Happy Monday all! Yesterday was great and I will do a longer post on it tomorrow. Between the day-long workshop and then the graduation party for son's girlfriend, am just getting to my post now!
Many thanks for the advice yesterday!!!
This month's issue of Vanity Fair (yes, the one with Channing Tatum looking over his shoulder at YOU) has a great article called Liberté, Fraternité, Supériorité by that scamp James Walcott. He discusses the whole genre of books that have cropped up since French Women Don't Get Fat was published and the North American woman's obsession with them.
I admit to owning a few of these books. Their content can be boiled down to the following maxims:
1) French women have more self-control than anyone else when it comes to a) eating b) drinking c) shopping
2) French women are inherently chic and do not chase fashion trends like their non-french counterparts
3) French women are more discreet
4) French women need less clothing because they know what to do with the clothing they have
5) French women cook better than the rest of us and they don't overeat
Walcott argues that everyone else's obsession with the the French Woman is due to a desire to return to a time where people dressed up, knew how to cook and had MANNERS. His only lament is that there is not a similar series of best selling books for non-French men.
There IS certainly something to this argument. I have also heard arguments that the rise of these kinds of books, along with the rise of shows and blogs showing us how to have style, or whole networks designed to teach us how to cook are someone's idea to get us consume more.
The thing is, these things are hits because WE made them hits. The last thirty years of casual-ness, a natural by-product of the sixties' desire to throw off the shackles of anything that smacked of their parents, of feminists' desire to not be shackled to the house or kitchen, but no one else really stepped in to do it, has led to an almost ennui in society and has, I think, led to a general confusion about how to live, look and eat well.
Because regardless of the fact that you might be a feminist (which I consider myself) or a hipster or whatever, we all kind of want to eat healthy food, live in reasonably nice places and look nice. And we have cut our school home economics courses and our arts courses, and have substituted these things with convenient food and clothes and told ourselves that it's okay if our houses and wardrobes look like everyone else's and come from big boxes.
In the main, the French have not forgotten some of these things.
Every culture is different. But every culture has, as its birthright, the right to live in beauty. Because living in beauty and culture and the arts feeds the soul in a way that no trip to Costco ever can (no disrespect to Costco shoppers - I have a membership myself) and eating whole healthy foods makes you feel wonderful.
Wouldn't it be nice if non-French women (and men!) embraced niceties in the same way, eschewing brand names on butts for clothes that speak to them in a lovely way and for a kind, gentle (to themselves) way of living? Wouldn't it be nice if French Women wanted to copy us?
But I leave a treat! Speaking of Channing Tatum, catch the recent music video he just did with Jamie Foxx - it is a riff on a song they sang on Jimmie Kimmel in Jimmie's after the oscars show. Hysterical and cheeky!
http://www.buzzfeed.com/lyapalater/heres-the-official-music-video-for-channing-on-my-tatum
You can always count on Jimmie Kimmel to find ways to get celebrities to do the funniest things!
Have a great Monday and Stay Safe out There!
Many thanks for the advice yesterday!!!
This month's issue of Vanity Fair (yes, the one with Channing Tatum looking over his shoulder at YOU) has a great article called Liberté, Fraternité, Supériorité by that scamp James Walcott. He discusses the whole genre of books that have cropped up since French Women Don't Get Fat was published and the North American woman's obsession with them.
I admit to owning a few of these books. Their content can be boiled down to the following maxims:
1) French women have more self-control than anyone else when it comes to a) eating b) drinking c) shopping
2) French women are inherently chic and do not chase fashion trends like their non-french counterparts
3) French women are more discreet
4) French women need less clothing because they know what to do with the clothing they have
5) French women cook better than the rest of us and they don't overeat
Walcott argues that everyone else's obsession with the the French Woman is due to a desire to return to a time where people dressed up, knew how to cook and had MANNERS. His only lament is that there is not a similar series of best selling books for non-French men.
There IS certainly something to this argument. I have also heard arguments that the rise of these kinds of books, along with the rise of shows and blogs showing us how to have style, or whole networks designed to teach us how to cook are someone's idea to get us consume more.
The thing is, these things are hits because WE made them hits. The last thirty years of casual-ness, a natural by-product of the sixties' desire to throw off the shackles of anything that smacked of their parents, of feminists' desire to not be shackled to the house or kitchen, but no one else really stepped in to do it, has led to an almost ennui in society and has, I think, led to a general confusion about how to live, look and eat well.
Because regardless of the fact that you might be a feminist (which I consider myself) or a hipster or whatever, we all kind of want to eat healthy food, live in reasonably nice places and look nice. And we have cut our school home economics courses and our arts courses, and have substituted these things with convenient food and clothes and told ourselves that it's okay if our houses and wardrobes look like everyone else's and come from big boxes.
In the main, the French have not forgotten some of these things.
Every culture is different. But every culture has, as its birthright, the right to live in beauty. Because living in beauty and culture and the arts feeds the soul in a way that no trip to Costco ever can (no disrespect to Costco shoppers - I have a membership myself) and eating whole healthy foods makes you feel wonderful.
Wouldn't it be nice if non-French women (and men!) embraced niceties in the same way, eschewing brand names on butts for clothes that speak to them in a lovely way and for a kind, gentle (to themselves) way of living? Wouldn't it be nice if French Women wanted to copy us?
But I leave a treat! Speaking of Channing Tatum, catch the recent music video he just did with Jamie Foxx - it is a riff on a song they sang on Jimmie Kimmel in Jimmie's after the oscars show. Hysterical and cheeky!
http://www.buzzfeed.com/lyapalater/heres-the-official-music-video-for-channing-on-my-tatum
You can always count on Jimmie Kimmel to find ways to get celebrities to do the funniest things!
Have a great Monday and Stay Safe out There!
