So the culture pass was used to buy culture. I’d say it’s a success.
France Gave Teenagers $350 for Culture. They’re Buying Comic Books
91–97 of 97 posts
Re: France Gave Teenagers $350 for Culture. They’re Buying Comic Books
#92Am I to understand from this that the New York Times (and perhaps the bien pensant in the US) consider mere "comic books" some sort of gutter culture? My last trip to Paris I spent a long time in these "comic book" stores. They are absolute goldmines with passionate and knowledgeable staff and incredible selections.
France has a long tradition of the "BD" (Bande Dessine = Comic Books) and a thriving community of illustrators and writers who make them. There are many great series which a lot of us French kids grew up with who had pretty intricate plots and were very well crafted. I agree that sneering at Comic books as "not the culture we wanted" is BS. Culture is culture. French and Belgian comic books like "Asterix et les Gaulo…
Moebius, of course.
Right now I really love PTSD by Guillaume Singelin.
Re: France Gave Teenagers $350 for Culture. They’re Buying Comic Books
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
Manga is very good nowadays, I don't blame the kids. Go with what's in. It's culture.
I think the hope was that the money would be used to support local cultural content/events since people in those enterprises have been hard hit by the COVID crisis.
Where are they buying the books? (sorry if the article mentions this, it's paywalled)
If it's independent stores, then I think that qualifies as a local enterprise hit hard by COVID, and fits in the spirit of the scheme, maybe even national bookstores can be considered thusly, too.
If they can give the money to Amazon, though, then maybe there's an issue.
Re: France Gave Teenagers $350 for Culture. They’re Buying Comic Books
#94Re: France Gave Teenagers $350 for Culture. They’re Buying Comic Books
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
France has a long tradition of the "BD" (Bande Dessine = Comic Books) and a thriving community of illustrators and writers who make them. There are many great series which a lot of us French kids grew up with who had pretty intricate plots and were very well crafted. I agree that sneering at Comic books as "not the culture we wanted" is BS. Culture is culture. French and Belgian comic books like "Asterix et les Gaulo…
From the article, it doesn't seem like the money is going towards French + Belgian comics either. I am not French, but Asterix and Tintin comics were widely sold in translated versions in my country and across the world. But mine was also the pre-Internet era, where we'd spend small fortunes on comics and magazines because we had nothing to offset the boredom. With always-on Internet, that's just not a reality now.
Is the money going to French bookstores, though?
Re: France Gave Teenagers $350 for Culture. They’re Buying Comic Books
#96Am I to understand from this that the New York Times (and perhaps the bien pensant in the US) consider mere "comic books" some sort of gutter culture? My last trip to Paris I spent a long time in these "comic book" stores. They are absolute goldmines with passionate and knowledgeable staff and incredible selections.
France has a long tradition of the "BD" (Bande Dessine = Comic Books) and a thriving community of illustrators and writers who make them. There are many great series which a lot of us French kids grew up with who had pretty intricate plots and were very well crafted. I agree that sneering at Comic books as "not the culture we wanted" is BS. Culture is culture. French and Belgian comic books like "Asterix et les Gaulo…
Young french people are not buying "BD Franco-Belge", but mangas.
Re: France Gave Teenagers $350 for Culture. They’re Buying Comic Books
#97Comic books (and manga/graphic novels/etc.) sound like a good plan, especially during a pandemic where much of live performance either has shut down or remains risky.
Getting more kids into physical book and record stores seems like a nice effect as well. Not everything needs to be purchased from Amazon or streamed on Spotify.
I'd also expect to see more live events as the pandemic (hopefully) wanes.
> And while the Culture Pass can be spent on video games, the game’s publisher must be French, and the game must not feature violence — conditions so restrictive that most popular titles are unavailable.
Ah, I was wondering why games weren't higher on the list.