Writes Joyce Carol Oates, tweeting in response to this:
ADDED:
"Paris Olympics organisers apologise to Christians for Last Supper parody/Apology follows anger among Catholics and other groups at opening ceremony segment that resembled biblical scene" (The Guardian).
The organising committee of
Paris 2024 has apologised to Catholics and other Christian groups who were outraged by a scene during the opening ceremony that evoked Leonardo da Vinci’s
The Last Supper painting with drag queens, a transgender model and a singer made up as the Greek god of wine.
The parody of the biblical scene, performed against the backdrop of the River Seine, was intended to interpret Dionysus and raise awareness “of the absurdity of violence between human beings”, organisers wrote on X....
An article in Avvenire, the daily Italian newspaper affiliated with the Catholic church, said: “Don’t take us for moralistic bigots, but what’s the point of having to experience every single global event, even a sporting one, as if it were a Gay Pride?”
Posts
118 comments:
Well..... none of them looked like athletes.
The Soros left in action.
Bulltweedle.
If they're now claiming it's not The Last Supper ...
it's definitely The Last Supper.
Don’t really care, it’s pretty clearly not anything I need to see more of, and pretty plainly intended to exclude. It’s fine, I am happy not to watch. It’s nothing to do with sports.
How convenient.
What did they call it yesterday (or the day before?) when it took place? Did they present it as Dionysious? Or as the last Supper?
John Henry
I'm sure the complaints of the Dionysians caused the IOC to remove the video from YouTube.
That would explain it.
"it's definitely The Last Supper"
That's your story and you're sticking to it.
Did Jesus advise us to turn away from the evidence?
"They look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand."
The mere appearance of a mockery of the Last Supper should have been enough for the organizers to put the kibosh on this. That they didn't makes clear their hostility to Christianity.
Okay, now let's do something on Islam.
Shorter Joyce Carol Oates: who are you gonna believe, me or your lyin’ eyes?
Ann Althouse said...
"it's definitely The Last Supper"
That's your story and you're sticking to it.
Did Jesus advise us to turn away from the evidence?
"They look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand."
I think they were replaying Sodom and Gomorrah.
I would be happy to criticize it, either way, as another in a long series of sloppy, inartistic, in-your-face-f*ck-your-values experiments in the sordid degradation of the human experience - but masquerading as 'art'. It's art in the same way the street encampments in San Francisco may be called 'art'.
Saw what they were doing and didn't watch it.
Did blogger change the format? It's different in here.
Howza bout just "deeply offensive" to a whole lot of people.
I believe my own lying eyes. It’s mocking the Last Supper.
Oates unwittingly proves the point: imagine how different the reaction would be if in fact a minority group was genuinely insulted. Commentary would insist that the point of view of those who were offended be accepted at face value. Attempts like Prof. Althouse's to say "you're wrong to see it the way you do" would be denounced as privileged cultural imperialism.
BULL!
it was ALL biblical. The Golden Calf.. The Pale Horse.. The Last Supper..
You KNOW what they didn't Mock? Muhammad.. and, You KNOW why; they would have been Killed
Our deluded Professor asks..
Did Jesus advise us to turn away from the evidence?
WHAT evidence? i'll wait
What does wine drinking have to do with the Olympics? Is that a new event? Athletic ability not required!
Either way. I don't see how this celebrates athletic achievement. It was a completely self-indulgent exercise. A mocking of humankind. An in your face to the world.
I'm not offended. I'm disgusted.
"Paris Olympics officials pushed back on the contention that the performance was anti-Christian. “Clearly, there was never an intention to show disrespect towards any religious group or belief,” organizers said in a statement to the Telegraph. “On the contrary, each of the tableaux in the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony were intended to celebrate community and tolerance.” Organizers further noted that pop culture, from “The Simpsons” to “The Sopranos,” has parodied “The Last Supper” for decades, if not centuries."
https://sports.yahoo.com/2024-olympics-opening-ceremonys-last-supper-tribute-draws-criticism-from-harrison-butker-others-130734205.htmlhttps://sports.yahoo.com/2024-olympics-opening-ceremonys-last-supper-tribute-draws-criticism-from-harrison-butker-others-130734205.html
If they weren't portraying The Last Supper, why are they comparing what they did to what others (“The Simpsons”, “The Sopranos”) who were portraying The Last Supper did?
I wish they had done Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe.
It was the Last Feast.
And, of course, the border is secure. " Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes? "
Well you know what happens when you get the Bacchantes mad at you….
They were sort of the original AWFLs….
JSM
Ambiguous deniability.
Oh crap, yeah I fell for it. Rod Dreher went off first thing in my email so...
But I admit "Dionysius" and "Bacchanal" both crossed my mind, but I didn't inquire any further.
In theory, pagan pageantry ought to piss off everyone. Except pagans.
As if the Olympics haven't been quadrennial orgies since forever . . .
As others have noted Paris 2024 organizers have apologized for the performance. Though the apology is one of those we're sorry if anyone took offense ones which doesn't expressly confirm the performance was a depiction of The Last Supper. However, it is worth noting the apology doesn't deny it was The Last Supper and seems to imply it was. But the apology did come from the Organizers and not the performance group so we don't know what communication if any there was between the group and the organizers regarding the apology. It is also worth noting that the person in the middle seems to have a halo or halo-like adornment accenting their head. Obviously I can't say for certain what the intention of the performance group was, but it it seems more likely than not that it was to be a depiction of The Last Supper.
There must have been an official "program" for the opening ceremony. What did it say?
I don't think Hezbollah/Hamas or the people that support it are really aware of how they are being used. They are going to be the last stumbling block to an inevitable peace. For that matter I think the State of Israel is a part of this plan.
Their ultimate goal is to keep Christians and Muslims divided by pitting Jews against Palestinians. The real objection to the Abraham Accords by the left is that it hastened the day when those who accept objective moral truth that derives from a higher power unite to destroy the heathen/infidel.
The fun part will come when Christians and Muslims decide to put their differences aside for a while to deal with the people that keep pushing this crap.
I am not officially religious. As an Agnostic I realize these people have got to go.
Greeks were also infamous for sodomizing their girls to take a knee and grooming their boys in Bacchanallian gaiety and social progress. The social conservatives practice a religion that was popular before and beyond Christian. They adopted human rites from progressive cults of primitive origin. Everything old is novel again.
Not exactly the A-Team: Olympic Flag Raised Upside Down During Opening Ceremony
I can buy that it's the Feast of Dionysus, but I still can do without the writhing drag queens.
I just assumed it was Sodom or Gomorrah.
While I am sure there are lots of different paintings called "The Feast of Dionysus" as there are for those titled "The Last Supper"- let's just go with the two Rapko referenced indirectly- which one of those depicts an indoor dinner?
Let's examine the minority practice of men mocking women as a prelude to feminism, equity, and inclusion.
What did the promotional literature for the opening ceremony say about the performance before it was done? How about someone actually interview the person who designed and scripted the scene? What do you think the odds are that, even if Dionysus was one of the motivations, that he/she wanted people to think "Last Supper", too? I bet it those odds are greater than 10%.
In any case, it's just another racket. I don't know for sure, but am assuming a small group of them made a pile o' cash off the production with another pile being distributed to cronies, sycophants, and the like.
Hunter should paint it.
Dionysus had a halo? Who knew?
The claim today: "This isn't The Last Supper. It is The Feast of Dionysus"
This is the lie they want to spread now, but it is easily debunked. Here is how.
First, most paintings representing the Feast of Dionysus show the characters hugging each other or holding arms. This is not what we saw during the Opening Ceremony. Indeed, the characters are close to each other, but there are no hugs.
The reason is the Eucharist. Leonardo da Vinci represents with an extraordinary Masterpiece what we can read in Luke 22:21-23 "The hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table."
This is the reason for the movements and anxiety we see in Leonardo's Last Supper among the Apostles.
As mediocre artists, during the Opening Ceremony, the people on the stage simulate movements for a few seconds before stopping. These awkward movements mimic the desperation of the Apostles after Christ told them there was a traitor among participants.
The fourth man on the right with the red hat performed decently the script. Indeed, his serious face and his movements resemble Matthew's expression.
The next time you want to mock Christians, as a lover of culture, I suggest you read the Codex Forster II to learn about perspective. Also, visit the Galleria dell'Accademia in Venice to study the sketches of Leonardo's The Last Supper and the Windsor Royal Library to study the physiognomy of the Apostles. "
https://x.com/andst7/status/1817552987956355202?t=xuiiIK_CfUOaCIZjNvG1Ow&s=19
#Paris2024 #OlympicGames
I wouldn’t give the cube root of a sh*t if it were or were not Dionysus, but to Greeks it is Bacchus.
It looks like it was Bacchus to me,
Clearly it's not the Dionysus painting. In that painting, there is not one central figure at the head of the table (never mind the halo).
It’s the feast of Dionysus, but 0 feasting is going on… it does look more like the Last supper. “Dionysus” is blue … which calls to mind Hinduism, not the ancient Greeks.
Like the rest of you, I haven't any evidence, but I'd like to think they were mocking themselves because they did so so thoroughly.
OK. It’s only a drunken orgy held in honor of a Greek demon god. And that makes the entire Olympics show one more hate Christians operation.
I agree that if it was imitation of the last supper then Jesus the Son of God would have sent all the demon gods straight to Hell. No problemo.
Nobody from the Olympics has offered the "Dionysus" defense, but just stated the staging made their point about "inclusion" or some such bs.
The Olympics came out and said it WAS based on the Last Supper and apologized. So all these apologetics for the Olympics are incorrect.
Dave, but remember when the Canadian curling team insisted, against the rule of the Olympic venue, that beer drinking was a traditional and essential element of their sport?
As i recall, the team won that argument.
(Ha! Autocorrect produced "drunkenness" where I wrote " drinking was")
The Eleuthereans brought a statue of Dionysus to Athens, which was initially rejected by the Athenians. Dionysus then punished the Athenians with a plague affecting the male genitalia, which was cured when the Athenians accepted the cult of Dionysus. This was recalled each year by a procession of citizens carrying phalloi.
- wiki
Religious revival. The inclusion of men identifying as the feminine gender is peculiar.
Get used to these attacks people of faith. If that was the prophet Mohammed (pbuh) the blaspheming artist and their publisher would already be under a fatwa. Bottom line here; who can't be spoken of in this way without fear of serious penalty are your actual rulers. Spray some paint on the face of a St. Floyd of Minneapolis mural or sculpture and it's straight-to-jail for you. This is the case now and we all know it. And it doesn't matter who's on the Supreme Court or what the "Constitution says" either.
Religion doesn’t require others to adhere to rules — it only requires its believers to adhere to them.
the Dionysus painting. In that painting, there is not one central figure at the head of the table (never mind the halo)
The hedonistic festivals were conducted as orgies, where the participants of both sexes were well integrated and "inclusive".
The stupid season has moved in and plans to stay until the West falls to Mohammed and/or the Marxists, then we can no longer enjoy Bacchus or Jesus, the yin and yang of our ancient, beautiful, tottering civilization.
We have spent the precious time since the end of WWII squandering our cultural inheritance and pissing in the seed corn.
At least I hope that I am old enough to die a peaceful death before Notre Dame becomes the Paris Mosque.
Now why would anyone think of the feast of Dionysus? Seems a stretch to me to make that connection.
keep hunting down those dinosaurs joyce,
why did they delete that video again, do I need to cite scripture,
Remember, all they want is to be able to marry each other. Once that's legal, they'll act just like normal people.
The screen grab or picture in the X post by Julien Hoez, included in this post by Ed Driscoll at Instapundit shows an entirely different scene very reminiscent of the Last Supper.
Did Jesus advise us to turn away from the evidence?
Jesus, Althouse, seven seconds of googling will tell you the imagery from the performance included both the Last Supper and the Feast of Dionysus.
Who cares?
France is seeing all sorts of disruptions from train sabotage to power losses. Violent attacks are very likely to occur. And the organizers of the Olympics are making sure little sympathy will come if those attacks occur. In the meantime, they’ll just have to deal with a lack of interest in the Olympics.
My lying eyes see the tableau, and then compare it to the Feast of Dionysus painting that a friend shared on Facebook, no doubt part of the pushback, and then to the Last Supper. Before the appearance of Dionysus in the tableau it looks very much the LS and not at all like FoD. Given that Dionysus did appear, I’ll give that the intent was to portray the FoD, but I think the mockery of Christianity and the LS was added in with intent and gusto. All good wholesome family fun for the whole world!
Christopher B said...
The screen grab or picture in the X post by Julien Hoez, included in this post by Ed Driscoll at Instapundit shows an entirely different scene very reminiscent of the Last Supper.
Today: That was a cheap fake you stupid uneducated mouth breathers.
Tomorrow: duh, it was the Last Supper. It's called freedom of speech. You people are so easily triggered.
You know who apparently don't give a shit?
The athletes. Adjust your admiration accordingly.
Cultural appropriation in any case.
Speaking of Olympic screw-up:
I've always liked the incident at a Closing Ceremony years ago, where the long-time (and very authocratic) Olympics Dirctor announced his retirement, and saw his name misspelled on the Big Screen:
"Good-bye Avery BrandAge".
What a send-off!
And the television continues in its "off" setting. It's serene here on the St Johns River in north east Floria. No rainbow people floating down the river and no pesky contretemps roiling the waters. I couldnt even tell you who won last year's Superbowl, World Series or NBA championship. Ditto for medal winners in interpretive flag dance.
Joyce Carol Oates is totally wrong. Whenever you have people posed on one side of a long table like that, you're obviously trying to reference The Last Supper.
Artistic director confirms it was the last supper - case closed.
https://x.com/andst7/status/1817587668341100625
The halo on the central figure's head does imply some religious connotation referencing Renaissance religious art depicting Christian themes. They're may be examples of those halos in Greek mythological representations from the same time period, but none come immediately to mind.
What a bunch of snowflakes.
Also, since Dionysus is the god of wine, there would have been wine on the table if they were referencing him.
It's Schrödinger's supper- the Last Supper when it's convenient for it to be and the Feast of Dionysus when it's not.
@Bill, not really sure what your point is.
I intended to show the scene changed over time. Any particular screen grab could show the participants in a variety of orientations. I feel very confident in saying that the participants didn't move randomly so a statement that "This is the only positioning that matters" is by definition selective.
Joyce Carol Oates also wanted to have a sexual relationship with Mike Tyson. She was obsessed with him. These old white slatterns objectifying young black men aren't doing anyone any favors.
BTW, I do concede that the blue guy is a representation of the god, Dionysus, but he is being presented in front of the representation of The Last Supper.
Looks like New Orleans during Mardi Gras.
That's all, thanks.
The Cat Lady Tweets
Funny that they didn't say that in their "apology". Instead they put out a "sorry, not sorry". Go read it on Twitter.
Interesting the response wasn't : "Sorry we would never make fun of Christians. We were satirizing the Greeks. Sorry for the misunderstanding".
Instead it was "If it upset you, we're sorry about that".
More things that make me turn the TV off. I just don't care about watching these people try to make that normal.
Really tired of lefties like Oates and their hastily-fabricated silly defenses of something that was obviously meant to be meant to be taken exactly as it was. Revolutionary France notoriously excoriated the Catholic church, and this latest fiasco is just the latest in a long, tired line of seedy efforts to mine the same exhausted vein of "relevant" political commentary. No rational person believes this was an invocation of Greco-Roman culture (Dionysus, Joyce? Really? C'mon, man...) In fact, if that HAD been their target the public orgy they would have mounted might actually have been sort of amusing. But the Greeks and Romans didn't go in for aureoles like the one sported by the lardy QueenJesus -- that is purely a feature of Christian art. And how many trannies were actually performing in this silliness? The mob scene invoked by Oates or the 12-apostles-plus-Judas plus Jesus that would have been the target of trademarked French posturing? Plus, icing on the cake, There is a conspicuous redhead in the Judas position of the frogs' dismal posturing, and Judas in the Christian tradition is a ginger. There is no equivalent in "Dionysianism". Oates has always been tiresome -- now she's just coming out as utterly stupid.
Not being religious myself I don't have any compelling involvement in this squabble except that when a hard-left state-supported entity makes such a conspicuous effort to piss all over an actual object of veneration, and the usual hard-left apologists start yodelling in chorus in defenses of the most improbable validity, I do consider it important to ask Why are tbey doing this?
"I do consider it important to ask Why are tbey doing this?"
To show you they can. And then, there's the unasked "What are you going to do about it?"
@Althouse, no one is falling for Joyce Carol Oates. No one serious, anyway. I may be an atheist, but if it takes Christians reinstating anti-blasphemy laws and going all Old Testament on these a**holes, I think it would be a very good thing. Maybe a few of these pieces of crap burned at the stake or something like that might finally rid us of this sophomoric asininity.
I would have had respect for the artistic director and the actors if they had thrown Muhammed in there somewhere- that would have been daring and shown a lot of moxie. However, they apparently like keeping their heads attached to their shoulders.
Here is a quote of one of the participants:
“We are not making anything ridiculous,” defends Piche, a drag queen revealed by the show Drag Race who participated in the sequence. No one was dressed as Jesus, no one parodied him, neither in attire nor in behavior. The idea is to bring a new perspective. In the past, there have been many representations of the table of the apostles and this has never shocked anyone. As luck would have it, when it's LGBT and drag , it's disturbing. But we're used to it. People are obsessed with the gender issues that bother conservatives. »
So yes, it was meant to reference the Last Supper with a mash up of other cultural icons (I’m assuming Blue Dionysus was a nod to Smurfs) and yes it was meant to offend conservatives. Mission accomplished.
How about if liberals stop sneering and try to be inclusive?
Big Mike: worked for the Muslims, didn't it? Frogs learned their lesson the hard way, not about to try that one on again.
Mason G: Just so. Always go for the soft targets.
Let's be more like the people who worship an illiterate child-fucking, camel-rustling, dune loon.
That's the ticket!
so the apostles yes it's about the last supper,
also can you not have people there who would make you vomit,
Two things can be true at once Althouse.
I don’t doubt that the Bacchanalian performance was a nod the Dionysus but I find it really hard for anyone to argue that it was also not a rather flagrant shift to Jesus and his disciples’ Last Feast as depicted by da Vinci.
And this sort of comports with the elevation and normalization of non-Christian pseudo-religions and other pagan interests like Wiccan, Satanists or, as some hardline conservatives would posit, the left’s new religion of LGBTQ++++/transgenderism at birth, to generally reduce the influence and reach of the major Abraham monotheist faiths. With one very notable exception.
I wonder why they didn’t really push their artistic limits and include a vibrant, colorful parade of the Queens on a pilgimage to Mecca?
It’s pretty obvious what’s going on here, apparently to the IOC who has the video mostly unavailable. I had to do some waybacking to get snippets to re-confirm what my eyes saw, and yup, it ain’t a Smurf and some lady boys reveling in some Athenian Olympiad pre-game show.
Hmmm. My comment a few minutes ago showed up, and is now gone. So I'll repeat:
Let's all be more like the people who worship an illiterate, child-fucking, camel-rustling dune loon.
That's the ticket!
I'm sure they are not amused, by the spectacle,
It matters not to me, it's not me they are offending.
how far is the Olympic stadium from the ban lieus 10 miles, 15?
This was another attempt by the Left to incite Trump voters. But it's the French you say? What's the difference? The whole crowd seems to be a bit sick. Why the French Olympic committee bought into this is the real story. What were they thinking? I do agree that it is time for Muhammed to make a satirical appearance. I am sure there is much in the Koran that deserves satire.
there really is a look at what the ban lieus are like, I think From Paris with Love, showed it in their color,
Exactly how was this supposed to foster "inclusiveness"? The world wants to know!
Tina Trent said...
Joyce Carol Oates also wanted to have a sexual relationship with Mike Tyson. She was obsessed with him. These old white slatterns objectifying young black men aren't doing anyone any favors.
*************
She's such a bint. I wouldn't be surprised if she also fantasizes about being at the receiving end of one of those Donkey Shows so popular in Tijuana years ago.
Althouse writes, "That's your story and you're sticking to it."
Irrelevant
What's relevant is the IOC having trouble sticking to theirs.
Greeks my eye. Those soft and drunken philosophers may be Athenians. But they would all run away if the Spartans came to the Paris Olympics. The Spartans would take all of the Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals home with them carrying them on their shields.
If it is supposed to represent the feast of Dionysus, then it's worse. A bunch of decidedly unathletic characters overindulging in food and intoxicants is more directly an insult to the athletes than a mockery of a religion that isn't taken seriously by a majority of the competitors.
And what's with all the drag? Mocking the East German Olympic team has been passé for over 40 years.
The Olympic presentation was literally called La Cène Sur Un Scène Sur La Seine which translates to "The Last Supper on the Seine Stage".
The Christians who saw what they saw, saw what was intended.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/paris-olympics-producers-confirm-last-173957068.html?guccounter=1
It's true that the Olympics didn't shy away from celebrating diversity in love and race. But if you think that's wrong, I think that's on you. France showed us they are free, cultured and secular. I think the opening ceremony was thought provoking, cultured, and a celebration of freedom. It was not a bland Coke commercial -- but something more artful and playful.
Religion doesn’t require others to adhere to rules — it only requires its believers to adhere to them.
Oh, really. Apply that to Islam then.
"Oh, really. Apply that to Islam then."
Pro-tip: Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.
@Jim: I’m sure that’s my view on the matter.
"It's true that the Olympics didn't shy away from celebrating diversity in love and race. But if you think that's wrong, I think that's on you. France showed us they are free, cultured and secular. I think the opening ceremony was thought provoking, cultured, and a celebration of freedom. It was not a bland Coke commercial -- but something more artful and playful."
LOL
Sure LLR-democratical Rich. Sure.
pious agnostic: "The Olympic presentation was literally called La Cène Sur Un Scène Sur La Seine which translates to "The Last Supper on the Seine Stage"."
Putting the Full Lie to Rich's continued sad, transparent and pathetic gaslighting.
And Rich tosses in race as well in an attempt to extend the gaslighting into another key rhetorical support topic for Kamala!
I already wrote transparent, didn't I?
LOL
Dionysus is also the god of mental illness. So kind of appropriate. My real problem is that the Olympics should be beautiful and kid-friendly. A celebration of excellence and the beauty of the home country. This was none of that. Just creepy, divisive and ugly. Imagine ten year old girls who idolize the Olympians trying to process this.
"Religion doesn’t require others to adhere to rules — it only requires its believers to adhere to them."
12 Charlie Hebdo staffers were unavailable to comment on this assertion.
11 other staff members were "persuaded" to perhaps toe a softer line in key religious discussion areas.
Not to worry though "secularists", the islamic supremacists are quite pleased with the subsequent Charlie Hebdo policies and practices thus making secularists feel just a little bit safer on their path to full dhimmi-tude and coming jizya.
What it reminded me of was when the leaders of the French revolution changed Notre Dame Cathedral into a Temple of Reason, and celebrated with a ceremony with a naked prostitute on the altar. And what followed: The reign of terror
This is not about inclusion or art. And those who say it is are ignorant of history.
They called it "the Last Supper on the Seine". You have to be utterly retarded to pretend it wasn't mocking the Last Supper when they explicitly said that it was.
Joyce Carol Oates can go pound sand. Everyone (except Pope Francis, it seems) knew what was going on there. She's being purposely obtuse. And I suppose you can attribute the city wide power outages to overuse, but I prefer to think it was a little more profound.
God will not be mocked.
What does wine drinking have to do with the Olympics? Is that a new event?
At last, a realistic chance that I can compete in the Olympic Games, were I only fifty years younger.
Hope nothing else terrible happens during the course of these Parisian games.
If you have to explain a joke, it wasn't a very good joke.
Ditto opening of Paris Olympics.
Post a Comment