After looking at the power thread, I then read this comment under Mao's Madame Butterfly Worlds 2016 performance, which is representative of the huge contrast between people's praise for the performance and criticism of the scores and the judges low estimation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLHt8fsEwG4
Jude Robinson4 months ago
i get so frustrated when i think of how horribly underrated she is in the eyes of the world outside japan. i honestly think she's the greatest skater of all time and people will only realise this after she retires.
Many will disagree about her being the best of all time, but I started thinking about this comment when I looked at Mao's deflated scores especially in some of her great performances, such as Worlds 2010 LP, her Sochi LP, Grand Prix Final LP 2007, World Team trophy LP 2009, Olympic SP 2010 and Worlds 2016 LP and Cup of China SP 2015. It reminded me a lot of this site, in which some of the greatest compositions of all time received bad reviews from critics of their time:
http://www.classicfm.com/discover/music/legendary-pieces-critics-hated/tchaikovsky-piano-concerto/
Here is review that it got it wrong on Tchaikovsky's 1st piano concerto: "Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto like the pancake, is a flop."
Carmen: "often dull and obscure"
Beethoven's 9th Symphony: a frightful period indeed, which puts the muscles and lungs of the hand, and the patience of the audience to a severe trial.
Perhaps many people view figure skating as a sport where points can be tallied objectively, but I think of it more in terms of performance art even considering the jumps where flow, symmetry, erect posture and expressive gestures with the body which Mao excels in especially in her best performances with challenging elements like the 3A, 3F / 3L and 3F / 2L / 2L tano. She does these elements in addition to her steps and spins with the grace of acrobatic ballet or like a great pianist's hands dancing expressively and forcefully across the keys. But then the points disappear with what to to my eyes are the tech crew often contradicting the good rotations that I see with my own eyes, especially since the take off point isn't considered. I think this is missing the grandeur of a lush forest to try and see a flaw on a single tree that is often not even seen. Then, it extends to PCS not measuring up to Mao's great depth of expression and massive rink coverage and jump placement which adds so much to the grandeur of her performances with speed gained so easily with no obtrusive pumping and hunching, gliding swiftly like a bird soaring in the sky or a sail boat carving the waves smoothly with a stiff breeze behind it.
Mao shoots for the stars with the idealistic vision she sets for a performance. She often doesn't reach her lofty goal, but when she does she shows she is one of the greatest artists and performers ever who challenges the system that has been set up to assess her (like the composers I mentioned above) by revealing and transcending its limitations and digging deep into people's souls and emotions to reveal an ideal beauty that can't be quantified because it is infinite as the spirit and can't be confined by a finite number which is biased. And for me, she is my favorite performer and skater because of how genuinely she reveals these idealistic qualities.