France can be messy, chaotic and unruly. Despite its proclamations, it isn't always welcoming and inclusive of other cultures, languages and differences. But the Paris Olympics opening ceremony showed that maybe the ideals of liberty, equality and togetherness can triumph over nationalism and obscurity.
"The history of France is this: a story that clashes, is rebuilt, then deconstructed," Thomas Jolly, a French actor, director and the creative mind behind the Paris Olympic ceremony, said in a recent interview with The New York Times.
On the night of 26 July, history indeed clashed, deconstructed and rebuilt itself.
Jolly, along with his team that included journalist/TV presenter Daphné Bürki (the ceremony's stylist), actor and author Damien Gabriac (costume director), choreographer/dancer Maud Le Pladec and historian/author/professor at the Collège de France, Patrick Boucheron, created 12 scenes built around 12 words:
- "Enchanted";
- "Synchronicity";
- "Liberty";
- "Equality";
- "Brotherhood";
- "Sisterhood";
- "Sportiness";
- "Festivity";
- "Obscurity";
- "Solidarity";
- "Solemnity"; and
- "Eternity".
Fashioning a ceremony around a selection of words already presented a challenge.
In a country attached to its republican values and the Constitution's First Amendment, which proclaims that "France shall be an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic", words are often fiercely debated.
The bedrock of a societal "model", the word "secularity" -- the separation of church and state, a concept that was made into law in 1905 -- is repeatedly debated in tense and polarising discussions.
Like the Turritopsis dohrnii, it returns, proud and immense, reminding us that words can -- and should -- change, evolve and reshape to reflect...
