The opening of the Paris Olympics got into technical snags, but none was more controversial than the tableau that many thought was supposed to be a reimagining by “drag queens” of the “Last Supper” painting by Leonardo da Vinci. The image of that painting, done in 1490, has been etched in the minds of Christians and non-Christians everywhere, so it was easy to consider the tableau in the Olympics opening as a reference to what was depicted by da Vinci in the “Last Supper.”
The “Last Supper” is part of the biblical narration of Christ’s death and resurrection. The Catholic Church used the narrative in the creation of the ceremony of the eucharist practiced in the Holy Mass. The eucharist is the ritual that commemorates Jesus’s last supper with his disciples. It is thus at the heart of Christian worship. No wonder Christians were in an uproar over the “reimagining” of the Da Vinci masterpiece, especially because it was done by “drag queens.” Many considered it as blasphemy specifically targeting Christians.
For days, the organizers of the Paris Olympics were seemingly stumped by the backlash and there were reports that they issued an apology after some advertisers threatened to pull out their advertisements for the event. Now comes another explanation that says that the tableau was not actually a reference to Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” but to the 1635 work by Jan Harmensz van Bijlert titled “The Feast of the Gods.” Meaning that, Christ was not at the center of it all but the crowned Greek god, Apollo, and that the man painted blue in the foreground was another Greek god, Dionysus, the god of wine and pleasure.”
Some supposedly knowledgeable people used this as an occasion to criticize those who “wrongfully” thought the tableau to be anti-Christian. But that it took time before the clarification was made seems suspicious to me. This to me can also be an indictment of the organizers for thinking that the world’s peoples are know-it-alls and that presenting the tableau without explanation was enough.
As a former journalist, I resent the insinuation that the world’s peoples should be the ones faulted for failing to differentiate Da Vinci’s work from that of Van Bijlert. Or was “The Feast of the Gods” merely used to cover up the organizers’ failings? Even minor productions issue brochures to explain whatever was depicted in events shown in the productions. I mean, it looks to me like the organizers of the Paris Olympics missed big time in the conceptualization and running of the opening events. I even saw an online post comparing the 2024 Paris Olympics opening show to the opening shows of previous Olympics in Athens, China, etc.
The Paris Olympics is also being referred to as a “woke” Olympics for using all the woke buzzwords like “inclusivity” and many others. Some are even questioning why France is turning the Olympics into a “pride” event (an event spearheaded by members of the LGBTQ community) when the Olympics was supposed to showcase the talents of the world’s peoples sans politics, religion and other extraneous issues.