French Stereotypes

Stereotypes are very common in any country, including France.  Many Americans have thoughts about the French, how they can be rude, thin, and do nothing all day.  Now, some of that could be true, respectively.  Here are some main stereotypes that I think a lot of people have about the French.

One of the main stereotypes that we make about French people is that they are overly dramatic and romantic.  I could prove that true, easily.  Every French film, story, and monument has a love story in it.  The Pont des Arts, or Bridge of the Arts, is nothing more than a pedestrian bridge, with hundreds of romances attatched to its chains.

While walking somewhere in Paris, you might happen to walk across a pedestrian bridge, just like the Pont des Arts, and you will notice a bunch of padlocks linked to the chains of the railings.  Well, in France, if you have been dating or are in a relationship with someone, it is considered a tradition.  What couples do is, they buy a pad lock, a simple lock and key, and walk with it to the nearest pedestrian bridge.  There, they open the lock, attatch it to the chain, close it, and throw the key into the river.  Basically, it means that the couple has pledged their love for each another and they kiss on the bridge.  Sometimes, they even carve each others initials on the backs of the locks.  Now, if you are anything like me, a sappy person, you probably just said "Awww, how sweet/cute/romantic!"  Yes, I think it is too:).  If you are anything like my blogging partner Céline, I'm guessing you either threw up in your mouth a little bit, or said "ugh, please", and that's fine.  The only thing that ruins this perfect moment, is that every year, the French police come and take all of the locks off of the railings and throw them away.  I wonder if any couples break up that day. . . Here is a few pictures of what I am talking about.  In the left picture, it might be hard to see, but the little dots on the chains are the locks, and yes, the Eiffel Tower is in the background.  On the right, those are the locks zoomed in.

Another stereotype is that the French are rude.  In my opinion, the French aren't exactly rude, but they can be impatient with tourists.  I was at this cute, little, French café on a street corner (I know, another stereotype, I'm getting to it) and the waiter was being very rude, and he had an attitude.  Yes, I know that maybe he was having a bad day, he got hurt, or something happened at home.  And I also know that in America, people who work here try to be nice to annoying, snobby, slow, and mean customers, but my family and I were doing nothing but maybe taking too long to decide what to have.  So he was being a little rude, but I guess I would do the same thing.  This was also the same café in which I had my first croque-monsieur and it happened to be very good.  I can't speak for other French cities besides Paris, but I don't think the French are that rude or snobby.

Now, let's visualize.  Imagine that you are Paris. . . I'm gonna guess that you pictured yourself sitting in a café, on a street corner, drinking a coffee or a glass of wine just watching the world go by on scooters.  Do you hear a saxophone lightly playing a 20's-ish sounding jazz tune in the background?  Yep, another stereotype.  It is true that the French sit and watch the world go by, but often there's no background music.  If you have seen Midnight in Paris, I'm hoping, you would have noticed the jazz at the beginning of the movie.  People often think that the French are lazy, and just smoke and drink coffee or wine all day, when they don't. People often have drinks, but they are very active (how else would they stay so thin?).

Which, in fact, brings me to my next point.  Yes, people (Americans), happen to think the French are so thin and skinny.  And yes, that is true.  The reason is, Parisians walk everywhere!  Unless a) you are sick, b) it's raining out, c) you are going on a 'road trip', or d) the metro isn't working, you are gonna walk all day to every place you have to go.  Another reason is, the portions of food in France are much smaller.  If they happen to be big, the French do not eat all of the food on the plate, whatsoever.  Finally, the last reason is that in France, although they have fast food restaurants, they do not have nearly as many as we do in America.

As you see, we have a very nice list of stereotypes about the French.  They are, so far, dramatic, romantic, lazy, rude, arrogant, skinny people.  Though only half of those are true, Americans still make assumptions about them.  I just wanted to tell you some of these things from my point of view.  If you have anything you would like to add to the list, please leave a comment or if you would just like to comment then go ahead!:)

-Colette

P.S. This post was not written in any offense to French people!:)