Did Mariah Carey mime or not when she headlined the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Milan? That was the main takeaway from last Friday’s jamboree. Organisers have since suggested that the US singer did indeed lip-sync to Domenico Modugno’s ‘Nel Blu, dipinto di Blu’ and the song that followed, her very own, ‘Nothing is Impossible’. ‘The technical, logistical and organisational complexities of an Olympic ceremony are not comparable to a live performance by a single artist,’ said a spokesperson for the organising committee.
Was there also a linguistical complexity in the decision? Perhaps Carey didn’t feel confident singing live in Italian in front of 75,000 spectators in the San Siro Stadium, plus the 9.2 million Italians watching the ceremony on television. Nevertheless, Maria Laura Iascone of the organising committee called Carey’s performance ‘exceptional’, adding that the board was ‘very honoured’ she had agreed to top the bill.
The French were honoured in 2024 when Lady Gaga was the headline act at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. The American also pre-recorded her song, ‘Mon Truc En Plume’, the cabaret song made famous in the 1960s by Zizi Jeanmaire. Lady Gaga said she was ‘humbled’ to perform the song, which she did to ‘honour the French people and their tremendous history of art, music and theatre’.
Madame Gaga wasn’t the only American star flown in by the French. Rapper Snoop Dogg was invited to carry the Olympic flame through the suburbs of Paris en route to the stadium. According to the French media, the American rapper provided the Games with an ‘indispensable source of energy’.
Olympic opening ceremonies are supposed to showcase all that is wonderful, quirky and unique about the host nation. Danny Boyle did it brilliantly with the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics in London, a show that ranged from Mr Bean to David Beckham and the Arctic Monkeys to the London Symphony Orchestra.
But the reliance on American stars underlines how Italy and France are being inexorably ‘Americanised’ to the point where they now lack confidence in their own culture. Britain has also been Americanised – but because we share the same language there was less cultural difference to start. Not so in France, where the cultural invasion by America is now everywhere: language, the arts, ‘woke’ ideology and even the names chosen by parents.
Italy and France are being ‘Americanised’ to the point where they now lack confidence in their own culture
Increasing numbers of French children are christened Kevin, Cindy, Dylan and Jordan. Indeed, there is a chance that next year the French will elect as their president Jordan Bardella.
One of France’s leading social scientists is Jérôme Fourquet, who has written extensively about the Americanisation of the Republic. ‘[It] began in the 1950s-1960s in cinema, music and fashion, and continued in the 1980s-1990s with the appearance of new first names…before spreading to food,’ he explained.
The number of fast-food restaurants in France – most of them American – has rocketed this century. In 2006 there were 18,600 fast food outlets in France; today there are 47,000. After the USA, France is McDonald’s biggest global market. Bistros, on the other hand, are in crisis. There were approximately 200,000 village bistros in France in the 1960s; today there are 30,000. On average, 25 traditional restaurants close each day.
Italian cuisine is also being Americanised. McDonald’s is currently investing €800 million in expanding its operations in Italy. The chain opened 51 new restaurants in 2024 and plans to have 900 restaurants up and running by the end of 2027, an increase of 145 on 2024.
Italian politicians try to put a positive spin on this culinary conquest. Francesco Lollobrigida, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, praised the partnerships between McDonald’s and suppliers of local products. It is a ‘synergy’ he said, ‘that can enhance Italian products … with a re-education on ancient flavours that are being rediscovered’. Lollobrigida cited Montasio cheese as something a ‘young person is unlikely to eat’ were it not in a McDonald’s burger.
From Mariah Carey to McDonald’s, Italy has no answer to the soft power of America. At least Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is a friend to Donald Trump, unlike Emmanuel Macron, the arch-enemy of his American counterpart. Earlier this week the French President renewed his call for ‘a more sovereign Europe’ to counter the threats and intimidation of America. But it’s too late for that.
Last December Trump warned Europe that it faced ‘civilisational erasure’ because of mass immigration from the developing world. He has a point. But what about the cultural erasure of Europe that is almost complete? Blame Uncle Sam for that.
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