Americans are complicated and
they must have complicated ideas about the French as well.
>> Of course. So,
if you just look at the political spectrum, so
we have people who tend to be on the right in America, have particular opinions
about France that differ very strongly from the left in America.
So for example, the right in America,
if they're holding their negative stereotypes about France, they tend to
accuse France of having a centralized state or of being protectionist.
Or of having too great of a welfare state.
And on the other hand, on the left side of America, one of the accusations that come
from the left is that France is not very tolerant of it's minorities, so
you can see that that would come more from a leftist perspective in America.
>> So Julie, I think one of the persistent myths that we encounter when we're abroad,
especially in America looking at France,
is this since that the French possess a certain cultural chauvinism.
That they're very arrogant about their culture.
Maybe you can explain why this is, and how we can dispel it?
>> So this is a very common, American, mostly negative,
stereotype about the French, indeed.
Chauvinism, nationalistic,
overly patriotic, >> We must acknowledge, in fact,
that the French think the exact same thing about Americans.
But why do Americans hold that view about France?
I talk about it in my chapter five about globalization and
the cultural exception in France, in the French module.
And what Americans really need to realize is, and they don't unless they've traveled
abroad, is how dominant American culture is abroad, right?
The massive amount of American films and television series, and
music on the radio, how dominant it is in France.
And I think if they realize that they would have a good explanation for
the French reaction, that wishes to protect its culture and
its national heritage too.
>> Because they have their own film genres,
I mean they have all of what Americans have, but in a French version.
>> Of course. So
French cinema is also very well reputed in America and even in Hollywood.