technicolor
Lady in Waiting
Posts: 337
Nov 22, 2010 9:41:42 GMT -4
|
Post by technicolor on Jan 19, 2017 15:16:39 GMT -4
I hope they'll be fair towards Kerrigan as well. I've always thought she got a raw deal: She got assaulted, then she got blamed for "not being a victim in the right way". And it's not like Kerrigan herself came from a privileged background, so portraying her as a stuck-up ice princess who had everything handed to her will get a big ole side eye from me...
|
|
greekone
Landed Gentry
Posts: 501 
|
Post by greekone on Jan 19, 2017 17:35:09 GMT -4
Yea, Kerrigan didn't play her cards the way the public expected and that hurt her. She didn't have any easy life. I think her mother was blind and a few years ago her brother killed her father in a domestic violence type scenario.
|
|
|
|
Post by kostgard on Jan 19, 2017 17:49:40 GMT -4
I hope they'll be fair towards Kerrigan as well. I've always thought she got a raw deal: She got assaulted, then she got blamed for "not being a victim in the right way". And it's not like Kerrigan herself came from a privileged background, so portraying her as a stuck-up ice princess who had everything handed to her will get a big ole side eye from me... Me too. It was ridiculous that because Kerrigan didn't dress like a truck stop waitress like Harding she somehow came from a fancy-schmancy background. Granted, Kerrigan wasn't perfect, but she suddenly had an intense spotlight on her and every move she made was under the microscope. She clearly didn't crave the spotlight all that much - while she did cash in on endorsements (and who wouldn't if given the opportunity?), she has mostly shunned the spotlight after retiring from skating. I also hope that they paint Tonya as a "victim" only in regard to her background, not that she was innocent (because she totally wasn't). She did have a crappy childhood, but she also made a lot of really bad decisions herself. She was all bitter that she was not getting endorsements but while she had a ton of natural talent, she did not have the discipline to consistently work on it and improve her skating (she seemed to have spurts where she was focused and did well, then she'd sputter out again). And no, she wasn't naturally "camera-ready" and it is totally unfair that she probably got passed over for endorsements because she didn't fit the mold (just like Serena Williams losing out to "prettier" players who aren't as good as she is), but that's the way the world worked and people tried to help her, and she refused their help. Her coach tried to get her to ditch the blue eye shadow, the red talon nails and the tacky costumes, and she refused. I could have gotten behind her "I'm gonna do it my way! Conventions be damned!" approach if she backed it up with discipline and was just the scrappy lovable kid rather than someone with a chip on her shoulder. She always plays the victim card (at least up through the "30 for 30" documentary that was released in 2014. She kept claiming in the film that she was happily married and a mom and that was all in the past, but she was clearly still very, very bitter about it and still refused to take any responsibility for what went down). Anyway, I'll probably check this out if the reviews are decent. Tonya's a local girl here in Portland, and we've all got mixed feelings about her. |
|
|
|
Post by Ginger on Jan 19, 2017 19:29:19 GMT -4
And no, she wasn't naturally "camera-ready" and it is totally unfair that she probably got passed over for endorsements because she didn't fit the mold (just like Serena Williams losing out to "prettier" players who aren't as good as she is), but that's the way the world worked and people tried to help her, and she refused their help. I agree with everything you said except for this part because I think lack of prettiness was only part of the reason she didn't get endorsements. If I were a sponsor and had to chose a skater to endorse, no doubt I would go with Kristi or Nancy (or Katarina Witt, who was still sucking up a big chunk of the endorsements). They were workhorses. They were reliable and cooperative. They had a reputation for being hard working and embodying good sportsmanship. Even before the Kerrigan attack, Tonya was known for a poor work ethic and flaming out at events because she was late and out of shape. And I'm sure Kristi, in particular, was willing to do whatever her sponsors wanted. They make figure skaters say some really dumb stuff. I love hearing Tanith Belbin discussing her passion for wrapping presents using "Scotch Tape brand tape" or Ekaterina Gordeeva discussing how all of her children's favorite childhood memories center around her Smuckers jam recipes. But I don't see Tonya having the brains or the personality to sweet talk Saturday afternoon figure skating fans into buying Hallmark figurines. I have a hard time coming up with a sponsorship that I think Tonya actually deserved over any of those other women. |
|
minky
Landed Gentry
Posts: 661
Nov 5, 2005 2:41:36 GMT -4
|
Post by minky on Jan 19, 2017 19:29:29 GMT -4
Tonya's a local girl here in Portland, and we've all got mixed feelings about her. I think about her every time I see the ice rink at Lloyd Center, which is as infrequently as possible. I also think of Ramona and Beezus buying their dresses for their aunt's wedding. I like that thought better. |
|
|
|
Post by kostgard on Jan 19, 2017 20:05:49 GMT -4
And no, she wasn't naturally "camera-ready" and it is totally unfair that she probably got passed over for endorsements because she didn't fit the mold (just like Serena Williams losing out to "prettier" players who aren't as good as she is), but that's the way the world worked and people tried to help her, and she refused their help. I agree with everything you said except for this part because I think lack of prettiness was only part of the reason she didn't get endorsements. If I were a sponsor and had to chose a skater to endorse, no doubt I would go with Kristi or Nancy (or Katarina Witt, who was still sucking up a big chunk of the endorsements). They were workhorses. They were reliable and cooperative. They had a reputation for being hard working and embodying good sportsmanship. Even before the Kerrigan attack, Tonya was known for a poor work ethic and flaming out at events because she was late and out of shape. And I'm sure Kristi, in particular, was willing to do whatever her sponsors wanted. They make figure skaters say some really dumb stuff. I love hearing Tanith Belbin discussing her passion for wrapping presents using "Scotch Tape brand tape" or Ekaterina Gordeeva discussing how all of her children's favorite childhood memories center around her Smuckers jam recipes. But I don't see Tonya having the brains or the personality to sweet talk Saturday afternoon figure skating fans into buying Hallmark figurines. I have a hard time coming up with a sponsorship that I think Tonya actually deserved over any of those other women. Oh, I completely agree with you (I wasn't too clear on that). If Tonya had any sort of discipline, she would have been far more successful both in her sport and with endorsements. I think because she didn't have spectacular looks/sex appeal advertisers weren't willing to overlook her rough edges. No woman looked at Tonya and thought "I wanna be like her" and no man looked at her and thought "I wanna do her" because she had neither looks nor charm. So advertisers weren't that tempted. But if she had the work ethic to overcome her rough edges, she could have landed them and let the stylists at her photo shoots and commercials take care of her look and she could play the scrappy tough cookie that a lot of people find appealing. I think her looks definitely played a part in her lack of endorsements, but I think she could have easily gotten past that (it isn't like she was a deformed troll or anything) if she were the least bit reliable. That's how she was her own worst enemy. in the "30 for 30" doc, Tonya is still super-pissed about all the money she didn't get, feeling that she was basically "robbed" of it all unfairly because she never won gold at the Olympics (and she contends that she didn't win gold only because the judges were biased against her - never mind that her routines were sloppy and she fell. And advertisers certainly weren't going to touch her after she was involved in at least covering up an attack on her competitor, no matter how well she did). But really, even if she had won, she wouldn't have racked in all the endorsements Nancy got because she had a bad habit of doing things like getting into a fender-bender and then threatening the other driver with a bat. She thought figure skating would make her rich. She had the raw talent to go far, but she kept shooting herself in the foot with her poor choices, refusal to accept guidance from others and the chip she got on her shoulder when things didn't go her way. As for the endorsements she did get, I remember her getting something that was rather unfeminine, like for tires or something like that. I vaguely remember the commercial and it was just footage of Tonya skating -no acting or lines required. |
|
Carolina
Sloane Ranger
Posts: 2,358
Mar 19, 2005 3:03:24 GMT -4
|
Post by Carolina on Jan 19, 2017 20:31:36 GMT -4
I hope they'll be fair towards Kerrigan as well. I've always thought she got a raw deal: She got assaulted, then she got blamed for "not being a victim in the right way". And it's not like Kerrigan herself came from a privileged background, so portraying her as a stuck-up ice princess who had everything handed to her will get a big ole side eye from me... Me too. It was ridiculous that because Kerrigan didn't dress like a truck stop waitress like Harding she somehow came from a fancy-schmancy background. Granted, Kerrigan wasn't perfect, but she suddenly had an intense spotlight on her and every move she made was under the microscope. She clearly didn't crave the spotlight all that much - while she did cash in on endorsements (and who wouldn't if given the opportunity?), she has mostly shunned the spotlight after retiring from skating. I also hope that they paint Tonya as a "victim" only in regard to her background, not that she was innocent (because she totally wasn't). She did have a crappy childhood, but she also made a lot of really bad decisions herself. She was all bitter that she was not getting endorsements but while she had a ton of natural talent, she did not have the discipline to consistently work on it and improve her skating (she seemed to have spurts where she was focused and did well, then she'd sputter out again). And no, she wasn't naturally "camera-ready" and it is totally unfair that she probably got passed over for endorsements because she didn't fit the mold (just like Serena Williams losing out to "prettier" players who aren't as good as she is), but that's the way the world worked and people tried to help her, and she refused their help. Her coach tried to get her to ditch the blue eye shadow, the red talon nails and the tacky costumes, and she refused. I could have gotten behind her "I'm gonna do it my way! Conventions be damned!" approach if she backed it up with discipline and was just the scrappy lovable kid rather than someone with a chip on her shoulder. She always plays the victim card (at least up through the "30 for 30" documentary that was released in 2014. She kept claiming in the film that she was happily married and a mom and that was all in the past, but she was clearly still very, very bitter about it and still refused to take any responsibility for what went down). Anyway, I'll probably check this out if the reviews are decent. Tonya's a local girl here in Portland, and we've all got mixed feelings about her. It's difficult. While Tonya's costumes were tacky, they were also homemade. Even if they were improved upon, it would still be hard to compete with Nancy, who had Vera Wang making her outfits. Also, while Nancy wasn't rich, it only came out that her family was white trash as well (domestic in which her dad died) many years later. At the time, it was painted that Nancy was from a nice middle-class family with a blind mother while Tonya was trailer trash. Nancy's background wasn't as rosy as it was made out to be, but she was still in a much better position than Tonya. I'll admit to being a bit of a Tonya defender*. While Nancy was a technically superior skater, Tonya was a joy to watch when she was on her game. *I don't doubt she was in on the plan from the beginning. She 100% deserved the lifetime ban. |
|
|
|
Post by Ginger on Jan 19, 2017 20:56:04 GMT -4
It always comes back to Tonya squandering all of the help she could have gotten. She had so much talent, her coach was willing to coach her for free. But her coach also had the patience of a saint. I think professional hair, professional makeup, designer costumes, media training - whatever Tonya needed would have been hers for the taking if she had been cooperative. But her bad attitude and her defensiveness also originate partially from her socio-economic situation, so it's hard to blame her completely for it.
|
|
|
|
Post by kateln on Jan 19, 2017 21:32:29 GMT -4
Anyway, I'll probably check this out if the reviews are decent. Tonya's a local girl here in Portland, and we've all got mixed feelings about her. I may have referred to SE Portland near the Fred Meyer headquarters (a neighborhood that is VERY nice now, but at the time a little run down) as "Tonya territory". |
|
|
|
Post by Auroranorth on Jan 20, 2017 0:41:40 GMT -4
Kerrigan came from a blue-collar background, her dad was a welder who worked three jobs at times so they could afford Nancy's lessons.
I think the big difference between her and Tonya in the beginning was that Nancy had the supportive family that Tonya lacked. However, Tonya made a habit of ignoring the help offered to her. She wouldn't listen about hair or makeup or costumes, she wanted to do it her way. Nancy listened and learned. People are more willing to keep offering help if they know you're going to use it properly instead of wasting their time.
|
|
