Anyone hear this interview?
I'm going to preface this by saying that I generally like David Sedaris. His books are funny-I'm on the waiting list at the library for When I am Engulfed in Flames (I hardly ever buy books anymore-too much $$ spent in school) and I literally laugh out loud when I read them!
BUT...
I was really disappointed! I know that he's been living in France for awhile and therefore doesn't do all of the typical tourist stuff, and that's okay! Sometimes, going to a grocery store in the country you are visiting can be a great adventure, so when he said that he doesn't go to the monuments, he goes to Monoprix, I was cool. When he said that he's never been to the Lourvre, only the shops underneath the museum, I was still cool. There are SOOOO many French people that haven't been even to Paris, let alone the Louvre (same thing with Americans and NYC and the Met) that I wasn't going to fault him. I didn't go to the Louvre until my 3rd trip to the country.
BUT, my acceptance of his Americanized living in France came to a screeeeeching halt with movies and food. He has a pass to the theatre chains and only goes to those. It's okay, chains are chains and when you are going to at least 1 movie per day, it's nice to have the discount, but at least sometimes go to the small quaint family theatres! And see a French film every now and again! They are good! (not all of them, but many!) He's gay! Paris MUST have a gay cinema celebration during Pride-go see the great LGBT films that the country has produced!
And then the talk of food which almost made me cry-when David Sedaris has friends visit him, he takes them to Quick. Do you know what Quick is? It's the McDonald's of France! There is no better place to take visitors than Quick? I was APPALLED!
So, dear readers, it's worth a listen if you want to be enraged. I think it was on this past Saturday on my local NPR station and I know it's out in podcast form. Take a list to David Sedaris' Americanized version of France, but this time, you'll be laughing for the wrong reasons.
**Note, there was a joke in there about why landlords have/should have a higher willingness to rent to gay couples than straight couples. That was funny. I admit it.
1 comments:
I heard that interview and I was shocked. A grouchy frustrated old man (David) was spilling out stereotypes based on a a few days of living in France. Rick Steves, fossilizing ridiculous stereotypes about "THE" Europeans "I thought their coffee is so good." Who the hell is "their"??
I think this was a nightmarish and typically ignorant American show of two clowns pretending to know it all. Pathetic and reiterating the image of the superficial American.
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