Paris Olympics: It Is French, Exuberant, Original And Inclusive

By Devasis Chattopadhyay

If it does not arouse debate, it’s not French. Exuberant, original, inclusive – and definitely controversial – sum up the unforgettable opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games 2024. As it was obviously French, it held the whole world in thrall during the weekend but the naysayers.

The French audaciously took the ceremony out of a confined space, from the realm of a stadium, and used the entire city of Paris as its canvas, setting it against the backdrop of the city’s most striking physical, intellectual and emotional features. By having the opening gala unfold largely along the river Seine and the majestic Eiffel Tower, the city’s most enduring symbols. The organizers literally took it to the people of Paris.

Pure genius? Not everyone thinks so. A section of the faithful globally, including a section of Indians, and even some prominent Indian opinion leaders, felt obliged to offer their opinions. A prominent Indian industrialist perhaps revealed more than he intended in his post on ‘X’. Using a GIF of a ‘clueless owl’, he remarked, “That’s me watching the Paris 2024 opening ceremony & trying to figure out what was going on, where it was going on and why it was going on…” .

The industrialist’s inability to grasp the nature of a creative license is surprising though, considering he recently contributed a futuristic automobile to the cinematic retelling of a cherished 2500 years old Indian epic. Maybe it wasn’t that. For an Indian business leader who had cornered a ticket to an event that had the world riveted, it was probably galling to not have the spectacle unfold at his feet. To have it play out at multiple venues along a river boggled the mind. How very original. How very French. But possibly not very Indian.

Clearly, the opening extravaganza was tailor-made for the broadcast and social media audiences. Like, near home, the IPL cricket matches are. It demonstrated that if we can think originally, be honest about our intentions, and put our hearts into the purpose, the result can be spectacular. Moreover, despite a steady downpour, not one performer appeared daunted or distracted by the rain during the opening ceremony. Nor were the organisers shaken by a series of coordinated arson attacks on Paris’s high-speed rail network just before the opening ceremony began. The attacks impacted more than a million travellers but life went on, and the Games were declared open, as scheduled.

Quite a few elements of the opening ceremony roused controversy – the Republican Guard dancing to French pop star Aya Nakamura’s tune; the athletes, the real stars of the Olympics, receiving no more than a passing nod as they sailed down the Seine; the rider on a pale, metallic horse depicting, not the spirit of the Olympics but apparently Satan himself; and of course, the allegedly blasphemous depiction of the Last Supper by drag queens in a tableau.

Here’s something for all those clueless owls oh-so-ready to point fingers – the tableau that appeared to depict the Last Supper, the iconic mural painted by Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, was apparently not the Last Supper. It is said to be a reference to Dutch painter Jan Harmensz van Biljert’s The Feast of the Gods (1635), which hangs in a museum in Dijon, eastern France. The painting has Apollo crowned at the centre of the table (and not Jesus Christ) and Dionysus, the god of wine and pleasure, in the foreground. Why this tableau? Because Apollo and Dionysus are Greek gods and the Olympics are a Greek invention, a tribute to Zeus. The organizers thought it fits in, the faithful thought otherwise.

The depiction invited an outcry from the Catholic Church in France as well as from some religious leaders around the world. Clearly, the naysayers are unaware of other cultures and their ancient and rich past, their mythology, history, art and aesthetics. They have probably not read Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, not even the illustrated children’s versions. They probably have no clue about Viking and Norse pagan gods and what they represent. And, we in India, have already seen what happens when a ‘political religion’ supposedly gets hurt.

But my question is, why should any faith be the only presumed reference point or criterion for judging creativity? If the naysayers are not inclined to educate themselves on mythology, history or art before recklessly venturing an opinion, at least they could do a simple Google search. Don’t let your intellectual horizons begin and end with faith.

Also, why not take a cue from an increasingly multicultural and inclusive French society that is welcoming hundreds of thousands of immigrants. Moreover, we should remember that the French will be French. They will do their thing. France has the grand trappings of its Catholic past, but if you betray the slightest hint of your lack of exposure to immigrants or your faith-is-under-attack kind of a viewpoint, you will only embarrass yourself.

In India too, as discussed, the opening ceremony created some dissonance, but of a different kind. This was highlighted by the comment made by the much-travelled and presumably culturally sophisticated business leader, about being a ‘clueless owl’ and his inability to comprehend the unique format of the opening ceremony.

A word of advice to him: Don’t let your biases blind you. It’s all about creativity, which you so emphatically underscored by creating ‘Bujji’ for Kalki2898AD. Unless you really are a Clueless Owl. (IPA Service)

(Devasis Chattopadhyay is a Corporate Reputation Adviser, a Columnist and an Author)