With the birth of so many pageants around the world, the idea of Big4 Pageants is constantly being questioned by so many quarters. And they have strong arguments – Miss Universe is unable to find a venue, Miss International has a lackluster finals night and Miss Earth’s “swimming pool” venue rendered it to the many as a cheap pageant. What we have now are much grander pageants like, as its name implies, Miss Grand International. We have spectacular production number from Miss Supranational and if history is of any weight, we have the long running Miss Intercontinental.
But is it now the right time to abandon the idea of Big4 Pageants? Change, they say, is one of the most difficult things to implement. We don’t change things for change’s sake. There must be a compelling reason for such and for the Big4 Pageants, Missosology is measuring the barometers that gauge the public sentiment. Is Big4 still relevant to the fans worldwide? Which pageants generate a lot of excitement? How are national pageants being held? Which pageants get more press coverage?
To answer all of these questions, we should direct our attention to Paraguay. Paraguay is a South American nation that faithfully abides by the idea that there are only four major beauty pageants in the world – Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International and Miss Earth. This is reflected on the number of crowns they have awarded in their recently concluded pageant and most importantly how the Paraguayan press perceived the international beauty pageant scene. For the people of Paraguay, the pageants that really matter and the ones with high level of prestige are the very four pageants that Missosology has included in the Big4 Ranking. CLICK HERE
Of course, Missosology is definitely open for any changes but this must be with full regards to the sentiment of the worldwide pageantry fans. Consideration must be exercised with regards to how the media outlets are covering these pageants. BBC for example has declared that the four major pageants in the world are Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International and Miss Earth. That’s already a powerful endorsement to the Big4 Ranking that was invented by Stephen Diaz. It is terribly awkward for Missosology to push for something without the collective assent of the worldwide fans and international press. After all, it is the fans that matter the most and the press is the perfect tool to gauge their sentiments. Right now, the circumstances dictate that Big4 is here to stay – for a while.
Miss Universe – because of its popularity , Miss World – because of its prestige and Miss Earth – because of its relevance have a strong hold in the Big 4 or Grand Slam group, and they have a league of their own.
FYI, beauty pageants should be commended and recognized because of its popularity, prestige and relevance.
Beauty pageants should not be measured by the stage or production alone. Miss Supranational have a good stage but it started out destroying other pageants and look at where it is now – financially struggling. Same fate for Miss Grand International.
Miss Grand International has a number of issues to address in order for it to be “seriously” considered in the big circle of pageants. One major one is originality. We know that imitation is the best form of flattery but, for pageant fans, this can not pass. Everything is just too Miss Universe-ly patterned, production-wise & screening-wise. Another issue in originality is the pageant title itself. There is only one Miss International, and MGI loses itself in the smorgasbord of many others out there with the “International” coinage e.g. Miss Tourism ‘International’, the defunct Miss Asia Pacific ‘International’, etc. They could have just named the pageant plainly “Miss Grand” which understandably raises other concern of the possibility of confusing interested applicants in the geriatric population LOL. Two, its advocacy of “peace” is vague and comes off as a joke as we see no clear agenda of how the titleholder can possibly be able to “end the war” (maybe visit Gaza or stand in front of a tank to stop its onslaught?) Perhaps what they meant is promoting peace through camaraderie, but that is given in any international gathering like the Olympics and in this case, in every pageants since the inception of the very first international endeavor, Miss World. Thirdly, MGI comes off too “trying hard” to live up to its title in its quest to “out-grand” other established & existing pageants in the big circle just like what Miss Multiverse trying to do. But it takes more that being “grander” for a pageant to be considered “seriously.”