Thoughts on Satoko Miyahara's skating

[yyyskate]

It never seemed to me that Julia being the darling of figure skating had anything to do with her appearance.

Julia being the darling of figure skating is heavily depend on her appearance. her darling program is SL. without a face like that. No other skater can achieve the effect even with all the skills/merits in figure skating.

 

[andromache]

Julia being the darling of figure skating is heavily depend on her appearance. her darling program is SL. without a face like that. No other skater can achieve the effect even with all the skills/merits in figure skating.

A cute, solemn face. I could imagine any of the ladies (look-wise, not necessarily skating or expression-wise) pulling that off. Well, at least the way their faces look. I'd feel very uncomfortable with a blonde and blue-eyed Gracie Gold pretending to be the little girl in the red coat.

ETA: All the elite ladies are gorgeous, in part because the sport probably self-selects for girls who feel pretty and confident about themselves. A girl who has always been told she has a big nose and [idk, insert other "ugly" feature here] probably won't feel comfortable with a sport like figure skating.

 

[hugo]

Lipnitskaya name is Yulia (not Julia).

 

[yyyskate]

A cute, solemn face. I could imagine any of the ladies (look-wise, not necessarily skating or expression-wise) pulling that off. Well, at least the way their faces look. I'd feel very uncomfortable with a blonde and blue-eyed Gracie Gold pretending to be the little girl in the red coat.

yes many skaters could skate to SL really well just based on their artistic merits (cute, solemn just a plus), like Joshua Farris etc. but to achieve Julia "darling status", you need a caucasian(all other races automatically excluded), little girl(all mature looking skaters (face, height, boobs etc.) excluded) plus cute and solemn face. Therefore, Julia's "darling status" is heavily depend on her appearance. Therefore, she is having a hard time now artistically not only her jumps.

 

[Rissa]

Well, I think Julia's appearance has something to do with her star quality in part. I wasn't closely following juniors until recently, but she stood out among the Russian youngsters during her junior period. Her flexibility and fierce eyes were reminded of Sasha and feline animals, so I liked her. I didn't like her Sochi season programs, so I lost my interest during the Olympic season unlike many others. You can call me shallow, but as she seems to lose some weight and to gain some muscle, she looks spectacular again. Her SP to a French music this season looks interesting as well.

But flexibility and fierce eyes are not "appearance". Flexibility is, well, flexibility and "fierce eyes" is attitude. So if somebody said that she was a star because of flexibility and attitude, then I would agree. But appearance itself, not so much. Appearance, I believe, is a large part of why some people love Pogo, but a really small part of why some people love Lipnitskaya. Just an impression I get.

When it comes to Satoko, I imagine her appearance does play part in her popularity, both to her advantage and disadvantage. She's not your typical-looking figure skater. As mentioned before, she's got the cute factor going on which may draw some fans in but be dismissed by others.

 

[yyyskate]

I actually thought that Satoko's Miss Saigon is a really good program/performance (and you all know that Yuna is my fav skater.)
I thought the concept actually suits Satoko (like race etc. the things we touched above). Miss Saigon is indeed Satoko's most well received program.
When Yuna was at that tender age. why they choose Miss Saigon is perhaps also based on similar reason. that Yuna is asian, tender/fragile looking and same family name Kim as Miss Saigon (similar concept Med used last season for her LP ,Evgeni's waltz etc.).
But somehow, that program is not that well received among Yuna fans. that's why they changed strategy and brought out the "Queen" quality of Yuna ever since.

 

[Rissa]

Lipnitskaya name is Yulia (not Julia).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTKp0oBhPDY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy5EL_HKp8o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-3wHsGFXAU

http://www.isuresults.com/results/season1516/gpfra2015/gpfra2015_Ladies_SP_Scores.pdf

http://www.isuresults.com/results/ec2014/ec2014_Ladies_FS_Scores.pdf

If you really want to be precise, though, her name is Ю́лия .

(I'm really sorry for the off-topic, everybody, but I find insisting on factual errors irritating.)

 

[hugo]

[
If you really want to be precise, though, her name is Ю́лия .

(I'm really sorry for the off-topic, everybody, but I find insisting on factual errors irritating.)

this is question of proper pronunciation. (I don't care of your irritation...)

 

[Rissa]

this is question of proper pronunciation. (I don't care of your irritation...)

No, it's a question of transliteration. Educate yourself.

 

[jenaj]

A cute, solemn face. I could imagine any of the ladies (look-wise, not necessarily skating or expression-wise) pulling that off. Well, at least the way their faces look. I'd feel very uncomfortable with a blonde and blue-eyed Gracie Gold pretending to be the little girl in the red coat.

ETA: All the elite ladies are gorgeous, in part because the sport probably self-selects for girls who feel pretty and confident about themselves. A girl who has always been told she has a big nose and [idk, insert other "ugly" feature here] probably won't feel comfortable with a sport like figure skating.

Wow, that's quite a statement! More likely some in the sport (and some fans) don't feel comfortable with girls who do not fit a standard definition of beauty or have a certain body type. At lower than the "elite" level, by the way, the standards are not quite so high.

 

[bosskil]

this is question of proper pronunciation. (I don't care of your irritation...)

Read "Julia" loud, like you read it in Polish, listen to yourself and think for a moment.
Then come back and thank Moria za wyedukowanie.

 

[hippomoomin]

I had some so called "critical cultural studies" academic training in graduate school, and I tend look at things now with that perspective.

Basically, Miss Saigon, Madama Butterfly and famous literature/movies with similar White male/Asian female themes plots are disparaging Asian cultures, because it is always about the powerful White male and vulnerable Asian females who are totally submissive. The theoretical term is called Orientalism.

So I disliked Satoko's Miss Saigon as much as I dislike Mao's Madama Butterfly. It does not have anything to do with the skater or choreography. These roles simply should be avoided by all Asian skaters (including Yuna), since those stories are "wrong" to start with. It's not even debatable in the academic field. I just hope Asian female skaters and their teams do more research before they choose those convenient stereotypical and negative roles of Asians.

I actually thought that Satoko's Miss Saigon is a really good program/performance (and you all know that Yuna is my fav skater.)
I thought the concept actually suits Satoko (like race etc. the things we touched above). Miss Saigon is indeed Satoko's most well received program.
When Yuna was at that tender age. why they choose Miss Saigon is perhaps also based on similar reason. that Yuna is asian, tender/fragile looking and same family name Kim as Miss Saigon (similar concept Med used last season for her LP ,Evgeni's waltz etc.).
But somehow, that program is not that well received among Yuna fans. that's why they changed strategy and brought out the "Queen" quality of Yuna ever since.

 

[bosskil]

I had some so called "critical cultural studies" academic training in graduate school, and I tend look at things now with that perspective.

Basically, Miss Saigon, Madama Butterfly and famous literature/movies with similar White male/Asian female themes plots are disparaging Asian cultures, because it is always about the powerful White male and vulnerable Asian females who are totally submissive. The theoretical term is called Orientalism.

So I disliked Satoko's Miss Saigon as much as I dislike Mao's Madama Butterfly. It does not have anything to do with the skater or choreography. These roles simply should be avoided by all Asian skaters (including Yuna), since those stories are "wrong" to start with. It's not even debatable in the academic field. I just hope Asian female skaters and their teams do more research before they choose those convenient stereotypical and negative roles of Asians.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZxzJGgox_E

 

[Blades of Passion]

So I disliked Satoko's Miss Saigon as much as I dislike Mao's Madama Butterfly. It does not have anything to do with the skater or choreography. These roles simply should be avoided by all Asian skaters (including Yuna), since those stories are "wrong" to start with.

You're projecting.

 

[yyyskate]

I had some so called "critical cultural studies" academic training in graduate school, and I tend look at things now with that perspective.

Basically, Miss Saigon, Madama Butterfly and famous literature/movies with similar White male/Asian female themes plots are disparaging Asian cultures, because it is always about the powerful White male and vulnerable Asian females who are totally submissive. The theoretical term is called Orientalism.

So I disliked Satoko's Miss Saigon as much as I dislike Mao's Madama Butterfly. It does not have anything to do with the skater or choreography. These roles simply should be avoided by all Asian skaters (including Yuna), since those stories are "wrong" to start with. It's not even debatable in the academic field. I just hope Asian female skaters and their teams do more research before they choose those convenient stereotypical and negative roles of Asians.

i did a quick wiki search about this, I now understand what this orientalism is about. but is there any modern interpretation/twist of these 2 opera's/broadways. that has a different ending, that the asian women find her own identity/ground/independence, instead of moaning upon their deserted white husband. that emphasize on the true inner strength of asian beauty.
that is at least how I felt when I watch Satoko's performance (and Yuna's), the music itself and the choreoed moves/facial is quite strong instead of sad/solemn.

 

[Rissa]

You're projecting.

Huh? On whom is he/she projecting?

 

[andromache]

Wow, that's quite a statement! More likely some in the sport (and some fans) don't feel comfortable with girls who do not fit a standard definition of beauty or have a certain body type. At lower than the "elite" level, by the way, the standards are not quite so high.

So at lower levels, are judges preventing less-than-conventionally ladies from getting to the top? Seriously though, I would assume that young girls who don't feel great about themselves might be deterred from pursuing an aesthetic sport. And I only hypothesize that because every lady at the top is extremely attractive (or if unconventional looking, still gorgeous, like Meryl Davis.)

 

[Blades of Passion]

Huh? On whom is he/she projecting?

When someone skates or dances to a piece of music, it means whatever the performer brings to it. Someone skating to Miss Saigon or Madam Butterfly does not mean they are propagating a "wrong" story. That would be like saying people who dance to rap are propagating violence.

 

[Rissa]

When someone skates or dances to a piece of music, it means whatever the performer brings to it. Someone skating to Miss Saigon or Madam Butterfly does not mean they are propagating a "wrong" story. That would be like saying people who dance to rap are propagating violence.

But that's not projecting.

 

[Blades of Passion]

LOL, I'm not doing to debate the semantics of it, so choose your own adjective for placing incorrect connotations onto something.