Smoke and Mirrors

American society has always had a rocky relationship with French culture. This is partly rooted in history, partly in ephemeral atittudes – could two nations be more proud of their independence?

Joan DeJean’s The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafés, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour (N.Y.: Free Press, 2005) provides an entertaining look at French innovations emanating from the era of King Louis XIV that provides plenty of grist for Francophiles, Francophobes, and everyone in between. In it, there are chapters devoted to the urban good life: cafés, night life, mirrors, interior decorating, clothes and appearance, hairdressers, perfume and cosmetics, haute cuisine, and champagne. The shockwaves of these innovations have been felt around the world for nearly five hundred years and are as modern today as they were at first blush.

Many Americans have mixed feelings about France, especially those who abhor sophistication and the cosmopolitan outlook. But I salute France and French culture. Despite my last name, I am only partly of French blood and have enough Swedish, Walloon, German and British to make me more “Western European” than anything else. Still, I love French history, literature, architecture, and stubborn French hutzpah.

Furthermore, France is a beautiful country. Paris and Marseilles are challenging and wild cities, but places like Toulouse and Lyons are more laid back and relaxing. I have always had a good time in France, and learn something major and new every time I visit.

Geopolitically, the USA can learn something from French overseas policies. Americans have, repeatedly, been linked with French foreign policy, not always understanding the implications. The longstanding Anglo-French rivalry spilled onto the North American continent during the Seven Years War, giving the British the political uphand; but French language and culture continue to survive in Montreal, Quebec, and in other pockets such as Martinique and New Orleans. The French alliance with the fledgling United States proved essential in the defeat of the British at Yorktown in 1781. Napoleon I sold the Louisiana Territory to Thomas Jefferson’s administration in 1803. The 1862 defeat of French troops in Mexico at the Battle of Puebla led to today's Cinco de Mayo festivities and to the more immediate securing of the Texas border by Union troops in 1865. France bestowed the Statue of Liberty to the USA as a centennial gift. The US and France again became military allies in the First World War, and again during the Second World War. The US followed France into Vietnam, thinking it could be more successful even after observing the French defeat at Dienbienphu in 1954. And, for anyone who has seen The Battle of Algiers (1967) -- in which urban Muslim guerillas and their successors eventually defeat French policies -- they must undoubtedly see the similarities with the Anglo-US occupation of Iraq and other Islamic areas. The French were smart not to get involved in the latest foreign adventure – they know better. Hopefully, some day, we will catch up. And perhaps the British will finally get up the nerve to cast off their own monarchy and become a tumultuous republic, too. Meanwhile, the champagne is chilling. . . . .

Vive La France!