Why is french media so based?

[knightlautrec]

Anyone wanna recommend some French/Euro comics? I’ve always heard about their massive comic scene but it really doesn’t have much cultural presence in the US.

One of my favourites is Skydoll about a robot sex doll and her misadventures. The art is honestly beautiful and the main character is adorable. I can't say much about the story because it'll spoil it.

Black Sad as well. (The writers/artist is Spanish but they were published in French firstly) It is Anthro but in a good way that adds to the story and doesn't come across as degen furry shit. Black Sad himself is an amazing character and I would recommend all of his stories but the stand out is Arctic Nation. It deals with race in a fairly nuanced way that is not instantly 'white animals bad' and the art is just stunning in that book.

My favourite despite how edgy it may seem is Requiem Vampire Knight. About a Nazi who goes to Hell to be a vampire where they age backwards (because opposite) and rule over different sections of it. Not subtle at all. Dracula the leader of the Vampires literally has Hitler in a nuke. If that concept does not tickle your fancy then probably not for you. It's certainly not for everyone. But I love the art and the humour and there's some real creativity in the portrayal of Hell and the different parts of it.

There's loads more but those are my tops.

 

[feedtheoctopus]

The arts in France are a lot better funded by the government as well as more generally outside of the corporate sphere. In the US everything is owned by companies like Disney. The French still have a film industry where you're allowed to be non-commercial. I think this is one major reason that a lot of films I see from France tend to deal with very extreme subject matter and imagery. A film like Climax by Gaspar Noe would not have been made in America, it wouldn't have even gotten funding.

I think a major cultural difference is that the French think art is important. Americans don't, we think art exists to make us money.

 

[JamusActimus]

My boy spirou pictured here understanding that blacks are not black just dirty

 

[feedtheoctopus]

The French have historically always hated the British, or competed with the British over influence.
It's so ingrained into their culture that when US media started spreading worldwide and English started to become the world language French were much better prepared to resist it and did so right from the beginning. They literally have a government agency in place to do just that.

As a consequence they've avoided a lot of the cuckoldry being tied to the American cultural sphere has brought upon most of the Western world. Even their leftists are more reminiscient of the old labor movement than the modern US iteration obsessed over trans representation in video games or whatever the fuck.

How the French Promote and Protect Their Language

Though there are a number of minority languages, there is just one official language in France – the French language or Français to native speakers. The French people are known to be very vigilant in protecting their language. Recently, efforts to safeguard Français in France

www.daytranslations.com

The US purged all its radicals from the labor movement back in the 50's and 60's and replaced them with liberal collaborationists. This is why all the big unions in the US all came out in support of Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton in 2016 and 2020 respectively even though both are neoliberals who are fundamentally hostile to organized labor. All that while Bernie Sanders was militantly pro-union, hate him or love him. The leadership is more interested in maintaining its connections to the democratic leadership then actually doing anything with those connections. It makes no attempt whatsoever to exert power.

When the French go on strike they physically block roads to workshops and throw bricks at anybody trying to cross the line. That's what things used to be like in the US. Now going on strike is a bureaucratic process with no teeth rather then something that actually threatens the workings of the economy. Because actually defending your organization and fighting for more control over business is a no no to moderate liberals, and union leaders are nothing if not totally in their pocket.

The French meanwhile will literally light your car on fire if you try to cut their vacation hours.

 

[Strictly Confidential]

Bit of a rant but;
I cant remember all of it but there was this french movie I found while looking for just different animation done outside of the English speaking animation realm. It was about 2 guys who are also losers but also cool I guess? Somehow they end up throwing a party in a mansion at the end then the main guy fucks over some chick who got mad at him for hitting on other chicks but make up at the end cause a loser had a cool guy moment. (This is recounting from having watched this waaaaay back in the day with no subs on too, but I did remember getting laid as a big part of the movie).

So I had to find it because above doesn't do it justice and its a film (or collection of animated shorts?) movie based on french cartoon called Lascars, I watched it with no subtitles back in the day.
Very strange animation, the feeling is almost something out of a studio production for gorillaz but for a whole movie.
This short trailer helped me remember the reason I really think I watched this.

You can watch the whole thing without subs (its about 90 minutes) and still follow most of whats going on so I recommend hitting this one up if animation is your tismspism. Can't deny the work on the stacked shorty was topnotch.

 

[GoPro]

Anyone wanna recommend some French/Euro comics? I’ve always heard about their massive comic scene but it really doesn’t have much cultural presence in the US.

- "Incal," "Metabarons," and "Technopriests" are great if you like scifi, trippy visuals, and stories with spiritual and existential themes. They were written by Jodorowsky, and partially based on his ideas for cancelled "Dune" adaptation. They are probably unlike anything else you have read or seen.

- Anything Moebius was involved in. Be it western like "Blueberry" or experimental scifi like "Airtight Garage."

- "Lone Sloane" if you like surreal scifi and fantasy.

- "The Undertaker" - a western about a scummy traveling mortician taking unusual jobs.

- "Long John Silver" - a sequel of sorts to Stevenson's Treasure Island, a bit more grim than the original story.

- If you want something lighter "Raven Nemesis" is good. It's about an unlucky but clever pirate and his adventures.

- If you want comedy, try "The Adventures of Jerome Katzmeier" for pure absurdist humor, "Mister Invincible" for parodying superheroes and playing with the comic medium, or "Melusine" for more conventional comedy about witch in training.

- There are books like "Dwarves" "Elves" "Orcs and Goblins" and "Mages" from Soleil. They are straight forward, competently written fantasy. A bit generic, but good if you want light genre reading.

- "Black Water Lilies" is very good if you like murder mysteries and drama. It is set in a village where Monet did a lot of his work at and his art plays a role in the story.

- "Valerian and Laureline" is a light scifi adventure about two agents who travel through time, space, and dimensions. It influenced a lot of other Scifi stories - Star Wars is one of them.

- "The Grande Odalisque" - comedic heist comic.

- For something more grounded, there is "Michel Vaillant." It's about a race car driver and his family. Mix of sport and drama.

- "Beautiful Darkness" - fairy tale about tiny forest people. It's like old school fairy tales, before Grimm brothers and later Disney toned things down.

- "Jeremiah" is an example of Franco-Belgian post apocalyptic comic. It's set in the future U.S., where race wars reduced it to a low tech wasteland. Only small pockets of civilization remain. Protagonists are two young wanderers trying to get by.

Comic books others already recommended are very good picks too.

My favourite despite how edgy it may seem is Requiem Vampire Knight. About a Nazi who goes to Hell to be a vampire where they age backwards (because opposite) and rule over different sections of it. Not subtle at all. Dracula the leader of the Vampires literally has Hitler in a nuke. If that concept does not tickle your fancy then probably not for you. It's certainly not for everyone. But I love the art and the humour and there's some real creativity in the portrayal of Hell and the different parts of it.

View attachment 2463860

There's loads more but those are my tops.

Requiem is published in France but written by Patt Mills. He is from England and one of people responsible for 2000AD among other things. Requiem is just him turning his usual stories up to 11. It is so hammy and over the top, it becomes kind of fun. In my opinion art really carries the series. It's a marvel to look at with its insane amount of detail and inventiveness. Ledroit does make some strange artistic choices once in a while, but good outweighs the bad by far.