{"id":21334,"date":"2014-11-18T04:00:19","date_gmt":"2014-11-18T03:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=21334"},"modified":"2017-10-23T13:23:37","modified_gmt":"2017-10-23T11:23:37","slug":"21334","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/21334\/","title":{"rendered":"France\u2019s Contributions to the World (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 20th<\/sup> and 21st<\/sup> centuries have proven to be fascinating periods in history. There have been greater advances in technology, science and medicine in the last hundred years than in all previous centuries combined. We live in a world where we can communicate with people across the globe in real time; where we can travel to the most remote parts of the planet; and where we can experience first-hand distant cultures that people for centuries didn\u2019t even know existed. We have access to any piece of information, not to mention hours of entertainment, all within the palm of our hand. It\u2019s easy to take all of this for granted but everything we come into contact with has a \u201chistory\u201d of its own. It has evolved over a number of years, even decades or centuries to become what it is today.<\/p>\n

The course of human civilization has been tumultuous since its inception. Cultures have taken shape independently from one another. Some have disappeared completely due to wars and disease. Each country or culture that exists today has contributed to the human experience in some way. The luxuries and conveniences we live with were often borne out of necessity but many times out of sheer curiosity. You could spend a lifetime studying the contributions of a single country and still not cover everything.<\/p>\n

So what has France contributed to the world? More than you might think. Let\u2019s take a look\u2026<\/p>\n

1. La Gastronomie Fran\u00e7aise<\/b> (French Gastronomy): The art of French cuisine has a long and storied history dating back to the Moyen \u00c2ge<\/b> (Middle Ages). The stereotypical \u201cFrench chef\u201d you see in many cartoons is, like many stereotypes, simply an exaggeration of la v\u00e9rit\u00e9<\/b> (the truth). Haute Cuisine<\/b> (High Cooking) is practiced by the best hotels and restaurants throughout France where food is treated as an art form not only in its preparation but in its presentation. Le Guide Michelin<\/b><\/a> continues to set high culinary standards with its system of awarding stars to the world\u2019s finest restaurants and Le Cordon Bleu <\/b><\/a>(The Blue Ribbon) established in 1895 in Paris is the school to attend for ambitious chefs who want to learn from the best.<\/p>\n

2. La Mode<\/b> (Fashion): Although the idea of fashion dates back to the earliest civilizations, fashion as we know it today began in France in the 17th<\/sup> century in the courts of King Louis XIV. Haute Couture<\/b> (High Sewing) became a symbol of prestige and individuality among aristocrats who spent extravagant amounts of money on tailored clothing. Designs elements and coordinated ensembles established in French courts influenced courts in other countries and these styles would eventually trickle down to the masses. Queen Marie-Antoinette became the country\u2019s foremost fashionista<\/i> during her short reign. Today, many of the most prestigious and renown fashion labels are indeed French: Chanel, Vuitton, Herm\u00e8s, Dior, etc.<\/p>\n

3. Ballet<\/b>: Much like fashion, theatrical dance rose to prominence in the courts of Louis XIV. An avid dancer himself, the king established the Acad\u00e9mie Royale de Danse <\/b>(Royal Dance Academy) in 1661 devoted exclusively to the study of ballet. In the 18th<\/sup> and early 19th<\/sup> centuries, France remained at the forefront of ballet education.<\/p>\n

4. Litt\u00e9rature <\/b>(Literature): Literature cannot be attributed to one country in particular, but France has produced its share of prolific auteurs<\/b> (authors) whose works have been translated into dozens of languages, made into plays, adapted to the silver screen and have permeated popular culture in many western countries. Victor Hugo is an icon of the Romantic literary movement famous for Les Mis\u00e9rables<\/b> and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame<\/b><\/a> among others. Alexandre Dumas was another notable figure of literary Romanticism and author of The Count of Monte Cristo <\/b><\/a>and The Three Musketeers<\/b>. Flaubert, Zola, Balzac, Proust, Verne, Saint-Exup\u00e9ry, La Fontaine, Baudelaire and many others have penned classics that have stood the test of time and continue to be held in high esteem throughout the Western world.<\/p>\n

5. Philosophie<\/b> (Philosophy): Philosophy began in the days of Ancient Greece with Socrates, Plato and Aristotle but France has been a great contributor to modern thought over the last four hundred years beginning with Ren\u00e9 Descartes, a scientist, philosopher and mathematician known as the \u201cFather of Modern Philosophy.\u201d Denis Diderot is responsible for creating the first encyclopedia while Fran\u00e7ois-Marie Arouet who took Voltaire<\/i> as his nom de plume<\/b> (pen name) wrote works on history, poetry, prose, and science. Both of these men were forward-thinkers during the Si\u00e8cle des Lumi\u00e8res<\/b> (Age of Enlightenment) who advocated for the separation of church and state and became a voice for the disenfranchised populace.<\/p>\n

6. Impressionnisme<\/b> (Impressionism): Impressionism is a quintessential French art movement that developed in Paris in the late 19th<\/sup> century. Paintings of the Impressionist movement were characterized by the transient use of light and color to portray subjects. Accuracy was eschewed in favor of a more free-flowing style of painting that emphasized the artist\u2019s use of texture and tone manipulation. Famous Impressionists included Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Paul C\u00e9zanne, \u00c9douard Manet, Camille Pissarro, and Edgar Degas among others.<\/p>\n

Join us next time as we continue our exploration of French contributions to the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

The 20th and 21st centuries have proven to be fascinating periods in history. There have been greater advances in technology, science and medicine in the last hundred years than in all previous centuries combined. We live in a world where we can communicate with people across the globe in real time; where we can travel…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":21338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21334","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21334"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28643,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21334\/revisions\/28643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}