Tempest in a teacup: The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games

"The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games—a sports festival
aimed to unite all nations of the world—created shock and disbelief
instead as Catholics around the world felt offended by the parody of
the Last Supper, which was part of the opening ceremony."

<https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2024/07/27/paris-olympics-last-supper-catholic-bishops-248464>

American Catholic bishops weren't the only ones to take offence:

'"The opening ceremony," the French Bishops' Conference acknowledged,
"offered the world last wonderful moments of beauty, joy, rich
emotions, and universal acclaim," but "included scenes of derision and
mockery of Christianity, which we deeply deplore."

At the forefront of the criticism across was a reenactment of Leonardo
da Vinci's "The Last Supper" by ten men in drag.

Following the globally broadcast ceremony, many leaders of other
religious denominations expressed their solidarity with the French
Catholic Church, according to the statement.

"We think of all Christians worldwide who were hurt by the excess and
provocation of certain scenes," the French Bishops assured. "We hope
they understand that the Olympic celebration extends far beyond the
ideological biases of a few artists," continued the French Episcopal
Conference.'

<https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2024-07/french-bishops-lament-scenes-mocking-christianity-at-olympics.html>

There have been several posts on social media expressing similar
sentiments.

But I have seen just as many, if not more, social media posts pointing
out that the scene complained of was not, apparently, intended to
parody the Last Supper, or Leonardo de Vinci's painting thereof, but
rather a pagan revel in honour of Dionysus, the ancient Greek god of
wine. If anyone should have been offended it ought to have been
pagans, especially those who practise Hellenism, that their gods and
goddesses should be portrayed in such a kitsch manner. 

And kitsch it certainly was. 

We watched most of the opening ceremony on TV, and the organisers had
to keep TV viewers entertained while they moved people and things from
place to place. The entertainment during these interludes consisted
mainly of song and dance routines and fashion parades. 

The song and dance routines made me realise that we oldies had far
better music back in the '60s and '70s of the last century. And the
fashion parades reminded me of a parody song from that period -- "A
Dedicated Follower of Fashion" by The Kinks.

Most of the music was boring, and made us just wish they would get on
with it.

The dance routines were boring too, just a bunch of people making
meaningless jerky movements. It reminded me of Arthur C. Clarke's
novel "Childhood's End", in which the last generation of children on
earth gather and engage in meaningless zombie-like movements. Perhaps
the Olympic ceremony shows that we are coming to that.

There were good bits -- the masked man carrying the Olympic torch
across the rooftops and through the museums and art galleries of
Paris, with the figures in the paintings gathering, Harry Potter-like,
to watch. The mechanical horse galloping up the Seine in slow motion
was quite fun too. But most of the rest was pure kitch.

The banquet scene, however, seems to have been the most controversial.
Though there were many denunciations of it from offended Christians on
social media, I saw even more corrections from other Christians who
knew something about art history, and knew of other paintings of other
banquets and that not every painting of a banquet at a long table
depicted the Last Supper. It certainly never occurred to me, while
watching it, that it might be intended to depict the Last Supper. All
that struck me was how kitsch it was.

But thinking back on it, I wonder about some other things. How
appropriate is a tableau of a drunken revel for the eve of an athletic
contest? Imagine how the hangovers would affect the performance of the
athletes.

That puts me in mind of another art work -- Peter Paul Rubens's
depiction of the drunken Silenus. Silenus was the tutor of Dionysus
(or Bacchus, as he was known to the Romans), and I recently read a
book about him, and the picture of him, and what he meant to those who
participated in the cult of Dionysus, and what he meant to Peter Paul
Rubens and his contemporaries. See here:

<https://methodius.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-drunken-silenus.html>

What made me want to read the book about Silenus was that he appears
as a character in one of C.S. Lewis's Narnia stories.

So my question to all Christians who thought that scene in the Olympic
opening ceremony was remarkable, whether you were offended by it or
not, is: What do you make of C.S. Lewis's inclusion of Silenus and
Dionysus in a children's book? What is the theological significance of
that? How did Lewis see their role?





-- 
Stephen Hayes, Author of The Year of the Dragon
Sample or purchase The Year of the Dragon: 
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/907935
Web site: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail: [email protected] or if you use Gmail [email protected]