Vive la France, y'all!
Tuesday July 14, 2009
Categories: A Sense of Place
Yes, it's Bastille Day again, and while one naturellement prays for the Vendee on this day, one also must rise above the Late Unpleasantness to salute a great nation and a great people on their national day. Drink a bottle...
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About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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Screw 'em, the unrepentant genocidal pantywaists.
I wave my private parts in front of your aunties!
Vive la France. Vive l'Amerique.
One of the greatest scenes in the history of movies. It turns anyone, at least temporarily, into a French patriot. What a stirring national anthem La Marseillaise is. It makes me think more highly of the French.
Yeah Rod based on the top three comments above , part of me wonders if you knew that that kind of thing was going to occur and that the whole post was a big setup just so you could get the reaction that you knew you were going to get from the peanut gallery above. Oh well the jokes on somebody, just not me. Ha Ha Ha.
2 best fightin' songs ever: La Marseillaise & Dixie.
Something very interesting (and crunchy) about France that I think is fitting on this day: http://idlewords.com/2003/03/french_week_on_school_lunches.htm.
If any of the women are planning on having an extramarital affair with Sarkozy, I will volontiers make Carla Bruni happy in the interim. Not that her interim is unhappy now, mind you.
As I once remarked to a très French lady of my acquaintance, chérie, you have the most delightful cedilla. Charming to a fault, she replied that I had a cute circumflex, a grave compliment it seemed to me.
Vive le double-entendre! A bas les tyrans! Vive la France!
A great scene from a great movie. "Casablanca" was my first "favorite movie" and that scene was one of the first times I really cried in a movie (well, if you don't count "Old Yeller," "Bambi," and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" with Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara).
That scene always makes me choke up.
Here's "Get Fuzzy's" take on the French National Anthem:
http://comics.com/get_fuzzy/2009-03-03/
Our fellow Texan Lance Armstrong is working wonders right now in the Alps to strengthen that Franco-American friendship. Go Lance!
Just looked up an English literal translation of the lyrics - Yikes:
I hope the formatting doesn't go all wonky - here's a link to the source if it does: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Marseillaise
La Marseillaise
Allons enfants de la Patrie, Come, children of the Fatherland,
Le jour de gloire est arrivé ! The day of glory has arrived!
Contre nous de la tyrannie, Against us tyranny's
L'étendard sanglant est levé, (bis) bloodied banner is raised, (repeat)
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes Do you hear in the countryside
Mugir ces féroces soldats ? The roar of those ferocious soldiers?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras They come right here into your midst
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes ! To slit the throats of your sons and wives!
Aux armes, citoyens, To arms, citizens,
Formez vos bataillons, Form your battalions,
Marchons, marchons ! Let's march, let's march!
Qu'un sang impur May a tainted blood
Abreuve nos sillons ! Drench our furrows!
Que veut cette horde d'esclaves, What does this horde of slaves,
De traîtres, de rois conjurés ? Of traitors and conspiring kings want?
Pour qui ces ignobles entraves, For whom are these vile chains,
Ces fers dès longtemps préparés ? (bis) These long-prepared irons? (repeat)
Français, pour nous, ah ! quel outrage Frenchmen, for us, ah! What an insult
Quels transports il doit exciter ! What fury it must arouse!
C'est nous qu'on ose méditer It is we whom they dare plan
De rendre à l'antique esclavage ! To return to the old slavery!
Aux armes, citoyens... To arms, citizens...
Quoi ! des cohortes étrangères What! Foreign cohorts
Feraient la loi dans nos foyers ! Would rule our homes!
Quoi ! ces phalanges mercenaires What! These mercenary phalanxes
Terrasseraient nos fiers guerriers ! (bis) Would cut down our proud warriors! (repeat)
Grand Dieu ! par des mains enchaînées Great God ! By chained hands
Nos fronts sous le joug se ploieraient Our heads would bow under the yoke
De vils despotes deviendraient Vile despots would become
Les maîtres de nos destinées ! The masters of our destinies!
Aux armes, citoyens... To arms, citizens...
Tremblez, tyrans et vous perfides Tremble, tyrants and traitors
L'opprobre de tous les partis, The shame of all good men,
Tremblez ! vos projets parricides Tremble! Your parricidal schemes
Vont enfin recevoir leurs prix ! (bis) Will finally receive their just reward! (repeat)
Tout est soldat pour vous combattre, Against you, we are all soldiers,
S'ils tombent, nos jeunes héros, If our young heroes fall,
La terre en produit de nouveaux, The earth will bear new ones,
Contre vous tout prêts à se battre ! Ready to join the fight against you!
Aux armes, citoyens... To arms, citizens...
Français, en guerriers magnanimes, Frenchmen, as magnanimous warriors,
Portez ou retenez vos coups ! Bear or hold back your blows!
Épargnez ces tristes victimes, Spare these sorry victims,
À regret s'armant contre nous. (bis) Armed against us against their will. (repeat)
Mais ces despotes sanguinaires, But not these blood-thirsty despots,
Mais ces complices de Bouillé, These accomplices of Bouillé,
Tous ces tigres qui, sans pitié, All these tigers who mercilessly
Déchirent le sein de leur mère ! Slash their mother's breast!
Aux armes, citoyens... To arms, citizens...
Amour sacré de la Patrie, Sacred patriotic love,
Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs Lead and support our avenging arms
Liberté, Liberté chérie, Liberty, cherished liberty,
Combats avec tes défenseurs ! (bis) Fight back with your defenders! (repeat)
Sous nos drapeaux que la victoire Under our flags, let victory
Accoure à tes mâles accents, Hurry to your manly tone,
Que tes ennemis expirants So that your dying enemies,
Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire ! See your triumph and our glory!
Aux armes, citoyens... To arms, citizens...
(Couplet des enfants) (Children's Verse)
Nous entrerons dans la carrière[3] We shall enter the (military) career
Quand nos aînés n'y seront plus, When our elders are no longer there,
Nous y trouverons leur poussière There we shall find their dust
Et la trace de leurs vertus (bis) And the mark of their virtues (repeat)
Bien moins jaloux de leur survivre Much less jealous to survive them
Que de partager leur cercueil, Than to share their coffins,
Nous aurons le sublime orgueil We shall have the sublime pride
De les venger ou de les suivre Of avenging or following them
Aux armes, citoyens... To arms, citizens...
France and the French may indeed be wonderful, but IMHO you should find a different day to celebrate, given the horrors of the revolution (including the Vendee affair) and its ushering in of secular modernity, no friend to you or I. Beyond that, the Marseillaise is incredibly violent -- "Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes; To slit the throats of your sons and wives".
Maybe a French saint's day? Bernard on Aug. 20? Or 13 January, the date of Abbot Suger's death (although not an official saint, he did give us Gothic)?
I've always wondered if the scene in Casablanca wasn't a ripoff of a very similar scene in Renoir's "Grande Illusion".
It's highly manipulative, but those who know the words' meaning, history, and historical context will be much less susceptible. I wish the French well, but do not celebrate this day, which represents a defeat for humanity.
A great scene from a great movie. "Casablanca" was my first "favorite movie" and that scene was one of the first times I really cried in a movie
Agreed. I still cry when I watch that scene from Casablanca.
Totally agree with Romulus about the influence of Grand Illusion on Casablanca and would also argue that both scenes may have been suggested by the 1812 Overture. Love both films, don’t care much for Tchaikovsky.
And in film studies they don’t say “rip-off” they say “homage.”
The reference to Grand Illusion reminds me that I have occasionally wondered if Rod ever gave Rules of the Game another chance. Hey, it’s a French masterpiece, too.
Ste Jeanne would be the fitting alternative day.
That said, and without diminishing the horror of Germany in the first half of the 20th century, French armies repeatedly devastated the lands of Baden and Wurttemburg (lands of my paternal ancestry) under Louis XIV, Louis XV and Napoleon in ways that make the American Civil War look like a tea party....
Well, family legend has it that my mother's ancestors celebrated Bastille Day by fleeing the country and coming to America--at least, they were rumored to have left France in 1789 because of all the trouble there. Not sure what sort of celebration that calls for, but I get the feeling we covered it about ten days ago...
:)
Irenaeus, la verse que vous avez cité fait allusion à les armées royalistes (que l'Église a supporté), pas les républicains.
On doit se souvenir que l'Église était inextricablement lié à l'aristocratie. Il y avait des bonnes raisons pour l'anticléricalisme.
Ainsi, il est juste de célébrer le quatorze juillet même si la révolution a donné naissance à la terreur.
celtic dragon critter et Rod aussi, j'aime cette scène de Casablanca aussi. C'est merveilleux, surtout si vous vous souvenez que beaucoup de l'acteurs et l'actrices dans cette scène étaient juifs et juives qui ont fuis les Nazis.
An interesting postscript to what Geoff says is that among the refugees in that scene is Conrad Veidt, who plays Major Strasser. Veidt himself was not Jewish but some members of his family were.
Romulus, absolutely, I agree that this scene from "Casablanca" is manipulative. But, so are most "national anthems" -- they are designed to elicit strong emotions in those who hear and sing them. But in the context of the movie this was about the triumph of freedom over tyranny, so, of course, it brings tears to many of our eyes.
Hi, hild. Conrad Veidt was gay, so he would probably have been executed by the Nazis if he stayed in Germany. Instead he went to Hollywood and got his revenge by playing Nazi villains (he was also a fabulous villain in "The Thief of Baghdad").
Re: La Marseillaise
Too bad the French did not have that kind of spunk when they actually fought the Nazis. (France folded in weeks.)
Here is some more French culture - a YouTube video, "Sarkozy, Nous Voila," which is a take-off of "Marechal, Nous Voila" ... an song honoring Petain, from the Vichy era.
Lee
This is a recording of the royalist anthem of 1590, in honor of Henri IV.
Lee
An anthem from the Vendee resistance to the revolutionaries.
Lee
Here is Edith Piaf's rendition of "Ca ira," the Jacobin marching song of the Revolution.
Lee
SteveM: before you repeat the well-worn charge that the French folded without a fight, you ought to look up the casualty statistics. As a percentage of population, the French mobilized more men than the USA. As a percentage of men in uniform, the French had more casualties (including KIA) than the USA. I see no reason to disparage their performance against a superior foe.
Geoff G: The Church was on the side of both the nobility and the peasants -- in short, she was standing up for social stability and the people's freedom to practice their faith. Her opponents were the bourgeoisie, especially freemasons and others those with philosophical pretensions. In the Vendee, it was the peasants who compelled the local nobility to lead them against the republicans ("Que la Terreur soit a l'ordre du jour.").
This is my last contribution to today's remembrance of the Revolution: a recording of "Carmagnole," another Jacobin song from early in the Revolution.
Vive la France!
Lee
Alicia: Casablanca has a peculiar notion of freedom, insofar as Rick's credentials as a "good guy" include siding with the republicans in the Spanish Civil War. Among everything else that the second world war was, it was a time of ideological struggle and political myth-making on all sides.
Hi, Romulus,
Real life and real politics and history are much more complicated than a piece of popular entertainment like "Casablanca" which was meant to inspire and cheer people up in a dark time (and, of course, to make money for the studio). To me, part of the intended message was "We Americans are tough guys. We can take these Nazi b*stards."
I saw a "making of" documentary and the "Casablanca" writers said that what helped them sort out the climax was that they asked themselves, "Who does the audience want to see killed? Major Strasser" and "Who should kill him? Rick, of course." The movie has many themes but one of them is summed by Rick earlier in the film when he says "There are some parts of New York City I wouldn't advise (the Germans) to invade."
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