Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Moscow 09 in Review: Raise the Double Standard

We always learn a little about the host nation from their presentation of Eurovision and 2009 was no different. Russia clearly wanted to make an impression on Europe and despite the GFC hitting them worse than most, forked out a staggering $55m on the stage and show. The stage was quite simply the most amazing thing ever! 2,000 square metres of LED (apparently 30% of the globe's LEDs were there) broken into wings, back drops and moveable circular pieces meant most contestants got live footage superior to their video clips.

But among the technical achievement were a few strange or worrying moments. As not mentioned by SBS, Georgia was forced to withdraw from the contest for having the words Put and In next to each other in their crappy disco track. The reference to Putin was clear and deliberate, but nothing in the song lyrics was political. It is safe to assume Russia put pressure on the EBU to ban it on the grounds of political comment. So what were we to make of the Russian military choir chanting "They're not gonna get us" along with tATu as the interval act at Semi #1?

And then we get to appropriate standards of dress and 'traditional values.' Germany scored a coup by enticing burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese to perform on stage as the titular Miss Kiss Kiss Bang. Unfortunately for them, she was a bit more titular than Russian authorities could handle at the dress rehearsal on Friday - her low-cut corset revealing most of a boob when side-on (though with pastie covering any nipple). Although Dita replaced her corset with one that covered more boob, the Russian broadcasters avoided putting her on screen until the very end of Germany's performance (apparently taking 2 and bit minutes to spot the new corset).

Standards are one thing - it's a family show after all, right? Well, boobs are banned, but apparently groins are great. We can recall at least two close ups of groins (Turkey and Ukraine) and plenty of up-panty angles. In the interests of accuracy we will go through all six hours and note all instances, maybe taking screen shots. How can one be OK and the other not?

To quote Dita herself: "What about the oiled up guys in loincloths?"

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