
Delete"To me the gist of this post is that D/W are all about tricks than actual skating and look here is more proof. This acrobatic dancer is working with them. So my comment was to point out that many other teams use acrobatic types of lifts."
I don't see the relevance though, unless these many other teams are also all about tricks and not skating. Using these lifts or any other type of lift isn't the point of the post, or the gist of the post.
Meryl and Charlie have a number of tricks and lifts that look like what other teams do, but when you deconstruct their mechanics and compare, their mechanics are elementary and the actual technique is poor. You may have one team doing a lift where the partner is flipped onto the other's shoulders and hits a position, then changes position into a pose, but what counts are the mechanics and technique. Is the person clutching and grabbing? Is the pelvis of the lifted partner completely girdled by her partner's body and his arms and hands? Does the partner skate into the lift? Do they descend onto an edge and then run it out or turn into another skating move under their own steam?
A classic Charlie/Meryl b.s. was in Giselle where he turns to face her, planted on two feet (arms flung out, of course) and he pulls her in while she's in an arabesque. So neither are skating. She's being tugged like a red wagon.
So the actual gist of this post is that Meryl and Charlie are seeking new shapes to fool the eye into thinking they're doing new and improved lifts, transitions, etc. That won't be the case unless their mechanics and technique are also improved. Can Meryl control her core and her body? Can Charlie maintain his balance? Or will it still come down to supporting each other's center of balance while using splayed arms and one leg to suggest difficulty or excitement?
IOW, Meryl and Charlie are working on cosmetic fixes, new ways to disguise the same old fake out.
What's the deal with Tessa suddenly showing up in a ton of photos right at the end of Stars on Ice. Did someone get wind of the criticisms that she and Scott weren't in the photos with the rest of the cast? Cue the Tessa/Patrick rumours in three...two...
ReplyDeleteFor two people not on social media (and damn proud of it!) they sure do react to a lot of stuff posted on it.
LOL at 8:23 am...well pictures with Patrick Chan, John Kerr, and two pictures with some skaters and the crew..doesn't constitute a ton...but yeah all taken on the ferry from Victoria to Vancouver makes it easy...let's see if we see more pictures from the Olympic session this weekend in Vancouver...we know Weaver/Poje will twitter, Kirsten Towers Moore is usually good with pictures hahaha..oh Tessa...
ReplyDelete8:50
DeleteTessa and her good friends who are known to be dating others. Lol
But heaven forbid she and Scott should stand next to each other in made-for-the-public photos. What will people think?!?
Come on, we all know that Tessa and Scott don't even talk to each other unless they're at a rink or making an official public appearance.
DeleteLOL - from a bridal shoot to no speaking each other off-ice....the extremes...oieee...I'm calling it here first...a picture of Denny Morrison or another male athlete and Tessa from Vancouver...
DeleteHaha...yes, they don't even walk on the same street, or sit next to each other on the airplane
DeleteOut of the rink...they hate each other :)
"I'm calling it here first...a picture of Denny Morrison or another male athlete and Tessa from Vancouver..."
DeleteYep.
And if they can possibly manage it, some little report to make sure it's understood Scott and Tessa are definitely, no way, not at all doing anything together nor with the same people.
(Shudder - hang out together off ice? Ewwww)
hey they hang out with each other eight days a week ;). i understand if they need a break from each other sometimes
Delete9:24
DeleteSure. But they deliberately make a point to show that. It never fails to feel contrived instead of natural.
Anon at 9:24 am - I agree that everyone needs their space and literally you can't be together 24/7...but I feel that once again that Tessa will get the "sweatheart" edit with pictures and then eventually with the Scott/Cassandra pictures - Scott will get the "asshole" edit...
ReplyDeleteMe at 10:03 am - obviously I can't spell today - I meant sweetheart and not sweatheart, LOL..
ReplyDelete"Scott will get the "asshole" edit..."
DeleteHe signed up for that job the moment it became about spamming social media with pictures of himself and his current social media honey. He's had lots of practice - going on 5 years now.
Well at least one group picture where V/M are not allergic to one another - via Sinead Kerr's twitter. I am assuming it was the last group dinner...
Delete8:23
ReplyDeleteYesssss!!
i hope their olympic programs will be choppy and mismatched.
ReplyDeleteIt's all fine and well that they have all these professional dancers working on their choreo, but who is actually teaching them how to SKATE? And ICE DANCE???
ReplyDeleteNobody. These profesional dancers are showing them new sleight-of-hand. Maybe they figure the gig is up with the same old same old LINES of their moves - the split leg rotational, the moving monument, etc., and it will be hard for the ISU to award them the gold that is waiting for them if everyone looks at the new programs and immediately recognizes six year old material.
DeleteInstead of looking at positions, I'd look at the mechanics and the technique. What do they do when an element ends? Hit their knees? Do a lot of dramatic sliding, leaping, scampering, mini-lifting?
Their programs have been working for years to disguise that both Meryl and Charlie immediately destablize if required to do two skating movements in a row. Skate THIS and turn (skate the turn) and skate something else. They can't. Every single thing they do is bracketed by crap. That's what to look for. Can they do anything outside the required elements besides crap - the old crap or new crap? Can Charlie do a lift and then skate after setting her down or does he have to hop.
I want to see how often they hop. They constantly, constantly hop. It's so ridiculous that a freaking HOP gets them a level 4 for a two set twizzle pass since hopping is their default crutch. Right there is a point giveaway.
New interview with Weaver/Poje, who freely admit as always that they vacation together. Other teams do as well, Paul and Islam for one. And yet Tessa and Scott, who can't even skate a show program without first embracing, need two weeks off from each other?
ReplyDeleteLovely to see Kaitlyn's words of praise for VM though. At least someone is speaking up in favour of them.
I love them ! They always look honest and cute in their interviews...They really are friends who enjoy their time together on and off the ice...and we don't see pictures of them with boyfriends/girlfriends even if they have (i don't know)
Delete"Lovely to see Kaitlyn's words of praise for VM though. At least someone is speaking up in favour of them."
Agree
I have no idea if Kaitlyn or Andrew are dating someone or each other (though I doubt they are) and that's the way it should be. No need to plaster pics of yourself and your current sweetie all over the internet for the edification of the fans.
DeleteIf Tessa and Scott want us to believe they're platonic, they would do well to use W/P as role models! They seem to have difficulty grasping the meaning of that word.
Anon 8:53 - IKR. Not just plastering pics all over social media but all the tweets of OTT passionate angst for everyone to see. Jessica used to do that by way of wall posts on facebook. Now it's Cass on twitter. Same thing.
DeleteTessa and Scott never have played platonic convincingly and the social media "romances" are hilariously fake, shallow and ridiculous. In a word, unconvincing. In fact, one of the major red flags for me that pushed me to beleiving they were indeed shamming is the way these social media SO's have been managed.
The SO games have not been endearingly fake. They've been grotesque in every way.
To be honest I simply don't understand why some fans are so adamant that two single, age appropriate people can adore each other, be physically affectionate (VERY physically affectionate), heterosexual (if a man and a woman), and be platonic whether either is involved with another or not.
DeleteYes, of course there are likely cases where a partner may have unrequited feelings for their partner, or partners may not like each other "that way', but the construct that there are heterosexual skating partners who are deeply intimate emotionally, adore each other, vacation together, very physically affectionate but simply not an option for each other is nonexistent.
I have no first hand knowledge of Kaitlyn Andrew but believe they're together and think they would be uber bizarre if not. The dynamic that fake platonic couples paint of their relationship doesn't correlate in real life if neither are gay. Ben and Tanith didn't vacation together.
This is a fan projection and they almost will their celebrity favorites to live out something that actually doesn't happen in actual life. If some of these fans looked at real life examples that support what they believe about some skaters they may find they're over looking key details.
"The dynamic that fake platonic couples paint of their relationship doesn't correlate in real life if neither are gay. Ben and Tanith didn't vacation together."
DeleteTorvill/Dean vacationed together during their competitive years while all the while insisting they were platonic. Yeah right.
Is that why Scott is so obstinate about these late-May vacations with his two-dimensional GF? *That* is what makes all the social-media idiocy real. Yeah right.
The question for me is why are Scott and Tessa so ambitious in their lies? Their games are so outsized in relation to the purpose of the sham.
DeleteThe purpose of the sham, as they have explained to people who know them, not just fans, is privacy. Not thought control. Privacy. Privacy is easy - from FANS.
Fans are not the problem in the skating world. The insular, gossipy skating world itself is more of an issue, and most of them know Scott and Tessa's situation already. If the sham helps them there it has to be indirectly in some way.
You can't actually control people's thoughts. There is no privacy point to a game in which you try to anticipate what people THINK and then pre-empt it - i.e., some people won't believe that platonic people vacation together, so better pretend they don't. What difference does it make what people THINK? How is one's privacy threatened by thoughts?
NONE of that stuff - none of it, has any relevance to protecting your privacy. Protecting your privacy = officially saying you're platonic and that's all you need to do. The media isn't going to tell us differently, nobody is.
All of the charades they play is for them, not us.
When you're in a romantic relationship with your partner but want to protect your intimate life, and you say you're platonic because you don't want to be fending off questions aimed at getting the details, the job is done.
You don't have to talk about a typical evening at home, you don't have to hear inappropriate remarks or assumptions, you don't have to talk about how much your programs reflect your real relationship, don't have to talk about your family or your family plans.
The job is done with that. You're platonic, the media can't ask the questions, if the media can't ask the questions, the fans don't know the answers, end of.
As for fans, many fandoms love the idea of intimate platonic love. I have no idea why. WHERE does it exist in real life in the specific conditions and circumstances we find it either between fake platonic partners or in a television drama?
In television dramas, often a show is set up to have a female lead and a male lead, of equivalent attractiveness and reasonably age appropriate for each other, both single, both frequently thwarted in their pursuit of love, and if either one has a romance, often there's something missing in it. The leads generally adore each other, are compatible, tons of chemistry, and very loyal. Where in real life does this stay platonic?
In real life it stays platonic when there's not "that kind" of chemistry, when one of them has a significant other they're a lot more into, or when they're not really compatible. But absent those or other obstacles, NO, it is not realistic on either television or real life that two people who are terribly close, equivalently attractive, single and available, spend all their time together, share huge amounts of chemistry and are dear friends remain platonic.
I think a lot of television has confused some fans into believing this stuff happens in life. To the point where when fictional characters start to get together some fans complain "why does everyone have to be shipped! Why can't a man and a woman just be friends!"
A man and a woman CAN just be friends and are friends all the time, just not in the conditions we find them in television shows. Single, age appropriate, tons of chemistry, looking for love, compatible, close, spend a lot of time together.
THIS is the fantasy some fans of figure skating cherish - maybe they think television shows that portray this dynamic are realistic and they want to see a rom com version in life. It doesn't happen.
oc
Since when has Davis and White's aesthetic been a harmonious flow? It's always been everything-and-the-kitchen sink set to music. Multiple choreographers, too many cooks - that's them all over, that's what their programs look like. Marina will take what these choreographers work on and use their tricks to extend the element. Marina is very good at using visual sleight-of-hand to visually extend an element, especially when the actual element is very elementary and done with questionable technique and mechanics. She uses music and visual trickery to dress it up so it seems like one big "event". Derek Hough is good at tricks like that as well.
ReplyDeleteTheir programs are always choppy and mismatched. Giselle was absurd. Die Fleidermaus was absurd. All their programs are. Set it to music and use the visual tricks to inflate the appearance (not the actuality, just the appearance), pair it with hype and people receive the impression that they killed themselves out there doing a ton of exciting, difficult stuff set to really dramatic music and they probably deserve first place because of it because they didn't make mistakes. Now they didn't make mistakes because they clung to each other like a toddler clings to daddy but the ISU prefers not to notice things like that, or notice that Meryl fakes her edges in and out of lifts. You're supposed to skate on them, not pose them.
OC 8:48
ReplyDeleteTessa and Scott so often describe their relationship as platonic yet special/different/unique. They forget they are really not different than regular people and regular people will see through that. I think most regular people are also willing to turn a blind eye and go along with their lies....if they had not turned on the fans and spammed them via social media with all kinds of disrespectful set-ups and attempts at showing photo-evidence that they're screwing some fake gf/bf.
The fans who still sigh and ship and defend their platonic uniqueness have bought into a whole lot of fantasies. VM are not some fairy tale, they're real people. And Tessa and Scott have also been very misguided in the way they represent themselves and their fake "private" lives.
I don't know - I think the fans who buy into their platonic uniqueness are very invested in the idea that this exists. It seems to be a big deal among a segment of not just this fandom, but other fandoms. They've taken a dramatic fantasy that's employed a lot in fiction and decided it must replicate in real life. It doesn't. Not where all the other boxes are checked off (listed above). As you say, the model of platonic passion that Scott and Tessa pretend to embody is a fantasy. There are a million television shows built on creating this dynamic and then stringing it out over many seasons, to where many fans on many discussion forums adamently resist the idea of the two of them getting together. But not to do it is unrealistic. The belief that somehow this dynamic can exist in reality in this form is what's unrealistic.
DeleteA long time ago, on one of the livejournal discussion pages, somebody reported that an elderly man she was caring for saw Scott and Tessa on television and said "They're l*vers" (I can be like 30 Rock - the word bums me out). The girl said "No they're not - they say they're not." And he said "They're lying". It didn't give him a coronary or anything. He just wasn't a fool and had eyes. He also wasn't a fan, so wasn't twisted up with those politics.
DeleteYou can go back with Scott and Tessa many years and see what the truth is and that they're lying, even if you don't know for a fact or prior to knowing for a fact. It's right in front of your face if you have any sensibility at all.
Well, there's another facet to the meanspirited way they had sport with fans with the sham. It made them out to be liars on yet another level.
DeleteIf you are shamming purely to protect your privacy, the sham isn't conducted as they've conducted it.
If you truly are as paranoid about your privacy as they pretend, you don't intentionally lead fans on, as they have done more times than we can count.
Their style of shamming revealed a lot about their character that isn't very pretty. Not just their character, but those of the people around them, and where they come from. It's unprofessional. It's low rent. It's bullying, it's sour, it's very very very chip on the shoulder, and where that comes from when the community seems very happy with itself, who knows.
So the way they conducted it - the tone, the sloppiness, the meanspiritedness, the many many set ups, the many times they enjoyed mocking fans (I still think Scott asking for profile picture suggestions was one of the cruelest and bitchiest things anyone in his position has ever done on social media) - demonstrate that they're not doing this for their privacy. Their privacy is as much of a scapegoat as the fans are a scapegoat. There are other reasons.
Scott has no problem telling people to stuff it, shove it, whatever. When he's feeling shirty he has no problem revealing that side of himself to the public. I don't mean he's a douche, I mean he won't hide his frame of mind at times. He has shared stories with the public of how he's reacted in various situations - such as his saying that time he and Tessa were at training camp and just told all the soliticitous sympathizers and concerned faces to "Get away from us!" In the video taken by the Russian fans who wanted to ask a personal question, Scott told them they could ask but he couldn't promise to answer. He's not all that worried about what people think of him. This isn't a guy who would feel obligated to share every detail of what's asked of him just because they know his marital status. He's had no problem doing most of the talking for himself and Tessa in the past. He has no problem calling out something he thinks is inappropriate. We all know they're figure skaters and the two of them also manage to keep information about their skating quite close to the vest. They could do the same with their private life. A few run ins with Scott in next-question mode and the media would learn.
So if they were doing it for privacy, it wouldn't look like this.
"So the way they conducted it - the tone, the sloppiness, the meanspiritedness, the many many set ups, the many times they enjoyed mocking fans (I still think Scott asking for profile picture suggestions was one of the cruelest and bitchiest things anyone in his position has ever done on social media) - demonstrate that they're not doing this for their privacy."
DeleteThere are so many meanspirited set ups, I don't know how you choose one. I felt the Monaco sting, plus the attempted Paris sting, were uber meanspirited.
However, in my book one of the most awful was when he acknowledged all the sincere birthday wishes posted on his facebook page with sham bait, saying he had spent his birthday in his favorite place, Muskokas. Since when do VM ever share anything personal about their birthdays or any other personal event? Never.
It was such an obvious set up, similar to all the ones from before, to be looking for photos of a birthday celebration with Jessica. This blog called him out on it otherwise we know there would have been a whole set of photos. A short time later Jessica had a Muskokas profile picture and there were also a couple other photos that surfaced much later, making it more than obvious they had planned a special photo-spam but they had not followed through as originally planned. Just like that Paris sting. Almost a year later a photo surfacing related to that, with Jessica. Where are all the other photos? You know there's a whole album somewhere they had wanted to dump on social media.
It was one of the bitchiest thing to do on his supposed "official" facebook page "just-for-fans." They have no respect for fans nor the fact that in the long run fans are their source of revenue.
The thanks for the birthday wishes was rotten. The guy could never say a single thank you before unless he was having one of his rare fb spasms where he ran roughshod through facebook making empty promises. Finally he answers, and it's bait. Never mind that he had purged almost all the members of his fan facebook from his "personal" fb because he belatedly wanted to create the illusion that his sham with Jessica was a private relationship - and also to shield it from people who knew what they were looking at and what they were up to. Let's deprive all these fans - most of them supportive and non-challenging - of participation on the first facebook while keeping others involved - playing favorites, hurting feelings - but let's also fuck with them on the fan page.
DeleteThe problem with that fan page was he never did one single genuine thing on it. There wasn't a single thing that wasn't manipulative. It's so Moirville. It's so 'I'm better than you'. If you're from Moirville can't engage without holding a trick behind your back - that would mean you consider other people to be as good as you are. Always show that you're smarter and better.
But the 'profile pictures' question was horribly cruel. Frankly, it strikes me as a Barb idea to promote Funny Face that he just went along with without thinking about it. Never mind that people had begged for pictures for months with no response. Never mind that when he asked for suggestions he already knew the photo he intended to use, and that it wouldn't be of him and Tessa. He basically wasted people's time and energy and he pretty much shoved in their face that their time, energy, thoughtfulness and opinions he himself had asked for were worthless to him.
Go ahead and give your suggestion with a carefully, politely worded comment and post a link you took time to create. Go ahead and explain why you're making the suggestion you are, assure Scott it's only a suggestion but something like 'this' you like. All of the suggestions were for appropriate photos of himself and Tessa - nobody suggested personal photos or anything unprofessional. He lets this play out over a few days, pops in to thank everyone for their great ideas, and a beat later up pops the photo that was always going to be posted - of Fred and Audrey.
These are fans. They're going to think about their response when one of their favorites requests input. That energy meant nothing to him. It was all a trick. That said a LOT. Guy couldn't recognize mean. Sure Barb, clever idea.
He is so tuned out, and people who are that tuned out, that oblivious to others, have no business fake engaging because they're clueless and too undisciplined to fake the part about caring.
oc
The thanks for the birthday wishes was rotten. The guy could never say a single thank you before unless he was having one of his rare fb spasms where he ran roughshod through facebook making empty promises. Finally he answers, and it's bait. Never mind that he had purged almost all the members of his fan facebook from his "personal" fb because he belatedly wanted to create the illusion that his sham with Jessica was a private relationship - and also to shield it from people who knew what they were looking at and what they were up to. Let's deprive all these fans - most of them supportive and non-challenging - of participation on the first facebook while keeping others involved - playing favorites, hurting feelings - but let's also fuck with them on the fan page.
DeleteThe problem with that fan page was he never did one single genuine thing on it. There wasn't a single thing that wasn't manipulative. It's so Moirville. It's so 'I'm better than you'. If you're from Moirville can't engage without holding a trick behind your back - that would mean you consider other people to be as good as you are. Always show that you're smarter and better.
But the 'profile pictures' question was horribly cruel. Frankly, it strikes me as a Barb idea to promote Funny Face that he just went along with without thinking about it. Never mind that people had begged for pictures for months with no response. Never mind that when he asked for suggestions he already knew the photo he intended to use, and that it wouldn't be of him and Tessa. He basically wasted people's time and energy and he pretty much shoved in their face that their time, energy, thoughtfulness and opinions he himself had asked for were a) worthless - he did request their suggestions and thus, wasted their time as it was a set up - he had no respect, and b) something to make fun of and mock. How hilarious, the fans on his fan page actually spent a few days responding to his request for suggestions - they thought he was sincere!
As if.
That's way worse than setting up another sham sting, IMO, as gross as it was to bury a trick in a "that's a first" thank you for people's sincere well wishes on your birthday.
This was - go ahead and give your suggestion with a carefully, politely worded comment and post a link you took time to create. Go ahead and explain why you're making the suggestion you are, assure Scott it's only a suggestion but something like 'this' you like.
All of the suggestions were for appropriate photos of himself and Tessa - nobody suggested personal photos or anything unprofessional. He lets this play out over a few days, pops in to thank everyone for their great ideas, and a beat later up pops the photo that was always going to be posted - of Fred and Audrey.
These are fans. They're going to think about their response when one of their favorites requests input. That energy meant nothing to him. It was all a trick. That said a LOT. Guy couldn't recognize mean. Sure Barb, clever idea.
He is so tuned out, and people who are that tuned out, that oblivious to others, have no business fake engaging because they're clueless and too undisciplined to fake the part about caring.
oc
With this critique of his fan page it's worth emphasizing that it was his idea. It was his fan page. Fans are going to wish you happy birthday. Fans are going to get excited when you ask for input.
DeleteFans weren't informed that it was just a manipulative tool. It was an expedient to cover his purging of his 'personal' fb - which he claimed he was shutting down and didn't, so the whole charade made things crueler than if he'd kept his mouth shut. It became about dividing fans into haves and have nots, because he so clearly lied. If he'd just done the job on his personal fb without the lies people wouldn't have felt so personally singled out for exclusion.
And after his 'private' fb was purged, he really didn't have actual use for his fan page, or any intention of using it, and so of course he made empty assurances and let people find out they were hollow through his actions. The only time he'd extend himself was to trick people. Says a lot, IMO, about where you spend your energy.
I really wonder if he ever managed to control other issues in his environment if he'd be this rotten to fans. He's of course wonderful on camera or in person but in the anonymity of social media (which he's not on at all he says in SOI - SOI being an alternative dimension where no m'ovember page exists, no instagram, no @CassHilborn, no Cassandra Hilborn facebook, and no flickr, photobucket and hard drive files full of his social media output with Jessica) he sure went the extra mile to be cruel. I wonder if it's some type of displacement.
P.S. to my remarks about Scott.
ReplyDeleteDuring the course of the sham - and the course of the blog, and while operating on the (likely mistaken) received wisdom that Scott and Tessa were doing this for privacy, it often seemed to me that if privacy were really the issue, Scott could have managed the whole thing better than anyone else.
The stereotype is that he's the wild and crazy one and Tessa tempers him. The stereotype is David Pelletier, at the Roots launch, saying as long as Scott kept his mouth shut and let Tessa do the talking that everything would be fine.
I remember thinking that was backwards. Scott is the one who has no problem forthrightly telling anyone (more on "anyone" later) to back off. Scott would throw himself in front of a train for Tessa. If Tessa needed a wall of privacy she has a built-in wall of privacy that she's living with. The ludicrous photo shoots, the embarrassing everything, the facebook smarm, Scott posing like a prop while friends and families cloyed in with comments, it was all so gross and so unnecessary. If Tessa needed or needs a buffer Scott will get in there with friends, fans, media. He operates to some extent that way now, why couldn't he have done the whole thing? I think he could have, without lies or shamming. I'll tell you this, but not that. You can ask but I won't answer. We don't care about that. We don't talk about this. I don't think that's appropriate. Next question.
He could totally do it, in an authentic voice that people would accept.
It almost seemed to me as if they had Scott playing the "shut up and look pretty" role because he was considered too nutty to do the disciplined, professional job of convincingly scamming people. Let the big people handle it.
Ironic because Scott's apparent natural "style" of just being blunt according to how he sees it is infinitely more mature and intelligent than the grotesquerie he's submitted to for six years, that was apparently designed by smarter people than he thinks he is.
But if he has an Achilles heel, and that Achilles heel is his family and community, then the picture changes. That may be the one category of people with whom he is not fully candid. It's harder than with strangers, media, fans, etc. But managing that IS the mark of a real adult.
So maybe he wasn't mature enough after all, in one sense.
It keeps coming back, IMO, to where they come from. To Moirville. If they were a couple of well-off, successful figure skaters from Ann Arbor or Hamilton who wanted a wall of privacy, Scott could be that wall. He doesn't give a shit what (most) people think of him. He could act to protect Tessa and still maintain a public profile in almost any situation there is, except the situation of where he comes from and the issue of how invested Moirville is in him and their expectations of him.
The entire sham is a mirror back on them (Moirville) and in its style, dimensions, patterns, duration, tone, excesses it doesn't paint a flattering picture of its creators. This is who they are. The flip side of the idyllic image Ilderton likes to present seems fairly ruthless and fairly toxic.
Good post OC. I think one factor that cannot be overlooked is Scott's financial background before the 2010 games. We know figure skating is an expensive sport and without community and family support, I am not sure if Scott would have been able to compete at this level. And I am fairly certain that the family keeps reminding Scott of this. In addition, I think it was telling when this year Scott mentioned in an interview that he told his family to actually enjoy Worlds instead of worrying for him and Tessa. Hell - we have seen pictures of Carol and Alma at practices over the last year or two - and the word I would use is intense. Yes it's normal to be nervous - but come on V/M have been competing on the senior circuit for close to 8 years...they need to take it down a notch...All I can say is thank god for Jennifer Swan this year - cuz she must have been a breath of fresh air for Scott and Tessa...and I think that's what's frustrating with Scott's current situation - just let him be himself. Look at press conferences or interviews, he knows how to handle himself..I just don't think Moirville give him enough credit or worse they won't allow him to just be Scott Moir (without Ilderton or without figure skating).
Delete7:49
DeleteThey've been working with Jennifer Swan for some time now. They said she was involved in their Pink Floyd FD 2008-2009. And she knows them since they were children, in that sense it's not like she's a breath of fresh air of something completely new for them.
Agreed Scott may feel so indebted to Moirville/Ilderton there's a sense of feeling trapped, but why would Swan affect that one way or another.
It could be when all of this was first set in motion they didn't think Scott portrayed a take-charge confidence in interviews/in front of the camera. Looking back you have to admit there was a goofiness that seemed to his default mode. A young, poised Tessa might have seemed the better option as couple/sham spokesperson (just speculating here of course - only going by what we saw when they were much younger). It's funny how things have evolved. Tessa has become much more robotic and too controlling when it comes to the little details, which of course ends up sounding and looking more fake than ever. Scott isn't that goofy persona anymore. I'm completely agreeing with oc - he's very natural and confident in front of the camera and more than capable of taking charge in interviews and maintaining personal privacy, if he chose to do so. It turns out he's more than able to protect his and Tessa's privacy without having to resort to goofiness or lies.
Yes, he is more than capable of protecting his and Tessa's privacy without resorting to goofiness or lies, which suggests that they're not shamming to protect his and Tessa's privacy. Not from fans, anyway.
DeleteHe could do that better than any sham. He could create a clear zone of privacy simply by how he engages with the media and fans, being himself.
What he can't do, or shrinks from doing, or evades, is, apparently, establishing that this is his and Tessa's career and their life, not Ilderton's or the rest of the Moirs. So it's like they create shit in their lives - the shams are one - that Moirville can involve itself with, especially when Scott and Tessa need room the most - competing at home. This buys them space from what seems to be an exhausting and smothering situation.
Every single figure skater out there with any success has a family or community or support system behind them that made sacrifices - unusual sacrifices. Lots of families refinance homes. Lots of families sacrifice vacations and other luxuries in order to funnel the money and energy to skating. While families are a huge presence in the lives of many figure skaters I don't really see families and communities with the ownership for life entitlement Moirville seems to feel. I'm not talking pride, or identifying with them, or supporting them. I mean boundary problems, due to Scott and Tessa's lives being skating, ergo everybody has a say in Scott and Tessa's lives and entitlement to a piece of them.
Moneywise, I think even without contributions from the Moirs the Virtues could have well managed the expenses for both of them. If the Moirs had been unable, Scott wouldn't have needed to quit. Did they contribute, yes, did he work coaching when he could, yes, but he wasn't in the situation where if they pulled the plug he'd be done, not as long as Tessa was his partner.
oc
Anon at 8:32 - me at 7:49 - you bring good points about Jennifer Swan that yes - V/M have worked with her before in 2008-2009..but I was thinking that the dynamics might be different..for example in 2008-2009,I would imagine in 2008-2009 Scott would have followed instructions from Marina, Igor, Jennifer and other SC personnel without question...fast-forward 2012-2013 - without Igor in the picture, Scott is older and appears to be more involved in on-ice decisions and I think having Jennifer Swan playing a more prominent role in the team seems to have helped them...just my two cents...
DeleteI don't think Scott and Tessa ever followed their coaches "without question." Marina has never worked that way. She's a collaborative coach, always has been, especially on the creative side. People who have a different aesthetic or think the Meryl/Charlie problem is down to Marina (instead of it really being the ISU and the USFSA and Skate Canada) make up a Marina in their imagination. The dynamic has always been collaborative. Scott and Tessa have always been the deciders.
DeleteSpeaking of Moirville and disgustingness: https://twitter.com/skater_heather9
ReplyDelete11:35
DeleteCan't see it. What is it?
Try copy/pasting the link. It's to a twitter account where Moirville is currently being disgusting.
DeleteCould just be a fan who thinks they know things. People like to think they know things.
DeleteFans don't only like to think they know things, some like to think they are helping darling Tessa and Scott against the other mean fans who would say VM are doing wrong things.
DeleteThis person claims to know someone who knows them; if she's being truthful then that "someone" is telling this girl that Scott and Tessa aren't together because they know this girl doesn't have the sense not to put the truth on twitter.
DeleteSo, naturally, she runs and puts the lies on twitter instead. More denying the existence of Toddler Moir, more using Scott's real name, the name of Toddler Moir's real daddy, to claim he intended to marry another woman and may well marry a second woman after Sochi, and how happy and serious they are. Right on a public twitter.
I think the kid better have a strong stomach because Toddler Moir is going to learn that Daddy ran around social media lip locked with women who weren't mommy and letting other woman say he was theirs and not mommy's, because it was FUN. Not because it was necessary. Unless the kid grows up with the same logic chip their parents' were missing when they were born, then they might believe it was privacy. Otherwise, all this hurtful shit is out there, Toddler Moir's existence constantly taken in vain on social media, Daddy's name used paired with other women who claim him for themselves, all for a petty pissing contest TM's family started with people who were minding their own business, only TM's family got mad when the other people started fighting back.
Nothing's as important as winning, TM, learn it now. No matter what it is, including you.
I can't believe a pair of skaters that would snivel over Tessa being mistaken for Carmen turn around and are brutal enough to allow this shit on social media when they have a child. Loud denials of their child, detailed descriptions of Daddy's involvement with other ladies. They must expect their child to grow up a whole lot tougher than they are. How much stuff has hurt Tessa's feelings at this point - even lies? Lies she claims were told by strangers or she doesn't know who.
But Toddler Moir won't be hurt by lies if the lies were started and told by TM's own parents.
Because that makes total psychological sense, correct, Windsor psych students?
Since they ARE concealing the child from the public - officially - I think the jokes about hiding the kid are hurtful as well. Some of the stuff has absolutely ridiculed the idea that this child could even be a person. I think there are many parents who would recoil from that no matter how high minded they felt their motives, and Scott and Tessa's official motives don't pass any logic tests, so they don't even have that to fall back on. Basically, this is all just EXPEDIENT.
DeleteAs Pete Campbell would say, that's a hell of a thing.
oc