Nearly a year into his term, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France has hardly mentioned the arts or culture. In late February, he said that French cuisine should be added to the Unesco World Heritage list.
De Gaulle had André Malraux at his elbow. François Mitterrand renovated the Louvre. Just before he left office, Jacques Chirac inaugurated an immense museum for non-Western cultures, designed by Jean Nouvel, which in its confusing, heart-of-darkness, overwrought layout, epitomizes a certain kind of French arrogance. Naturally, millions of tourists now flock to it.
Every French president since the Liberation has cooked up some such pharaonic new museum or opera house or library or initiated some legacy-minded cultural program, until now.
I found this rather amusing because the nation of France is saturated with art. In fact, their whole country IS a museum. There's more history in most towns than the entire state of Rhode Island, yet this doesn't seem to be enough as they clamor for more.
They call him Sarkozy the American (as a slur). And we all know how Americans are a bunch of brutish louts with little to no appreciation for the arts. We like our President to deal with real problems that affect people in adverse ways, not leave some cultural mark on American society. Here in America, most of us like to rely on private grants for arts and culture.
9 comments:
This points to a funny difference b/w Americans and the French on the issue of "culture." My (French) wife recently met a Frenchman at a trade show. He was happy to meet a fellow frenchman and eager to have a conversation in his native tongue. He noted that he didn't much like living here because "les americains n'ont pas de culture." He lamented Americans' obsession with such base things as sports. Keep in mind, this guy lives in NYC and says there's not culture. My wife was embarrassed by this buffoon and ignored him, even though he is a customer of her company.
Anyway, the other funny thing I think the news story illustrates is how the French feel about their political leaders. The second they elect one, they decide they hate him. Sarkozy hasn't changed a bit since he was elected. What were these people lamenting his supposed lack of culture thinking when they voted for him?
BTW, some French people are now claiming there is no such thing as the "Sarko l'americain" insult. It's not true. If I'm not mistaken, the term was invented by someone in Segolene Royal's campaign, and has been repeatedly used in the press. I see it on French blogs all the time. It's a real and genuine insult they use.
Just for fun, and to confirm that "Sarko l'americain" is a genuine, real insult, I did a Yahoo France search for the term.
http://tinyurl.com/5j64cz
It's real, and it's NOT a compliment.
Wow, I started clicking on some of those links. Interesting if you read French. Brief summary: there's plenty of anti-Americanism in France, in case you ever doubted it!
In America, I'm a Typical White Person TM. In France, I'd probably be a Typical American....
//Anyway, the other funny thing I think the news story illustrates is how the French feel about their political leaders. The second they elect one, they decide they hate him.//
Maybe it's the need to hate the king thing. That attitude surfaced after la révolution and has continued strongly except in the time the resistance was busy trying to drive the Nazis out. Granted, the king isn't selected and maintained by divine right anymore and there's no enemy occupier right now. But he is elected to a set term and for the specific purpose of picking the guy they can complain about the most.
Somewhere, deep in the pysche of their collective conscious, they need someone (or some thing) to bitch about. Sometimes America isn't enough.
Greg
"My (French) wife recently met a Frenchman at a trade show. He was happy to meet a fellow frenchman..."
Is your wife a Frenchman or a French woman?
If it's a man. That's cool too.
Yuk, yuk, rocket, l'americain! Do you say "frenchwoman"?
Actually, being from Mass., I suppose it would be possible for me to have married a French man.
//I suppose it would be possible for me to have married a French man.//
But you have a kid. If this were the case, we could make some serious money with me being your agent. Uncle Mustang's demand is skyrocketing right now, think what my management could do for you. I'll send you my business card.
;)
Greg
"Wow, I started clicking on some of those links. Interesting if you read French. Brief summary: there's plenty of anti-Americanism in France, in case you ever doubted it!"
C'mon Greg! There is no anti americanism in France. Wake up son! There is a high degree of anti americanism in Darnestown Md however and a bit from the intellectual crowd selling newspapers around the Canal St. Martin in Paris. But that's about it. (chuckle chuckle)!
I almost threw up yesterday when I heard Sarkozy speaking about doubling France's food aid. This because he is an ardent supporter of the CAP as was his predecessor an won't give up one eurocent of subsidy for French farmers. So the verbal vomit about doubling aid is only another hypocritical pirouette so often used by French leaders when it comes to agriculture.
as one commentator said in a French newspaper this morning
"D’un côté, Sarkozy parle de solidarité nécessaire et de souveraineté alimentaire. De l’autre, il vante la vocation exportatrice de l’agroalimentaire, qui, à coups de subventions à l’exportation ou d’accords de libre-échange, lamine les petits fermiers africains.»
On the one hand, Sarkozy speaks about necessary solidarity and food sovereignty. On the other, he praises the exporting vocation of the farming industry, which, with export subsidies or agreements of free trade, destroys the small African farmers."
for Greg
http://www.liberation.fr/actualite/economie_terre/322061.FR.php
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