The French hate American culture. They know it when they see it. And they see it a lot. And pay their hard-earned money for the privilege.

FRENCH FILMS CLOSE GAP ON U.S. FARE
Local Movies Grab 44% Of Admissions In France

December 14, 2006 (Variety) - French films closed the gap on Hollywood in the first 11 months of this year, grabbing a 44% share of the local box office, up from 38% in the same period last year, while U.S. fare dipped 1.2% to a 46% share.

... French pics took six of the top 10 box office slots, garnering among them 29 million admissions ($211 million), while four U.S. films trailed with 20 million admissions ($147 million).

Do you, like us, wonder how a culture despised by France makes off with 46% of the French box office while this same culture alone shares berths in the top 10 box office with French films?

And 2006 is an exceptional French year. In 2005, only one French film (Brice de Nice) was in the French top 10. The other nine were American films.* In 2004, four French films, six American. In 2003, two French films, eight American.

The most popular films in France are French and American films, with a decided preference for American films. How can this be? American films are not on view for free. A gun is not held to French heads. The French freely decide to spend their French money on American cultural product.

The top 10 all-time highest grossing French box office is evenly split between French and American films.

This is not a sampling of American culture. This is not a nibble. It is a steady diet. A feast. A feast at which the French seat themselves snout-to-trough and pay l'addition. Rising from the table, they then complain about the menu card.

* Peter Jackson's King Kong is credited as a New Zealand/American production.

** Included here, Un Long dimanche de fiançailles, a French film that the French government's cultural sniff test pronounced American.

PFFT (What is this?): Paying to hate what they watch 4½ | Rayonnement français 0

I'm sorry to say this Damian but sometime you're really, really full of it...

p.s. I watched "The Aviator" last night on French TV. Brilliant except for dubbings en Français.

For the sake of fairness, there's at least one Frenchman who is looking seriously at what France can do about American cultural dominance, and offering more than the usual whining.

M. Omri,

Thank you. We are in the process of preparing a post on M. Martel for later today.

We doubt M. Martel's politics are our politics, but his method is. He presents the facts as he has found them and -- without advancing anyone's pet polemic -- challenges cultural polemicists to argue their airy notions from the facts.

T0 find such an approach in the Franco-American culture debates is as novel as it is salutary.

Regards,
DGB

hello,

Well, there are good movies on both sides, and bad ones on both sides. I wouldn't compare movies as culture in general, as it is quite different, or only a part of a country's culture.

I think what's considered bad in amercican culture is the facts that it seems to be invasive, like pop, high budget/low scenario movies, same thing for tv...because it's everywhere, but those kind of media is hard to be called culture, it's only entertainement.

Lots of movies or series i watch, spend a good time, and then forget, some i keep in mind, America did produce some of the best movies i've seen, different from the french movie "genre".
i've never seen a good Sci Fi french movie (eccept maybe some of Besson's).

But movies cannot summurize culture ^^

America has a rich culture, it's just more recent (as it is a recent country compared to history) then ours.

i've never seen a good Sci Fi french movie (eccept maybe some of Besson's).

True but there are exceptions with Besson and JP Jeunet who did the excellent La Cité Des Enfants Perdus (City Of Lost Children) in 98, well-received in the US.

And of course who can forget "Le Voyage Dans La Lune", the first sci-fi ever.

yes i forgot Genet :p
delicatessen, la cite des enfants perdus et meme alien 4 ^^

le voyage dans la lune, i've seen it recently, quite good, are you sure it's been released before Metropolis ?

there are some good anticipation movies though.. like "le prix du danger" from an US novell if i remember correctly

are you sure it's been released before Metropolis ?

Positive, since Georges Melies' "Voyage Dans La Lune" was the first "full-lenght" movie ever made and for the (true) sory, the first pirated movie ever too. Thomas Edison "borrowed" a copy in London, "premiered" it in New York and pocketed the revenues.

("Voyage": 1903. Metropolis: 1927)