During the opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, there was a very special moment with Marie Antoinette, which you will appreciate even more if you identify these references.
As we told you, it was the largest opening ever held in the history of the Olympics, open to everyone: Parisians, visitors from all over France and the whole world.
The ceremony was divided into multiple chapters that portray the history and culture of Paris and France. The chapter entitled ‘Liberté’, was about the French Revolution.
But what happened? Why did everything turn red? What does a metal band have to do with it? And the fire? Why a group of decapitated Marie Antoinettes singing?
La liberté guidant le peuple. 🖼️
👉 https://t.co/qsB1TdhSqx#ceremoniedouverture #paris2024 pic.twitter.com/98TGjm5UtJ
— France tv (@FranceTV) July 26, 2024
Decapitated Marie Antoinette and other references from the opening of the 2024 Olympics
Nothing we saw was coincidental. This is the full context of that iconic moment in the ceremony.
- Les Misérables: The episode began with a fragment of Victor Hugo’s famous 1862 work. In France, it is considered a symbol of the fight for justice and equality, resonating with the country’s republican ideals.
La liberté guidant le peuple. 🖼️
👉 https://t.co/qsB1TdhSqx#ceremoniedouverture #paris2024 pic.twitter.com/98TGjm5UtJ
— France tv (@FranceTV) July 26, 2024
- Red: Later, the lights and the setting were dyed red, symbolizing freedom and revolution. The Phrygian hats and the people tired of the monarchy also reflected this feeling, hence the representations of Marie Antoinette were in red.
- Marie Antoinette: symbolizes the opulence and waste of the French monarchy before the Revolution. Her figure is associated with excessive luxury and disconnection from the needs of the people, which made her a symbol of the causes that led to the fall of the monarchical regime in France. They made it camp.
- Camp: There was not one, there were several Marie Antoinettes and they were singing a song by the rock metal band Gojira. The aesthetic, the humor, the exaggeration, it was all very camp, an artistic and cultural style that celebrates the exaggerated, the artificial, and the theatrical. France has been an important place for the evolution of “camp” thanks to artistic figures and movements that embraced the theatrical and the stylized, influencing the development of this style. Artists such as Jean Cocteau and fashion designers such as Christian Dior have contributed to an aesthetic that could be considered part of the “camp” spectrum.
- The mysterious metal song: As we already explained, at that time we saw the French rock metal band Gojira performing “Ah, ça ira”, a famous song sung by the French revolutionaries. It became a symbol of resistance and revolutionary determination. It represents the fighting spirit of the French people for freedom and equality, and their determination to overcome adversity to achieve political and social change.
Did you catch all the references? If not, maybe you’re not that camp.
As you can see, we witnessed a very special moment in the history of the Olympic Games and the culture of humanity.