Maybe the world doesn’t need another person weighing in on the controversy surrounding the tableau on the bridge, but I’m going to weigh in on it anyway.
In case you missed it, Sunday’s opening ceremonies in Paris included a tableau scene that looked like Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” A DJ in a blue dress and a silver headdress stood on the edge of a runway, flanked by drag artists and dancers. The result does bear a good resemblance to one of Christianity’s most beloved paintings.
But is it, in fact, a parody? A couple observations. First, Da Vinci and Thomas Jolly, the artistic director for the opening ceremony, are dealing with the same problem – perspective. Da Vinci wants to show the face of every disciple, so they all have to be on one side of the table. Same problem for Jolly – with a camera running along one side of the runway, all the dancers have to be on the other side. So just by the nature of needing to put people where we can see them, the two art forms look similar.
Second, these opening ceremonies were SO French. They played on every French stereotype possible. And while it’s been a while since I took art history, I’m pretty sure Leonardo Da Vinci was very, very Italian. Yes, he spent his last three years in France, but if you’re going to feature an artist for these opening ceremonies, wouldn’t you pick Monet or Degas or Cézanne or Seurat?
Third, part of this scene included the appearance of the Greek God Dionysus. Is it a supper? Yes – a Bacchanal feast, an ode to both the ancient Greek mythology in which the Olympic games are rooted, and the stereotype of the French love of food and, well, love.
So is it a mockery? I don’t know. Maybe it’s a coincidence. Maybe the artistic team did decide to have some fun with it all.
But here’s the thing. Even if Thomas Jolly and the other creative minds behind the opening ceremonies decided to use the event to mock Christianity, that should (a) be unsurprising, and (b) warrant a very different response than the one we’re seeing from Christians around the world.
I get that Christians since the time of Constantine have come to expect a certain level of privilege and respect in the world, but that expectation isn’t exactly a core tenet of our faith. The man in the middle of the painting everyone’s so riled up about literally died a day after that supper because people decided to make a mockery of him. And when we preach about that death, when we preach “Christ crucified,” Paul says it’s a “stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” For centuries, Christians have died because the message they preached and the way they lived was at best misunderstood, and at worst deemed a threat to the status quo. “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” writes Timothy. “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me,” says Jesus. But mock a painting? How dare you.
And how should we respond to such mockery, to such “persecution”? Well, according to Bishop Robert Barron’s viral video response, “we Christians, we Catholics, should not be sheepish. We should resist. We should make our voices heard.” Others are calling for a boycott of the Olympics, declaring “Christianity will not be mocked!”
Again, Jesus. “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” “I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.” And Paul: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” I wonder what it would look like if the only words any Christian tweeted after Sunday’s ceremony were prayers for Thomas Jolly and his crew.
But here’s the real question we need to ask ourselves about this event. Like most famous old art, “The Last Supper” has been parodied numerous times in a variety of cultural moments. The Legion of Super Heroes are posed around a table in a September 1984 comic. That 70s Show turns a shot of Eric and his friends around a table into an actual fresco for a frame. The Simpsons parodies the painting in a 2005 episode. There are further parodies in South Park, a Justice League comic, Lost, M*A*S*H, and The X-Files. None of these occasions provoked such backlash as we’re seeing now.
So why the outrage? Why does this feel like a mockery? Well, I’d wager that, in no small part, it’s because many of the actors in this supposed portrayal of “The Last Supper” are queer. Unashamedly so. And that, more than anything, offends our sensibilities. Because of course, queer people wouldn’t be seated at a table next to Jesus. That’s just an outrageous idea.
So outrageous that the church has made queer people feel lesser-than for centuries. Has excluded, has misunderstood, has mocked (oh wait!) queer people for centuries. Even when those people tried to live according to the church’s rules. Even when they submitted to the church’s teaching. Regardless of whether you hold a traditional or affirming view of same-sex marriage, we have to reckon with the fact that the church has historically made queer people feel othered, un-holy, and unwelcome. We have made people feel like they don’t have a seat at the table.
So the church can save its pearl-clutching for something that’s actually outrageous.
If we’re going to respond to the opening ceremonies, we should be doing so by taking a long, hard look at ourselves and acknowledging the uncomfortable truth that this moment poked at for many of us, which is that when it comes to mocking voices, ours are usually some of the loudest.
“Christianity will not be mocked..” Good thing Jesus did not take this approach.
Cheering over here, Laura. This is the smartest– and most biblical — take I’ve read on this event, yet. Thank you!
Perfect.
Thanks for helpful perspective.
Similar thoughts here at the Holy Post starting at 8:58
So agree ! Well written !
Thank you — probably the best response I’ve seen to this episode … and identifying the queer base for the reaction says so much, sadly, about the offended pearl-clutchers.
Brave, insightful, and Biblical. I find shouts of persecution in the North American church to be rather disingenuous. Real persecution is intense and deadly in so many parts of our world, how dare we claim it as ours when in our towns one can pick from a plethora of places to worship on any given Sunday. Your last paragraphs hit the nail on the head and grazed most of our thumbs on the way down. Thank you!
I’ve heard comments to the effect that if we s Christians don’t push back on the mockery of the Last Supper, then Christianity will become irrelevant.
Wait a minute, if we aren’t living according to the message of the gospel then We are making Christianity irrelevant in the eyes of the world.
Exactly. Thank you, Laura.
Well, if this isn’t wonderful. Thank you, Laura
I am so appreciative of this rational, clearly laid-out perspective! So many voices out there, brimming with outrage and emotion, drawing us in before we start thinking! Thanks so very much, Laura…..
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This was a great essay.
The followers of Jesus have survived far worse parodies throughout history, and thrived in the face of far worse lies. Thanks for reminding us to respond in the way that our Lord commanded.
Exactly right – most welcome above all the din!
Maybe it wasn’t a parody. Maybe it was an affirmation of Jesus’s redefinition of love.
Thank you, Laura.
Great Observations!! Thank you! There are plenty of reasons to refute that this was mocking “Christianity”, including the number of persons reportedly at “the table” and the history of the Olympics. The most embarrassing thing about this fiasco for me is that, of all peoples, the professed followers of Jesus Christ should consider themselves beyond parody…for God’s sake (and ours) He was tortured and executed by the empire and religious leaders for…. Thanks again!!
I agree with the writer’s desire to temper the conservative reaction to the opening ceremony’s version of the Last Supper. As the writer noted, Jesus, Paul and Peter called us to both expect mockery and respond to it with kindness and prayers of blessing. Nonetheless, it sure felt like the essay was defending the satire by saying: (a) it wasn’t really satirizing the Last Supper at all; (b) the Last Supper has been satirized before; (c) the LGBTQA+ community has suffered enough at the hands of the church that we should overlook this pushback. Even as I agree that the church must respond with kindness, I see no need to minimize the appearance of mockery here. In order to overcome evil with good, as Paul urged in Romans 12:21, we still have to recognize evil for what it is. Even if the opening ceremony was only trying to portray Dionysius, we certainly don’t want to celebrate or defend bawdy paganism.
Come on folks, what a cop out, wimpy, let’s just hold hands article. Mockery isn’t the term when it’s our Lord and savior, the God of our lives on display …. And a display not on a cartoon show, nor a framed pic in the den … but the largest stage in the world. Yes, I know the French, excuse a moi, the Parisians are an uber liberal group … one that likes to flaunt its fashion nonsense. But none of this pampers the disrespectful performance witnessed. Nor was it entertaining or even very artistic. There exists so many other ways it could have been handled, with far more dignity, even in the LGBTQ circles. The Olympics doesn’t need a soft porn show. I remain in protest.
Laura, this is excellent. Love your “even if…” and a) and b). Responses by some people I know, on social media, have been Pharisaical. Thanks for this.
The irony of Bishop Barron’s Christian identification of da Vinci’s Last Supper is that Leonardo was gay.
How do we know? In addition to contemporaneous written anecdotes, Florentine court archives show charging documents for homosexual acts.
It’s time for better bishops.
Glad you decided to weigh in, Laura. You provided new and compelling insights. Thanks.
Well said, Laura
Thanks Laura, for your insightful analysis. As I watched the opening ceremonies I became increasingly uncomfortable with the symbolism, and felt the urge to protest. Ultimately I just felt bored with the mishmash of orgiastic writhing figures that portrayed a sense of meaninglessness rather than the hope and unity the Olympics are meant to inspire. Personally, I think it was anti-Christian on purpose, but if that’s the best they can do, then we have little to fear or protest.
That the Catholic Church, in the guise of its prelates would criticize a perhaps representation of the last supper as blasphemous is amusing. A painting of a mythic & fabulist event, by a gay artist is hardly an attack on church doctrine or any basic tenets of the true church. It is art and fashion within a pageant and hardly as tiresome as prvious enactments to celebrate the opening of a corporste sponsored sporting event.
This was so good and helpful. Thanks for taking the time to write it.
This was so good and exciting read. Thank you for taking the time to write the post.