Thomas on Warpcast

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@aviationdoctor.eth

Some people here and on X have expressed outrage at parts of the opening ceremony of the Olympics in France. As someone who is both natively French and a "global citizen" (lived on four continents, visited 50 countries, expat for nearly 20 years), I wanted to share my dual perspective. My goal is not to pass judgment on Friday's performance, but rather set the cultural context in which it was delivered. So, don't shoot the messenger. Also, references are annotated in brackets like this: [i] for further reading at the end. The TL;DR is that the French brand of secularism (laïcité) is unique, highly idiosyncratic, and part of the core identity of the French republic; it's understandable that it does not translate well to an international audience. Now, onto the 🧵: 1/9

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@aviationdoctor.eth

> That show was blasphemy! The concept of blasphemy (the action of speaking sacrilegiously about a god or the sacred) may speak to you, but it explicitly does not exist in secular France [i]. In France, religions are treated as mere ideas, and like all ideas, they can be examined, praised, criticized, and even mocked. In the eyes of the secular French republic, no text or religious icon deserves special protection, no matter how holy to some. That aspect of freedom of speech is as foundational to the French as the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is to Americans. Of course, people whose identity is rooted in faith might take offense at that, which leads me to... 2/9

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@aviationdoctor.eth

> Why pick on religion though? I can't speak for the artistic director (Thomas Jolly)'s decision to add religion to the show. But one clue is that France has had a long adversarial history with religion. Until the Revolution of 1789, the Catholic church ruled over all of society. The clergy ran civil registries, public schools, higher education, tax collection, and courts. You had better be a good Catholic or you would be subject to arbitrary abuse, including massacres of people of other or no faith. All that changed not just in 1789 but also as recently as 1905, when a law [ii] put a final end to Catholicism being the state religion of France. Common people revolted, fought, and died for the right to criticize religion. Furthermore, the show also picked at another ancient French institution, the royalty, by prominently displaying a beheaded Marie Antoinette. The French maintain a certain pride in having ousted their king and clergy simultaneously, and have kept a deep distrust of both ever since. 4/9

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@aviationdoctor.eth

> Why pick on Christianity and not Islam? My first reaction to this question was, "Yikes!". The likely answer though is that the French mocking Catholicism (as the historically dominant religion) is akin to the French mocking themselves and their own past, which is considered acceptable. It would be extremely weird to a French audience if a public show like the Olympics opening randomly mocked a foreign religion, whether Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, etc. without any historical basis for doing so. Remember that Islam is much more recent to France than Christianity (8th century notwithstanding [iii]), and remains a minority religion in the country. Furthermore, French artists have in fact taken to criticizing other religions, incl. Islam, in the past few years and in less notable settings, and some have paid a heavy price ([iv]). Laws have also been updated to extend secular rules to Islam ([v]). So, it's not like other religions get a free pass under the French republic. 5/9

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@aviationdoctor.eth

> The show was lewd / a grotesque display of trans people / etc. That part of the show was burlesque, a genre intended "to caricature the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects" [vi] (in this case, the Last Supper). It's definitely not mainstream considering its extravagant display of, well, non-normative sensuality. The ceremony's director exercised his artistic license in full by subverting classical expectations here. But (AFAIK) it wasn't a "woke display" with an agenda to promote DEI; the burlesque genre long predates the 21st century histrionics over gender identity that are so acute in the US but much less so in France. 6/9

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@aviationdoctor.eth

> That blue Smurf dude at the Last Supper was a disgrace. The blue character (played by French comedian Philippe Katerine) is an interpretation of Nietzsche's Dionysus, used here as an antagonist to "the Crucified" (Jesus). It's not as randomly degenerate as it seems; it is a burlesque and highly symbolic representation of a pretty deep theme with historical and philosophical undertones. Here's a great Reddit explanation that I found from years ago that explains that context very well. 7/9

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@aviationdoctor.eth

> Even with all this context, the show was not appropriate for the Olympics. Surprisingly, I have not seen this argument posted online, and yet it is the one I might actually be most sympathetic to. Flaunting the über-French concept of laïcité [vii] to a worldwide audience of all cultures was an incredibly ambitious and idiosyncratic choice, and one very likely to result in misunderstandings. It's hard enough to explain it even to a mature audience with the appropriate context. Yet, that particular brand of secularism is very core to the French identity. So, should the show have portrayed France as it truly is? Or should it be consensual entertainment, sticking to Amélie Poulain clichés that a foreign audience might expect? On the one hand, the show was made in Paris, by a French director, to celebrate France hosting the games. On the other, the Olympics belong to all of humanity, and a neutral tone should prevail. You decide for yourself, but I hope the thread provided useful context. 8/9

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@aviationdoctor.eth

Further reading 9/9 [i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hate_speech_laws_in_France#Blasphemy [ii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1905_French_law_on_the_Separation_of_the_Churches_and_the_State [iii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tours [iv] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hebdo_shooting [v] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_law_on_secularity_and_conspicuous_religious_symbols_in_schools [vi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlesque [vii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularism_in_France

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Tokenized Human

@tokenizedhuman

Thank you for an intelligent, insightful, and balanced review of this. This level headedness is becoming harder and harder to find these days. It's appreciated.

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This last point is my guess. Artists are a strange group of people. They do art to provoke. This happens in a lot of venues, but usually the audience is smallish (eg the Opera). If you give an artist the chance to create something they will do what they usually do and might not think that this time the audience is different and / or underestimate the impact and / or don’t care cause art. Also artist want to work independent / without checks from non artists. Doesn’t explain everything, but still sounds logical to me.

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My perspective it is out of the box for many ppl not familiar w/ French culture & sth different-Olympics gotten so boring i don’t find much reason to pay attention to it now as vs when we were kids. At least this gave ppl sth to discuss abt & think on instead of a safer (therefore more boring) show. But this just me tho. Ppl get much easier offended these days then before. Not sure how much social media played the role & if so anything we can do to make it better

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I thought the decision to break the mold and choose a performance that was purposefully provocative and avant garde in front of a global audience was pretty on-brand imo. These performances aren't done in a secret lab, officials and other local members must have seen this and thought that it reflected who you are as a country. That's part of being a host, show the world who are you, no one said it had to conform to a template. I say you do you, its on television, but its your house.

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@gabrielayuso.eth

This is the only point I could align with. I don't care about Christian imagery and burlesque style. It just doesn't really fit the global stage. Most Olympic and World Cup shows are quite muted, classic or pop more focused on beauty, spectacle and celebration. This one was something else, which is fine but this backlash should've been expected.

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@accountless.eth

it had gall for sure. really surprising

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carter pfp

this whole thread was fantastic, thank you for taking the time to put it together really fascinating to see the perspective and understand just how historical/cultural the show was

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Daniel Lombraña

Thanks for this amazing thread. I think we, as humans, should start to be more flexible towards everything. The show, as you have clearly stated, has some deep roots and historical events that people were critiquing without knowing or having the background around it. If we all were more flexible and accepted other opinions, we would be making a better world. Critiquing something because it is easy, is not the way to go. And yet, you can say you don't like it and everyone should be fine.

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I fully agree I think the show was extremely French meaning you needed to have some notion of the history. For that it was extremely impressive With that say I still think the burlesque or LGBTQ section was inappropriate le ménage à trois as well. They were many kids watching and although it may be part of the French culture la laïcité etc it was too much… the section also lasted a good hour!

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Very well thought out response, most probably lost on most people looking for their rage porn every day.

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