REFLECTION of my IMPRESSIONS - FRENCH CULTURE

REFLECTIONS

Write a reflection on your impressions of French culture, for each investigation section, that you selected, totally no more than one page for all 4 sections.

French culture can’t be easily described because it has so much depth which comes from its rich, long history. It’s unique architecture, art, museums, films, dance (actually all of the arts), food, fashion, wine, cafes and countryside all have history but have influenced other parts of the world. Today and in the past.  Although I’ve been to Paris and lived in Vietnam and Cambodia, I understand French culture more from investigating different areas and learning more about its Colonial history, the Arts, fashion, its long history, food and people.

VISIT REMEMBER THINK – French Colonial History

France has a very long history. When France formed French colonies, Australia was just being colonized, but by the British. If La Perouse landed at Botany Bay before Captain Cook, Australia could have been influenced by the French and we might be speaking French! The French were hard Colonial rulers, which I’d learned a bit about living in former French colonies but they also influenced the Indochinese countries at lot. The big open roads called boulevards, beautiful architecture (the Saigon Opera House is a mini replica of the one in Paris), cafes and baguettes.  It must have hard for the French Colonials living in hot humid countries but wearing clothes for a colder French climate. They would also have missed their homeland, but they brought as much as they could like gramophones, wine, cars and “modern” dance . The French influence even resulted in those countries still driving on the right hand side of the road. Because of French Colonialism there are a lot of French people with different ethnicity from Indochina and African countries such as Vietnamese, Cambodian, Algerian and Nigerian. This makes France seem very multicultural.

PRETEND PRESENT PERFORM – the Arts

The French arts are famous and are known throughout the world. Even though the song “Sur le pont d’Avignon” is really just a rhyme, it’s often the first French song English speaking people learn, with Frere Jacques. The Avignon Arts festival, that is on every July, is the biggest arts festival in the Northern hemisphere. French opera, mime, theatre, films, actually all the Arts are recognized because of the French cultural influence. The films have a romantic element. The French artists, such as the Impressionists (eg Monet, Degas & Renoir), the Post-Impressionists (Toulouse Lautrec, Gauguin  & Cezanne) and the Fauves (Matisse), ALL changed the way people looked at art and saw the world. People today travel to France to see the famous paintings.  The museums such as Musee d’Orsay and the Louvre are one of the main centres of world art. The Louvre even has very famous art and artifacts from ancient times such as Egyptian, Greek and Roman.

CREATE WRITE -  Fashion

Fashion seems to be a very important part of French culture because it’s original and leads the way around the world. Coco Chanel, Pierre Cardin and Yves Saint Laurent are still famous. Paris is known as one of the world’s fashion capitals, with Milan (in Italy), London and New York. The Paris fashion weeks every year is where buyers from the world go to see what fashions will be popular in the next season. The French dress in a sophisticated, elegant way. They have style and are chic. Perfume and cosmetics also are beacons for women and men to buy if they want sophistication.

TALK ASK INTERVIEW – History, Food,

I was lucky to be interviewing Susie because she goes to Paris frequently for work, so she knows lots about France’s History. She’s like my personal France information website! I was intrigued as she introduced the concept that “Everywhere you go in France, you are living the culture, experiencing the culture” I never realised the extent and depth to the culture.

I learned and soon realised when I was walking around Paris that EVERYWHERE there is LOTS of history, the Louvre for example is one of the biggest museums in Paris overflowing with tourists, yet it was morphed from a Royal Palace once home to Marie Antoinette, who was executed after the monarchy was overthrown after the French Revolution. It’s now home to so much of Paris’s art culture, but you can still sense the monarchy once there.

I inquired and Susie told me how you can tell how old buildings or places are, like observing the intricate, detailed architecture and sometimes the materials used like the cobble stone small rues and Notre Dame in Ile de la Cites. Parisi were with the Gauls in the 3rd century BC and they took shelter underground near where Notre Dame is now.  This is how old Paris is - to centuries BC. Paris got its name from the Parisi.

Susie’s excitement about Paris and sharing its brilliance was obvious, and clearly infectious. France is a country with such depth and breadth to its culture that I want to spend more time there.