Sport, the opiate of the masses

This week, I have decided to tackle the great subject of sport ! Sport is not just an entertainment, it is a society phenomenon and also a great way to discover the characteristics of a country.

I had the idea of posting a blog about sport thanks to a UCLA American football game I came to watch a few days ago. I was globally struck by this particular experience because that kind of game is really different from what I (and the French people in general) am used to. Here are some pictures from this game and the basis to my analysis of the differences in sports between France and the USA.

The orchestra and the cheerleaders of one of the teams

Huge screen in Rosa Bowl Stadium

To draw a comparison, I will show you a picture of a Montpellier rugby game (the team of my city):

The Montpellier rugby team Stadium

Rosa Bowl Stadium

So, what differences can you see ?

As far as I am concerned, what startles me is all the hustle and bustle made around the game. I nearly did not watch the game itself because my eyes could not stop flickering towards the cheerleaders or the orchestra, the commercials on the big screen, the speakers ! During a French rugby game, you don't see cheerleaders, orchestras or commercials on the screen (that just shows the game). But, it seems that it can be sometimes useful to get some distraction because some games are pretty boring (French and American) !

Moreover, advertising is more controlled in France. You can only see commercials on the barriers, the players' t-shirts and in a very restricted way. On the contrary, in the US, advertising plays a huge part in sports. The best example I can think about is the Superbowl. Companies create special campaigns and commercials for the Superbowl and they pay tremendous amounts of money for just several seconds on screen (in 2013, it will cost $3.8 million for 30 seconds...). Last year, Volkswagen designed an amazing campaign for the Superbowl that made a great buzz. "The Bark Side" (see the video below) generated more than 3 million views on YouTube in 2 days and has now 17 million views.

This leads us to the characteristic that advertising and money is completely part of American culture. In France, money is badly regarded. You should not talk about money (politically incorrect) and advertisement included in culture (cultural venues, exhibitions, sport) means that the show or the place has a poor value.

Sports are also a great part of American society insofar as they are quite omnipresent in education.  A lot of great teams are college teams (such as the UCLA football team). For instance, the number of spectators for the UCLA game was quite surprising. Even for a game of the French rugby game, there are not so many spectators. Rosa Bowl Stadium contains 90.000 spectators whereas Stade de France (the stadium of the main rugby team in France) contains 80.000 people at the best. Another evidence of the main role of sports in American society is that students can obtain scholarships for the best colleges thanks to their athletic skills. It is also interesting to observe that the most popular kids in school are the football players and the cheerleaders. In France, sport is not a criterion for popularity. Some popular teenagers are athletes but it is not the reason of their popularity. And being athletic will never bring you a scholarship. Only academic achievement will do so. As a result, most of the good students give up on sport to focus on academics.

Eventually, as far as I am concerned, I appreciate the involvement in athletics of the American population. It is quite enjoyable to come to sports events on campus or in stadiums and to watch such amazing shows (in or around the field !). It gives a warm and patriotic image of America. All the more so as sport responds to a need of belonging (see http://ideas.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/sports-fandom-opiate-of-the-masses/), which partly explains the increasing importance of sports in our society.

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/ 
http://ideas.blogs.nytimes.com/ 
Personal pictures
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia
http://images.google.com/ 
moneyland.time.com/
http://listverse.com

Political Campaigns, a Window on National Characteristics

The two French candidates

Barack Obama with his wife on stage

2012 is a very interesting year in terms of politics for a French who travels to America. During spring, I witnessed the events of the French political campaign, which was quite exhilarating. 6 months later, I have the opportunity to be where the American political campaign takes place. This blessed twist of fate naturally led me to make a comparison between those two campaigns and, one thing leading to another, to observe the political characteristics of the USA and France.

Political shows à l'americaine

Let's tackle the way politicians run for presidency in the USA and in France.

Can you see any differences or resemblances between the last presidents of the USA and of France?

The greatest characteristic that I could observe is the way the American candidates conduct their speeches.
French people call it the shows à l'americaine (the American way). Let me explain. The characteristics are a huge audience, American flags waving in every direction, a stage similar to a TV stage and a great orator that can inflame the crowd.
As far as I am concerned, the best example is Barack Obama in 2008 with his famous slogan "Yes we can".

The form plays a great part in the American voters' decision.

Now, I will show you one of the speeches of the previous candidate and now French president, Francois Hollande. It does not matter that you don't understand the meaning of his words. Just listen to the way he is speaking, very calm, modest, serious, even cool, and not very exhilarating:

The official poster of Francois Hollande

It seems clear that French voters did not elect him president because he could impassion the crowd. Francois Hollande is very quiet, even insipid which actually his campaign strategy was. French people want from their president someone they can rely on and they associate this with a serious figure. So, it did not matter that this candidate was not a great orator, which can be striking for Americans.                     

 Barack Obama used political marketing to win the elections in 2008. His campaign logo was worthy (and very similar to) the one of a huge company. More than marketing themselves, American politicians are much mediatized and do not hesitate to put their family and their personal lives in the news. French voters do not appreciate too mediatized politicians. Nicolas Sarkozy was strongly denounced by the media and the population because he was omnipresent in the news and talked too much about his personal life.

The biggest criticism of Nicolas Sarkozy was that he was to "bling-bling" and exposed too much his private life.

On the contrary, in the USA, more than being in the news, candidates' families actually deliver speeches. We all have in mind Michelle Obama or Laura Bush. But I discovered that the daughters of George W. Bush actually spoke in 2004. In France, it would not be well thought of. That leads us to the fact that American politicians are much more comfortable than French politicians to talk about their private lives.

Eventually, the American presidential campaigns appear to French people much more exhilarating than French presidential campaigns and especially the last one, which was regarded as quite dull by most of the French population. Maybe, French politicians should take a leaf out of the North American's book...

Sources: 

http://www.nytimes.com/
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.lemonde.fr/