Americanization- The Modernization And Superficiality Of France

Two of the main impacts that were prevalent in the Cold War were the implementation of the Marshall Plan through increase of American products and the change in values of the every day French life. Although some thought this wave of innovation was good such as women and youth, others found it damaging to the culture and customs that characterized the French such as Jacques Tati and mainly men. In the movies, Mon Oncle (Tati 1958), and Playtime (Tati 1967), Tati mocks the historical process of modernity through satirizing the negative impacts of expansion and the French society during the Cold War.

During the late 1940’s, France received aid from the United States, which gave support to help rebuild their economy after the end of World War II in exchange for vowing to keep the country free of Soviet Communism, a major concern at the time. This aid caused a rise in consumer society, which in return improved the economy by increasing the amount of money being spent daily. From appliances such as washers, driers, and refrigerators to entertainment such as movies and televisions, all were being bought, leading to the transformation of France into a modernized civilization. This increase in consumerism resulted in an increase in reconstruction and played a huge role in the modernization of France. Both of these processes are mocked in the movie Mon Oncle, as Tati feels both of these are not necessary, which he shows through exaggeration and irony in the French society.

The increase of appliances let women work in their own home instead of the factories, but still gave them a feeling of power. The scenes in the movie within the Arpel house mock the use of appliances. Generally, whenever Mrs. Arpel is depicted, she is with her appliances in the kitchen, or cleaning the house. Many American products were being installed into French homes, just like the kitchen brands seen in Mrs. Arpel’s house. France started to be seen as mini-America. “There were three bedrooms; two bathrooms gleaming, of course; a dining room where silverware was on exhibition; and a kitchen where the family actually ate” This advancement began to make the French materialistic. There was never a need for appliances or luxurious silverware until the implementation of the Marshall Plan, where French citizens did not actually need these items, but wanted them so much that they felt they needed them, or that their rank in status would increase if they bought them. Some other examples of this were seen when Mr. Arpel bought a brand new, American car. There was no need to buy another car because the previous car was just fine, but the idea of being able to say one has another car and the idea of being able to show it off was much more important than it being a mode of transportation. This is why many French citizens believed that Americanism was not helping France, but actually hurting them by causing the people to become superficial and wrapped up in material items.

Factories, houses and even the government all saw major changes in their roles in modern France. More factories were constructed, increasing the amount of jobs. More people were moving out of the city and into the suburbs, which began a wave of “cookie-cutter” houses with a standard family of four. This topic is mocked in the movie every time we are shown the house. In “old France”, we see Hulot’s apartment that is very open, just like an ordinary house in France, where the higher rank in status one is, the closer they live to the bottom of the complex. In “new France”, however, the Arpel’s house is closed and silent which expresses the exaggeration of sound, or lack there of. Every time a person of importance comes to visit Mrs. Arpel and her house, she turns on a fish sculpture, to show off how sophisticated they are, but in reality, the sculpture merely shows how superficial “new France” has become.

Throughout the movie Playtime, there is a major aspect that is not shown that was in the movie Mon Oncle, which is “old France”, and Tati did this on purpose. Produced in 1967, Playtime is made 10 years after Mon Oncle and the film technique, mise-en-scene, or the arrangement of scenery represent the place where a movie is enacted, is used to display “old France”. With the development of modernity, many skyscrapers and buildings were constructed throughout France. In the film, we follow a group of American tourists who explore all of these buildings and every

time a door opens, we see a reflection of an old French landmark,

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