rench cinema and the Christkind thing
Posted in Misc
I am going to merge the last two posts into a lovely mini-rant, here it goes :)…
- This article proclaims that French culture is over-hyped, “the factory which is the French cinema” produces only rubbish, and the French are stuck in the past. It seems to me like a very rude thing to say, especially standing there on the BBC website, but a friend recently enlightened me it’s an attitude reserved only for the French - the two countries being in a perpetual love-hate relationship and all that. Anyway, one example I can give in defence of French cinema is Dédales, a great crime drama that beats everything else I’ve watched recently; I also think Vilaine was very funny ( not to be confused with “Le Villain”; I haven’t watched that one.)
- My older post was about another article describing the ominous “anti-Santa Claus” movement in Austria. Some say that Santa Claus is a commercial invention associated with Coca-Cola, and therefore it’s best to get rid of the jolly old man. Instead of Santa / Father Christmas, they are promoting Christkind, which is sort of more abstract and anti-materialistic. The article says it is based on a tradition that comes from Austria and is older than Santa Claus. I just can’t agree that Santa Claus is a commercial invention. In Bulgaria gifts were delivered by “Father Frost” (Дядо Мраз or Дед Мoроз in Russian) on 31 December. Nowadays, Father Frost is replaced by Father Christmas (Дядо Коледа), and the date abruptly changed to 25 December. However, he’s clearly the same guy, with red outfit, reindeer and all; It’s an old pagan tradition.





