French Essay Revision Flashcards
Women should not be allowed to dream in Romans et Enfants
“revenez bien vite à votre condition” pg 61
Talking about prescribed roles in society, we don’t notice them
Romans et Enfants- Woman try to invade on the mans world
Pg 62 “Jaloux de se privileges”
“l’homme existe”
“votre femme ne sera jamais qu’une femme”
Writing can be a pass time but woman should remember their real purpose
Jouets- they prepare children for the world of adulthood
“le jouet français est entièrement socialisé” pg 63
Jouets- condition girls for future roles and also suppress creativity
“il n’invente pas le monde, il l’utilise”
Link to the bourgeois movement in Jouets
“La disparation du boi” and the invasion of the plastic is a sign of “L’embourgeoisement du jouet” pg 64
Bichon chez les nègres- criticises the judgement of europeans and their ‘clichés’
Suggests people need to wake up to the reality of the situation and look beyond the cultural division, the press is fuelling this
He denounces the term “guignols”
‘le nègre n’a pas de vie autonome’
‘les representations collectives ne suivent pas (le chemin), elles son des siècles en arrière’ 72
Bichon chez le nègres- blacks are portrayed as an inferior race who pose a threat
“le nègre fait peur’ pg 71
Criticism of the nature of the society
“nous vivions encore dans une menatlité pre-voltarienne” pg 72
Le vin et le lait- le vin is…
a way of life for french society, it is treated differently than in other countries, seen as a “totem vivace” pg 80
Wine is suggested to be integral
because it integrates seamlessly with society
“il orne les cérémoniaux” pg 82
Criticism of the western world in le vin et le lait, in particular popular culture
milk is portrayed as a drink of heroes
“quelques film américaines…dur et pur” 83
Further criticism of the capitalist nature of France
wine production supports capitalism, not every thing that seems perfect can exist with out negative repercussions essentially
Bifteck et frites
“il suit la cote des valuers patriotiques” pg 85
“un aliment de rachat” pg 84
Le cerveau d’Einstein- what is suggested
that he is not worth worshipping, he is dead, he was not superhuman
He gave us all the answers, so we thought, but then left before confirming
“La formule magique du monde” pg 101
Le procès Dupriez
Not dissecting the murder but the justice system
“la justice fonde le crime sur la cause” 112
Tour de France- the spirit of the tour is suggested
the course is the enemy and each course takes on a different character
The course challenges the riders way of thinking “engage sa perception et son jugement” 122
How is the tour presented as a battle?
“elle se présente évidement comme une bataille” q25
talks about making sacrifices for team members
the director plays an important role in the success of the event
L’usager de la grève- what does Barthes say are the negative points about striking?
Illogical, a futile way of society manifesting its flaws
The bourgeois has the ability to nullify the impact of striking because “la grève est réduite à une incidence solitaire” pg 148
Positive points in l’usager de la greve
shows society to be whole, despite the falsities fo the consumerist world and the divisions in the class “tous sont concernés par tous” 149
“faire grève, c’est se moquer du monde”146
La Nouvelle citroën- selling a lifestyle
Essentially uses this to demonstrate our increasingly consummerist attitude
consumed in its image, not it’s use
It is not an ordinary car
People try it, turn the steering wheel and envisage how much better their life would be for having this car
Have we been conditioned?
“on sait que lisse est toujours un attribut de la perfection” 165
“l’amorce d’une nouvelle phénoménologie”
Critique muette et aveugle- what questions does Barthes ask?
why do critics often say that the work that they review is beyond their understanding
Critique muette et aveugle- what does Barthes find out about the critics?
“proclamer que l’on ne comprend rien c’est ériger sa cécité… c’est rejet du monde le marxisme”
“Je ne comprends pas donc vous êtes tous idiots” pg 59
In Critique muette et aveugle what might Barthes be suggesting about is own work?
That those who will criticise his own work may indeed be below the level of intelligence needed to understand what he is talking about
Saponides et détergents- what does his language show in this essay
It carefully shapes his argument to emphasise what is otherwise hidden within his essays
“se laisser aller la euphorie de l’OMO” pg 40- can a detergent, no matter how impressive, be euphoric?
What does Barthes suggest détergents says about our consumerist behaviour?
“le rende complice” (le consommateur) pg 41
Has controlling powers that manipulates us
How does Persil make people buy it’s products
“fonde son prestige sur l’évidence d’un résultat”
Like the car it sells a way of living and not the product its self. In the 20th century people were becoming increasingly aware of achieving a special sense of living that out them at the forefront of current style
How might the ‘poudres’ link with race and purity,
Unilever has some sort of grand expansion plan to make themselves known and impose themselves upon every aspect of life, even at the simpler forms like detergents
They remove the imperfections from the clothes, perhaps in mentioning this Barthes wanted to allude to racial hatred the century had experienced
‘la saleté est un petit enemi maligne’ pg 41
Le monde où l’on catch- how is wrestling portrayed?
Not as a show of sporting prowess, it is more like a gladiatorial like display of showmanship
What does the public want from the show according to Barthes?
“l’image de la passion, no la passion elle même” PG 27
The world is at stage where it is content with not the truth, a substitution of pain and emotion that is more predictable is enough for many
What is another theme in le monde où l’on catch?
“C’est un concept purement moral: la justice” 20
Plastique- what does it suggest about society
that it is feudalistic, it is trying to hide the primitive form in various other ways, perhaps as we are ashamed of it
What is the deeper meaning of plastic?
“l’ubiquité rendue visible” 187
“d’un mouvement” 187
“Mêmes les aortes sont maintenant plastiqués” 189
What strange aspect of plastic does Barthes criticise?
The sound “ce qui le trahit le plus” est le sonne
Astrologie is essentially equivalent to
“sorcellerie” 181
what is astrologies relation to the bourgeois
” est la littérature du monde petit-bourgeois”
Grammaire africaine- sometimes is more open about what he is exploring
“je voudrais indiquer brièvement ici la façon dont un lexique et une grammaire peuvent être politiquement engagés”
destin
‘les peuples colonisés commencent a démentir la fatalité
de leur condition’ this is when they use the word most pg 151
Politique
les affaire de l’Afrrique du nord ne sont pas du domain de la politique” takes a very pragmatic approach to the way the colonised are treated
Myths were designed to distract us from?
The reality of life- example is in the role of toys or le monde out l’on catch
What style do Barthes’ essays embody
journalistic and poetic
What is the idea behind the strike?
the most explicit form of political valour where those who are expected to be uniformly obedient and conformists, go against the grain
How does he help to engage the reader, and persuade
he invites us, he narrates so his arguments become clearer eg in the Grammaire africaine
What is barthes’ main aim
to hold a mirror up to societies hidden flaws and expose the middle class
Where does his essay of grammaire africaine come from?
Linguistic research, he shows this with his essays
Also uses the power of language to make his arguments seem all the more convincing
what is progressive humanism?
we are masters of our phone
progress is inevitable- truth changes.
This can be see in Barthes style of writing
what theory deeply influenced Barthes?
the semiotic theory
what do Bathes’ essays have to do with tautology
he criticises the Bourgeoisie of living in a world where they are and there fore that goes, they seem to progress of people just accepting who they are
what is a week point of Barthes’ argument
he is seen as being binary
ethnocentrism is seen in
Bichon chez le nègres maybe grammaire africaine as well
