Eurovision: love in rewind
Australia has not gained a ticket for the finals twice in a row now — suddenly the intercontinental surprise love affair seems in danger
“Excusez-moi monsieur, avez vous des points pour moi?” could one say regarding the first song of the 2nd semi final back in May. What started as a closely filmed declaration of love with a seductive male lead voice ended looking up a little bit like a circus on-stage. The voice was not there and the performance seemed strange on an empty stage, with a blender-cum-outfit-changer right out of the HotWheels/Barbie range. Perfect for Eurovision you might say? No, it is not. And viewers said so, too, with their — our! — votes since we usually award someone with a great voice and song the award, so we do care for quality, too (at least mostly).
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Not qualifying happens to almost half of the countries participating every year. Just shrug it off and move on. But no, Australian TV stations seemed to see this differently. Enter SBS: the particpating radio station wrote an article about them being treated unfairly. Their argument: they´re missing out neighbour countries that would vote for them, that is why they lost. Should we invite New Zealand next?
And while music tastes might be similar across more than one country (balkans, south of Europe) it seems a bit short-sighted to blame a bad result on others alone. Missing the “Aussie spirit”? What is that if I may ask? Overgrown spiders waiting in dark spots of your home?
The author goes on to complain about Italy not having given Australia points ever. Seems fair. Italy continues to be successful on their own terms, “finishing in the top ten in 12 of the last 14 contests”. Sure, the Italian language conveys images of narrow streets under a Mediterranean sun, beautiful views of the sea and gelato — a continental fascination that seems to stem from Italy being the place of longing after WW2. Australia does not have this reputation, because it was never a part of Europe. It´s like the child that enters a class late in term and that starts complaining about friendships and experiences done without him or her. And we European classmates liked our new member Australia giving them top ten placements five times. But maybe this is due to a “novelty factor” that has begun to wear off.
Now that the ESC returns to Austria next year, wouldn´t it be a good thing if they stopped what they started more than a decade ago by letting Australia in? And maybe take Israel right with you.
