{"id":18819,"date":"2024-07-31T22:32:37","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T04:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=18819"},"modified":"2024-07-31T22:32:37","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T04:32:37","slug":"six-blasphemous-olympics-opening-ceremony-comments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2024\/07\/six-blasphemous-olympics-opening-ceremony-comments.html","title":{"rendered":"Six “Blasphemous Olympics Opening Ceremony” Comments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

By now everyone has read about the controversial Olympic Opening Ceremony scene last week, so I\u2019m not going to provide the full details here, but I nonetheless Have Thoughts About It.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Yes, it was definitely a reference to the Last Supper, though it was a dynamic scene rather than a still image, so that it shifted from \u201cLast Supper\u201d to \u201cGreek Gods\u201d to \u201ccatwalk.\u201d\u00a0 But participants in the scene perceived of what they were doing as exactly this, with the central actress posting to Instagram that the scene was the \u201cnew gay testament\u201d<\/a> and the performance was titled \u201d \u2018La C\u00e8ne Sur Un Sc\u00e8ne Sur La Seine,\u201d where \u201cLa C\u00e8ne\u201d is literally French for \u201cThe Last Supper.\u201d<\/li>\n
  2. Yes, there are other instances in which the Last Supper has been parodied, though those parodies are either light-hearted or mock the characters in the parody (that is, when it\u2019s fictional characters), not the apostles\/Jesus.\u00a0 In this instance, the message was different, that the \u201cqueer community\u201d was replacing the Christian community.\u00a0 Was this the sole message of the ceremony, a poke in the eye of the collective Christian community?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 But it\u2019s still there.<\/li>\n
  3. It feels unfair that secularists are happy to mock Christians but keep quiet about Muslims to avoid their wrath.\u00a0 It\u2019s hypocrisy, no doubt.\u00a0 But what is a Christian to do about it?\u00a0 In any case, there is a case to be made that the French are more even-handed, and have paid the price, what with the Charlie Hebdo magazine and the Bataclan terrorist attack in 2015.<\/li>\n
  4. The bigger issue is that countries\/cities have used the Olympic Opening Ceremony as a way of presenting to the world what is best about their culture, showcasing what it is that they take pride in, and what they think will cause the audience to think more highly of the host country\/city.\u00a0 For example, as this article at PBS recites<\/a>, Japan used its 1964 ceremony to tell a story of a \u201cnew peaceful Japan,\u201d Moscow highlighted folk dance in 1980 and LA highlighted popular music and Hollywood in 1984, Sydney in 2000 told a story of multiculturalism and honoring their indigenous community, Bejing jaw-dropping performances (who can forget the 2,008 drummers?) proclaimed their World Power status, London in 2012 left us scratching our heads with the tribute to the NHS but we assumed it was special to the Brits and who can forget the dramatic James Bond\/Queen Elizabeth II entrance celebrating two things that are uniquely British?\u00a0 \u00a0What does this portion of the Opening Ceremony say about French culture?\u00a0 I can\u2019t say whether everyone involved in this production had simply abandoned that ideal of \u201cshowcasing of the culture,\u201d or whether they truly thought this was something that would cause the world to be impressed, but it\u2019s sad that this tradition has been seemingly abandoned.<\/li>\n
  5. In the end, how to craft an Opening Ceremony is a decision made by the French, and in this case, the Paris organizers\u2019 PR is that virtually all French people approved of the ceremony.\u00a0 (Yes, this was a poll they commissioned, and, no, I cannot find a link to the poll, just to reporting about it<\/a>.)\u00a0 It seems unlikely that the majority of the French were truly as happy as the PR claims, given the significant divide in the country between hard-left and hard-right, and I suspect this hardens battle lines, but this is the least of their concerns.<\/li>\n
  6. But that\u2019s not the end of the story.\u00a0 The \u201cdrag Last Supper\u201d is most charitably explained as originating in performers who simply don\u2019t consider Christianity to be a living faith; it is as dead (and thus as ripe a subject for recreation) as the Greek gods.\u00a0 The numbers of Westerners \u2014 French, Americans, etc. \u2014 who not only don\u2019t believe in Christianity but are so totally removed from the world of believers that religious people might as well not exist in their mind, who see religion as a thing of the past, is growing steadily, and that will unquestionably have consequences.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"\"<\/a>
    The Last Supper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By now everyone has read about the controversial Olympic Opening Ceremony scene last week, so I\u2019m not going to provide the full details here, but I nonetheless Have Thoughts About It. Yes, it was definitely a reference to the Last Supper, though it was a dynamic scene rather than a still image, so that it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":18828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[454,91],"class_list":["post-18819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-olympics","tag-secularism"],"yoast_head":"\nSix "Blasphemous Olympics Opening Ceremony" Comments<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By now everyone has read about the controversial Olympic Opening Ceremony scene last week, so I'm not going to provide the full details here, but I\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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