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France Introduces Itself
a little educational film
by Benjamin H. Zucker
Citizens of the world!
Hello, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the Quai d'Orsay.
It is our great pleasure to introduce you to France,
according to our national symbols.
If you've ever seen a French passport,
then you've seen an emblem of the Republic which is neither official nor very well known.
Admittedly, some parts of this emblem are rather generic--
the olive branch, which symbolizes peace;
the oak branch, for strength and endurance--
these symbols are easily recognizable,
but they are not unique to the French.
The lictor's fasces, in the middle, is a bit more important for France.
The fasces is a bunch of branches tied around an ax.
These were carried by the lictors of ancient Rome
to represent imperium: authority, power.
After the French Revolution, we used the symbol of the fasces to show
that the power belongs to the people, and to symbolize the unity of the French people.
Finally, in the center of the shield is a symbol which is not as creative but is more explicit:
the letters RF, which stand for, obviously,
the words "République française" ("French Republic").
This emblem is beautiful, isn't it?
However, it is a little problematic for us.
It looks too much like a coat of arms.
Coats of arms are for aristocrats, kings.
They stand for oppression, the old regime.
Today, France is a republic, and therefore we need a symbol
that represents our values in a democratic fashion.
Ah, that's better!
Freedom, equality, brotherhood: our national motto.
Of course you recognize the tricolor flag--
just in case, we have written the name of our country at the bottom.
But are you familiar with this woman?
She's beautiful, isn't she?
Her name is Marianne.
She is an allegory of the Republic and of freedom.
Since the Revolution, it's been common to represent freedom with a woman wearing a Phrygian cap.
The Phrygian cap is itself a symbol of freedom--
supposedly, in Greece and Rome, it was the traditional hat of freed slaves.
So we use the Phrygian cap to show that we have freed ourselves from the slavery of the monarchy.
The woman with the Phrygian cap acquired the name Marianne.
Why?
We don't really know for certain, but we often say
that the name Marianne combines two very common French given names,
so Marianne represents the people.
Today, there are busts of this woman in every city hall in the country,
and everybody knows her name.
There is another character who represents us from time to time,
even if he is not as elegant as the beautiful Marianne:
the rooster,
also known as the Gallic rooster.
The Romans gave us this symbol, by way of a pun.
Being very clever, they noticed that
their word "gallus" happened to mean
"someone from Gaul"
as well as "rooster."
With time, we adopted this symbol for ourselves.
For us, the rooster symbolizes courage, pride.
Therefore the rooster has been more popular as a symbol in wartime--
the Revolutionary period and the Third Republic in particular.
A notable exception: Napoleon rejected the use of the rooster as a symbol of his empire;
he said that the rooster "has no strength at all."
His nephew didn't like it either.
Nowadays, we mostly see the rooster in the logos of sports teams.
But the only official emblem of France, according to the constitution of the Fifth Republic,
is the tricolor flag with which you are familiar.
It's pretty simple:
three vertical bands of blue, white, and red.
The colors go well together, don't they?
Just ask the Americans,
the British,
the Thais,
the Luxembourgers,
the Dutch,
the Paraguayans,
the Serbs,
the Slovaks
(or the Slovenes),
or the Russians.
We admit it;
our choice of colors is not exactly unique,
but for us these colors have a historical significance.
The blue and the red have been the colors of Paris since the Middle Ages.
The white represents the monarchy.
So, even though the tricolor flag is from the revolutionary period,
it is not truly a revolutionary symbol.
On the other hand, our national anthem is very connected to the revolution.
Undoubtedly you recognize this song.
It's called "La Marseillaise."
But this "Song of Marseille" is not really from Marseille.
It was written in Strasbourg, by Rouget de Lisle,
as the "War Song for the Army of the Rhine,"
which was fighting against Austria.
The song got its current name in Paris, during the Tuileries Insurrection,
where it was sung by volunteer troops from Marseille.
Since July 14, 1795, "La Marseillaise" has been our national anthem,
except under the Empire
and the Restoration.
Some French people don't like the lyrics of the anthem very much;
they object to the calls "to arms,"
and to the references to "tainted blood"
and to soldiers who are coming to "cut the throats" of our sons and wives.
In fact, in 1992, First Lady Danielle Mitterrand, along with many other citizens,
tried to have the lyrics officially changed to make them less violent and more friendly.
But the changes did not occur.
Why not?
Because La Marseillaise stands for our history, our heritage.
Of course the lyrics are violent--
we are the French!
We defend freedom, equality, brotherhood;
we fight against anyone to protect our republican values
--not always--
but usually, yes!
THAT is our identity; THAT is France.
LONG LIVE FRANCE!
Right...
we hope that you have gained, from our little presentation,
an enhanced understanding of the French culture,
and we thank you for listening.
Until next time!