Olympic Games 2024: The French fête

Abstract

The Olympic Games in Paris were a mega-event consistent with the Olympic tradition invented by the French aristocrat Pierre de Coubertin and representative of the contemporary world, despite intense criticism for the opening ceremony. A symbolic and artistic combination of the ancient banquet with the French fête, the opening ceremony emphasized the multiculturalism and the hybrid identities of the modern globalized world. Instead of conveying an idealized picture of French identity, the opening ceremony offered a bold and subversive narrative of contemporary France in live with the memories of the French Revolution.