The last supper and the Paris Olympics
Well, there is a lot to unpack here. The opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics largely went of without a hitch even with all the rain. It did take a while to get into though with the whole thing looking a bit sparse until it got dark at which point things really came alive.
Celine Dion was fantastic.
Unfortunately for me, the Olympic opening ceremony it was overtly sexual in nature which I found weird for the start of a sporting event.
Of course, much of that has to do with me not being French. For instance the blue Dionysian singer pictured above is the singer Philippe Katerine who is well known in France and for many Parisians wasn't a surprise at all. As for the rest, I have heard the whole ceremony described as a series of inside jokes to French people that the rest of the world wouldn't understand.
It almost got a way with it but there was just a little to much to the extent that it changed from spectacle to political agenda and that bounced me out of the narrative. Especially when it came to the supposed "Last Supper" tableau.
Thomas Jolly (the artistic director) said,
"We wanted to talk about diversity. Diversity means being together. We wanted to include everyone, as simple as that."
MSN
By which he appears to have meant sexual diversity. At least, no-one has tried defending the "Last Supper" tableau by saying it was not a display of sexual diversity. They would have been laughed out of the room because LGBTQ+ apparently has quite a lot to do with sex.
So, we can look at the "Last Supper" scene as poking fun at a portion of French society. (In this case probably the religious right who had just been pushed back in the elections.) We can look at it as being inclusive. We can look at it as being just a spectacle.We can look at it as brave.
On the other hand we can look at it as cowardly. It took aim at Christians, a fairly tolerant group in France, who were not going to violently react the way other groups might. France's population is around 50% Christian and the country ranks 13th in the world in the list of the best countries for transgender people. That is pretty tolerant and that tolerance is mainly based on Christian values. Representing
But, was it a depiction of the "Last Supper"? According to the New York Times,
"The event’s planners and organizers have denied that the sequence was inspired by “The Last Supper,” or that it intended to mock or offend."
NYT, 28th July
So, maybe this is just an accident and any resemblance to the Last Supper was not intended and Christians have over reacted to tableau. That still leaves it with problems including one major one.
The most common alternative story to the Last Supper is that the scene was based on a feast of Dionysus who is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theater.
The so-called re-enactment was a scene of a bacchanal, a feast to the Greek god Dionysus.
MSN, 30 July
Unfortunately, this makes the scene worse, not better, as these feasts are called Bacchanalia and involved frenzied rites, sexually violent initiations, rape and pedophilia.
At which point we should bring up the elephant in the room that no-one appears to be talking about.
What did the child represent?
What role is the child representing in a tableau of sexual diversity? And I assume it is either a child or the representation of one. It really really looks like one, so what is the meaning of the symbolism there?
In conclusion
Look, I kind of liked the opening ceremony. Especially after it got dark. I also think that sexualising a sport event was the wrong way to go but hey, not my responsibility. And after looking at the supposed "Last Supper" the major problem I have with it isn't the religious iconography but its apparent inclusion of children in sexual diversity that is deeply disturbing.
If intentional, it looks like the promotion of Minor Attracted People (MAPs) and if not then an act of sheer stupidity. Either way, someone should definitely be asking some questions of Thomas Jolly and the rest of the designers because the story has changed quite a few times. Last Supper, Bacchanalian orgy, Greek gods partying...None of these makes the use of a child any better and someone needs to nail them down.
Also, people should stop attacking the people in the scene. They probably didn't know what was happening before the day and they probably weren't able to take a step back and view the tableau from an audience perspective. The fault, if any, lies with Thomas Jolly and the people who need to investigate are either the police or the people who hired him. The Trans community has enough problems with being associated with pedophilia without artistic directors placing children in sexual diversity scenes.
