The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics was presented in a unique way of cruising the Seine River, showing the historical culture and modern elements of France. Some of the bold and avant-garde performances have caused widespread controversy. By using Stuart Hall’s encoding and decoding theory, encoding and decoding are often asymmetric. Faced with the same text, audiences in different communication and reception structures will definitely have different ways of decoding information.
For example, “A scene that was interpreted by observers as mocking Christianity appeared at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, which caused considerable controversy. The World Evangelical Alliance quickly responded carefully and respectfully, commenting that ‘even if it was not intentional, it felt disrespected.'”(Schirrmacher, 2024)
Dominant decoding occurs when audience interprets the information according to the creator’s intention. Some viewers believe that this scene symbolizes the diversity and inclusiveness advocated by the Paris Olympics, which is consistent with the overall theme of the opening ceremony. This decoding method recognizes the creator’s intention to express artistic expression and cultural diversity, and believes that this is a confident display of French modern culture.
However, negotiated decoding happens when the audience recognizes only part of intention of creators, and questions specific elements. For example, some viewers may accept that this is an attempt to celebrate multiculturalism, but question whether its form of expression is appropriate. They consider such expression may not be solemn enough at an occasion with global influence such as the opening of the Olympic Games. Audiences are influenced by many factors, such as their own cultural background, aesthetic preferences, knowledge level, and social experience. Different audience groups may have significant differences in the way they decode the same information, and even have confrontational interpretations that completely subvert the encoder’s intentions.
Through Hall’s encoding/decoding theory, it can be seen that the controversy caused by the diverse performance of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games is a typical case of differences in interpretation between creators and audiences. Whether it is dominant, negotiated or opposing interpretations, it shows that the meaning of media texts is not fixed, but changes dynamically with the audience’s cultural background, values and social position. This possibility of diverse interpretations is the core of cultural exchange and conflict.
Reference
Schirrmacher, T.P. (2024) ‘Lessons from the Olympic Ceremony Controversy’, Evangelical Review of Theology, 48(4), pp. 315–317.
It is an interesting approach, as everyone has different opinions of whether this is mocking Christianity or being creative including French culture. I agree, it just shows everyone think’s differently when processing information Infront of them; for this instance, religion plays a part to form an opinion for the opening ceremony. It would have been nice to shown some pictures of the World Evangelical Alliance calling out the Olympic ceremony to back up your statement. Overall, it is interesting to see how people think during big events in both negative and positive ways.