Voulez-vous des frites avec votre Marc Lévy ?
"La culture qui, en France, forme un lien plus solide que la race ou la religion, est en crise. Le service public doit répondre à cette crise qui menace la démocratie... La télévision publique est-elle encore le lieu de ce combat ? Y a-t-il encore une place pour la littérature à l’antenne ? Ou bien sommes-nous condamnés à ces émissions dites « culturelles » où le livre n’est qu’un prétexte et un alibi ?"
-- Frédéric Ferney, Paris le 4 juin 2008, in a letter addressed to President Sarkozy regarding the end of his literary television show on France 5, "Le Bateau-Livre", via La république des livres
It wouldn't occur to me to turn my attention to the boob tube for the latest on book and author news, but that's probably entirely due to the fact that I grew up in the U.S. and culturally oriented programming -- save PBS, of course -- is a luxury one pays for, not an option on yer basic cable menu. This is unfortunate. And reminds me of nights of pant-wetting hysterics brought on by watching Los Angeles' public channel with my roommate; there we are, on the rug, gaping and gasping slack-jawed at the rotating, motley group of performers obliviously taking a stab at their 15 minutes of fame.
Anyway, yes, it is a tragedy when a television program dedicated to doing something that requires turning off the television ceases to attract viewers, funding, and then support from the very people who would wail over France's cultural demise at the hands of McDonald's, immigrants, and anglicisms.
France really ought to be counting its blessings, though: at least they don't have merde like this to contend with.
-- Frédéric Ferney, Paris le 4 juin 2008, in a letter addressed to President Sarkozy regarding the end of his literary television show on France 5, "Le Bateau-Livre", via La république des livres
It wouldn't occur to me to turn my attention to the boob tube for the latest on book and author news, but that's probably entirely due to the fact that I grew up in the U.S. and culturally oriented programming -- save PBS, of course -- is a luxury one pays for, not an option on yer basic cable menu. This is unfortunate. And reminds me of nights of pant-wetting hysterics brought on by watching Los Angeles' public channel with my roommate; there we are, on the rug, gaping and gasping slack-jawed at the rotating, motley group of performers obliviously taking a stab at their 15 minutes of fame.
Anyway, yes, it is a tragedy when a television program dedicated to doing something that requires turning off the television ceases to attract viewers, funding, and then support from the very people who would wail over France's cultural demise at the hands of McDonald's, immigrants, and anglicisms.
France really ought to be counting its blessings, though: at least they don't have merde like this to contend with.
Comments
nancy
Not yet anyway. That type of program is corrosive- it gets into a culture and eats away at it like a cancer.