The Death of French Culture? Yes, says Time

About a week ago on the French national evening news, which airs daily on French language channel TV5, there was suddenly a picture of a Time magazine article, and the anchor person said that the article argued that French culture was essentially dead. He dutifully talked about some of the arguments in the article: very few French novelists or painters are well known outside France, that most French movies are made for the domestic market and few are seen outside the country, etc. The anchor concluded by naming a couple of creative French films that did well in foreign markets in recent years, including the very successful “March of the Penguins”. Not surprisingly, the anchor was clearly defensive about the article.

The article also pointed out that the French government provides large subsidies for the arts, and some argue that these subsidies support mediocrity and are counter-productive. One French commentator said that in the 40’s and 50’s an artist had to go to Paris to make a name, but now one has to go to New York. It concludes that there is an enormous amount of cultural diversity and that the minorities who are more or less on the fringes of society have the energy and potential for innovation that can drive French art to the forefront once again. We’ll see.

In the next edition of Time there were some letters by readers, including a politically correct response from the U.S. Ambassador to France. Another made the point that the article mainly argues that most of the art and culture being created in France is for the domestic market, and he asks “so what”? I think this person is correct. There is no official score card or grand prize for the country with the most popular painters, rock stars, rappers, conductors, film makers, architects, etc. I for one couldn’t name many people for such a list, and I’m OK with that. I also detected a certain desire on the part of the Time correspondent, whose name is Don Morrison, to stick it to the French where it hurts. Everyone knows that as a group the French are uppidy about their supposedly superior culture and their so-called “social model”. So what? Let them be uppidy. We’ll continue to visit the country and enjoy what it has to offer- which is quite a lot.

One last comment- Morrison didn’t complain about the cultural history or the food in France, even acknowledging that the latter is still the world standard. These are the things we enjoy most when visiting the country, and apparently they are still high on everyone’s list, even the critics.

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