The French first entered my consciousness by way of Pepe Le Pew on Bugs Bunny. As young as I was, I realized that through Pepe- a not-so-flattering point was being made about the French both in the portrayal of a Frenchman as a skunk—and by Pepe’s so obviously insincere and self-serving behavior.
My next encounter with the French was also while I was a child. On TV, I watched the movie Gigi. From this movie, I concluded that the French were a frivolous people who spent much of their time either going to fancy restaurants or taking vacations at the seaside with women who were not their wives.
When I was a young adult, my friends dragged me to a theatre specializing in “arty” movies where I was subjected to Swann in Love, starring Jeremy Irons, and based on a few of the chapters of the Frenchman Marcel Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past. The protagonist, Swann, is a portrait of French ennui mixed with something indefinably weirder (though recently familiar). At one point, when Swann is sitting up in bed surrounded by servants shaving, manicuring and dressing him he narrates a passage of the book he is writing full of bored self-pity. To the chagrin of my artier friends, I found myself loudly addressing the screen with the statement: “This guy needs to get a job!” Needless to say, my impression of the French was not improved by this movie, nor, was it improved by later trying to actually read “Remembrance of Things Past.’
To this point, the French seemed irrelevant and inconsequential to me. That they had been allies in WWII, I knew because of Cpl. Louis LeBeau in Hogan’s Heroes. I remembered learning in elementary school about Lafayette’s role in the American War of Independence. Conceding all that, I was unaware of any recent contribution the French had made during the decades since my birth sufficient enough to earn them the role of World Power. So, I simply thought of the French as an amalgam of Pepe, Louis Jordan, Swan and Cpl. LeBeau—and not much else.
Later in life, I discovered a book titled Leftist Revisited; From de Sade and Marx to Hitler and Pol Pot written by Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn. From that book, I learned of the barbaric savagery of the French Terror and the Jacobins—which was not only directed against royalty and aristocracy, but also against the common people of Vendee. I discovered the motivating impact of Rousseau (a man who repeatedly dumped his newborn children on the steps of an orphanage consigning them to certain death) on Pol Pot who, in an ironic twist, motivated the children of his country to murder their parents.
Article comments
1 - John Slattery
Your conclusion - that France is not and has never been our friend - strikes me, perhaps unfairly, as being ingenuous. It is, I'd say, a basic principle of international relations that countries do not HAVE friends; they have interests. And there is NO such thing as altruism, especially among nations. France, like every other country, looks out for its own self-interest, not always, admittedly, in ways that many might consider to be "enlightened" and often in ways that some might regard as "immoral" or "unethical". But in this respect, France is no different from any other nation. Your unflattering descriptions of France can be applied, with equal justification, to any other country, past or present.
2 - Nancy
A little of it, too, can probably be attributed to vanity. After all, the French were once THE arbiters of culture, language, art, fashion, even food - in the entire Western world and by extension the entire world where Europeans dominated. Militarily they dominated until the defeat of Napoleon; culturally until early into the 20th century. Then after WWI, they tanked. Suddenly they were the apex of civilization only in the fields of cuisine and fashion, and as a world power - zip. Pretty far of a comedown. I hope I don't live to see what the US does when we finally hit bottom and become only a symbol of licentious 'entertainment' and incessant advertising.
3 - Nancy
P.S. I always ADORED Pepe Le Pew. I thought he was too cute to move, and when I got old enough to recognize him as a caricature of Maurice Chevalier, it only made him cuter, IMO. I still love Monsieur Le Pew. And BTW, he wasn't the only French skunk: remember M'amselle in 'Pogo'? She wasn't a stinker, either!
4 - JR
Actually the French are a major force in motor sports; they've produced some of the best drivers and they're a leader in automotive technology.
5 - Duane
They are also the inventors of the French accent, which is about the coolest accent there is. And what would a hot dog be without the French's mustard?
6 - JR
Get real. The French accent doesn't even come close to the Irish, Scottish or Indian accents.
The metric system is quite useful though.
7 - Nancy
And french fries. And don't forget the french kiss, for those into tonsils. Then there's the french bikini - quite racy for its time. I personally like the Carribean accent myself - that guy who voiced the crab in "Little Mermaid"...I must have a thing for cartoon guys w/accents.
8 - HW Saxton
Supposedly "Fellatio" is an invention of
the French as well. Although I imagine
the origins of that act go back a bit
further than the Frogs can honestly lay
claim to.
9 - Duane
The film maker? Nah, I think he was Italian.
10 - HW Saxton
Duane, Quite the cunning linguist aren't
you?
11 - Duane
Touche, H.W.
Tish, that's French!
12 - HW Saxton
Gomez, Not in front of the children.
13 - Kath
I just stumbled onto this archived review by accident and I must say - what a gem. What a jewel of entertainment this page is in its own right, filled with the sidesplitting observations of someone who has formed a tidy set of opinions on an entire nation with the help of... let's see... one cartoon character, two movies, one sitcom, and four books. I must have a look at all this myself. I can only hope that the "History of America's Disastrous Relationship with Those Evil, Evil French" will be quite so amusing, but at least it's already been deftly proven to be edifying: who would've thought, for instance, that a country's worth (or lack thereof) could be determined by the tone of their dealings with the US? It's all so exquisitely simple!
Many belated thanks go out to you. I haven't read anything this funny all week.