Reader Response 11
Respond to the film, Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, screened in class. How does this film inform your understanding of French culture? Does it change your opinion of French culture? Do you see any similarities between French culture as depicted in the film and your own?
From reading "Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong" I was under the impression that all Frenchmen are really fancy and act completely proper all the time. Also for what ever reason I thought that there was only on French accent. I didn’t know there were different accents for different parts of France. By watching this movie I learned that Frenchmen are not proper all the time. Sometimes they get arrested for riding a bicycle while drunk. I know that this is probably not a regular occurrence, but my point is that the French let loose sometimes like Americans do and also have different accents for different areas that they live in just like the US as well. I’m sure this movie is similar to real French culture, because this is a movie I have to assume that the drama is amplified. This is also similar to America though. If this movie was spoken in English you have never known that it was a French film. The movie had the same humor as an American film and there wasn’t a strange plot that only a Frenchmen could understand.
RépondreSupprimerI completely agree that other than it being in French, it could have easily been a film that we would see in our theaters. I enjoyed the humor and little bit of drama that I was able to see. I thought that French cinema might be somewhat different that the U.S., but so far it is not completely different.
SupprimerI also would not have been able to distinguish the movie from being French had it been spoken in English. It's odd that we place so much emphasis on our differences, when in reality, we aren't that different.
SupprimerI also agree that this is similar to our culture's humor in film. It certainly breaks the stereotypes of the French!
SupprimerI agree with you. This whole time I thought the French were all proper and interesting. Now I understand that they are too not perfect all the time.
SupprimerIt's nice that you mentioned that this movie can be easily understood by American audiences. I think that's because it's a relatively universal concept. We can imagine someone's horror at being relocated from California to Maine. It's easy to sympathize with the character, and thats often the mark of a good movie.
SupprimerI feel that I am at a disadvantage here because I was gone on Friday and only was able to see a small part of the film on Monday. From what I did see I was really impressed. I actually plan on obtaining the film so that I am able to finish it on my own. Other than the language being different, in the small part that I did see, there really was no difference between French and American Culture. Although there were some blatantly obvious things such as Post Officer drinking on the job. I know in the U.S. that would be immediate grounds for dismissal, but maybe it was just the movie that was playing lightly on the matter. I did find it interesting that so many people invited the two in for a thank you drink because this would certainly not happen in America. One thing that I really did like in the movie was the issue of moving away from the region that you know to a new one. It appeared that the main character was adjusting quite well, but his wife seemed to have some issues with it. I wish I had been able to see more because then I might have a better insight. I do wonder what kind of training that the main character had to obtain in order to become the Post Office Manager because in our book, the authors mentioned how much training civil servants had to have in order to get to the next level. A last thing that I found intriguing was the “other French” that was being spoken. I know in America we have slang for different regions, but not an entirely different language. Now possibly I misinterpreted this, but that is sincerely what it appeared to be.
RépondreSupprimerI agree that the difference between the French and Americans is hard to distinguish and that this movie shows us that we aren't that different in perspective. I also wonder if it is more acceptable to drink on the job in France or if the movie exaggerated that aspect.
SupprimerI think overall the northern accent is an accent, but also different than "standard" French, in that it has its own unique phrases and words. I think it's just a variation of French.
SupprimerI think we're in the same boat for the "thank you" drinking scenes. I found that kind of strange that people were actually inviting them into their homes to drink like fish after already seeing that they were drunk. However, in the 60 million Frenchmen book, they did say that it is normal to be invited into someone's home, even though you don't really know them.
SupprimerIn the movie, Bienevenue chez les Ch’tis, Phillippe Abram, a post office administrator, tries to obtain a transfer to the seaside town on the French Riviera by pretending to be crippled. He is soon discovered and sent, as punishment to a distant town in the North named Bergues. Fearing the frozen harshness of the North, Phillippe’s wife, Julie, and their son stay in the South while Phillippe undertakes the two year probationary position. As the movie progresses, it is revealed that most of the characteristics of the North are only assumed stereotypes and that the Northern French are very similar to the Southern French except for their altered French language Ch’ti. In comparison, Americans make the same assumptions about different regions in the United States that are not exactly true. The movie also shows that Americans are not totally different from the French in the sense that, the French go about their daily lives similarly to how Americans live theirs. It is assumed that our cultures are very different, however, that is not always the case. On the macro-level, France has its own uniqueness; however, on the micro-level, on the individual platform, we are not wholly different.
RépondreSupprimerWhile I never outright thought that the French are a certain way, like perhaps fashionable, artistic, sophisticated, and so on, I never thought of the French in a way that they are in this movie. I found it especially interesting that the north of France is the area with the “accent,” as opposed to the south like it is here in the United States. There is the standard French language and accent, as there is a common language and accent here (English and a mid-western accent, I suppose), but in other parts of the country the accents and dialects change. Here, the south has an accent that is kind of similar to the north’s accent in France. I thought the film was hilarious and it certainly shows a more accurate picture of the French, rather than simplistic, rigid stereotypes that we assume the French fit into. At first, I found it difficult to distinguish the standard Parisian accent from the other accent, but after a while I could tell that the standard is more enunciated, while the other is a little more muddled up or slurred, for lack of a better phrase. I also thought that the English subtitles reflecting the accent was really neat, and I would recommend this film to others who are interested in having a good laugh.
RépondreSupprimerI noticed that the English subtitles were messed up at times. Was this due to the northern accent? There was only a brief part that I saw that had the southern accent, and I just thought there was a problem with the subtitles.
SupprimerIn the film Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis, we were introduced to a man who was transferred to northern France as what seems like punishment for falsely claiming to be crippled. After hearing stories about how terrible the North is, he fears for his life that he doesn't have to stay there long. What he didn't realize until he actually started working there is that the North is actually a very pleasant place to live. The people there are nice, it's not as cold as everyone says it is, and they find ways to have fun there. After watching certain parts of the film I realized that France is much like the United States in a way. Just like France uses different accents and slang terms in the North and in the South(Paris), people in the north here have different accents and slang terms from people who live in the south. Honestly, I can attest to that because I'm from Georgia. Most of the southern words and accents I'm used to are almost nonexistent here in Illinois. It's actually really interesting how we have those similarities between our countries.
RépondreSupprimerI liked how you included the fact that the main character was dreading the idea of moving up north at first, but then once he got there he fell in love with it. I think that one of the main messages in this movie (aside from showing cultural differences) is to stress the importance of trying new things and learning about more cultures. As the old saying goes: you won't know what it's like until you try it. And hey, you just might really enjoy it.
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RépondreSupprimerWhen someone brings up French culture and its citizens, many Americans likely picture Parisians hanging out in nice restaurants smoking cigarettes and dressed incredibly fashionably. Of course this is not how France is actually like; France is much bigger then just Paris, but the fact of the matter is we never really consider that when we visualize it in our minds. I thought the movie we watched in class was really cool in how it showed the geographical and regional/cultural diversity of France.
RépondreSupprimerI had never really considered the fact that France has regional differences just like the US, I suppose if I had thought about France as a country from top to bottom I would have realized that the stereotype of all French people being trendy Parisians was only true for a pretty small percentage of France's population. The movie was really helpful in clarifying that every country and culture is always much deeper and interesting than it looks on the surface.
In America, there are clear cultural differences based on geography just like there is in France. The stereotypes of the drawling southerner and the laid back Californian surfer-dude are a part of our national identity as a whole. America isn't just one state, it's 50 states, each with its own culture and identity. I like that. And I like that France is like that. And I highly reckon thats the case for the rest of Earth's countries also.