Early Modern Hot Takes : Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony

As we approach back to school, I’m holding on to the feeling I had watching the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games—the rain, the river, those young people doing love and literature in the library, and my raucous leap of joy at the strains of Rita Mitsouko’s Andy. Oh, and the athletes too, of course! Like me, you might have been texting your dix-septièmiste friend during the ceremony, or trying to fill in the blanks in the TV coverage as you watched the panoply of civic quirkiness and cultural reference unfolding under the rain (NBC are you listening? How about a French scholar next time to say something meaningful or informative about what we’re watching?)

What follows are some medal-worthy reflections on the Opening Ceremony to inspire and energize you as you think about how to work it into that French history or culture or literature or language course—and as we continue to mull over the glorious, wet, inclusive, queerly French wonderfulness that we watched together. Serving up these early modern hot...