Let the Games begin: Song and scandal in Paris

Drag Performance at Paris Olympics sparks controversy

Olympics opening ceremonies are a chance for host countries to flaunt their riches. Culturally, artistically, acrobatically. It’s not just about sport and who won what; it is a glitzy ad for a nation. To that end, all First World countries compete ferociously to show off their First-World-ness. An additional display in recent times is perhaps that of wokeism, which can go from tokenism to inclusivity. ‘Woke’ occupies a suspect perch between tradition and modernism, between pop culture and human evolution. As fads crisscross and statements are made, it is the viewers who must decode, critique, jump in.

The Paris Olympics opening ceremony was an explosion of sequins; a masked torchbearer, a singing Celine Dion, a headless Marie Antoinette, a stolen Mona Lisa, a burning piano during John Lennon’s Imagine. Paris was backdrop and participant. There were boats on the Seine, an Eiffel Tower towering, Lady Gaga, Minions and perhaps even a threesome. But before that the French railways network chugged to a stop in an act of sabotage. Like anyone throwing a party, France had briefly suffered an anxiety attack.

Apart from the weather, and the beauty of being drenched with not a single umbrella in sight, the ceremony did also kickstart a conversation on the commercials of such exotic presentations, where the pressure to show off only adds to the pressure to win. The budget was manageable, beamed some; the International Olympic Committee did talk about cost-cutting. The opening ceremony had the heart of a thrifty housewife, but the razzmatazz of a showman in his prime.

It rained and no one cared, they danced like no one was watching. Song was mostly heavy metal. But it was the Parisian rendition of The Last Supper, a drag parody inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s famed Renaissance artwork, that stuck in the craw of many. While some took it as an attack on Christianity, there were those who saw it as an uber cool trans moment. With no one quite sure what the latest Parisian style statement looks like, this was interpreted in multiple ways, from tasteless to tawdry.

The bizarre bits, including the Biblical reference with 18 performers at a table, have everyone divided. Apart from Elon Musk’s immediate protest – ‘this was extremely disrespectful to Christians’ – the French Bishops’ Conference said: ‘This morning, we think of all Christians on all continents who have been hurt by the outrage and provocation of certain scenes.’ The organisers took a loftier route, and hinted at ecclesiastical misunderstandings. They pointed at Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, pleasure, festivity and theatre, aka Bacchus. They only intended to make everyone ‘aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings’.

In this brave new world of extravagant but sometimes empty footage, no show goes without scrutiny or a wary watching. Any art that has to explain itself must expect backlash or at least a bad mood. Sometimes the intention is to offend; sometimes no offence is taken. But Paris got what it wants – all eyes on it.

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