France and America

     

    

    In continuation of french influence on jazz, there was a soundtrack that i discovered from the same animation "triplettes de belleville." This nice modern twist of rag-time is called "générique d'ouverture." It's quite short, but it starts out with a suspenseful trumpet escalation followed by an immediate descending piano arpeggio (tapering off). Then, the attitude completely changes into something very fun and enjoyable. The music is very danceable. There is a nice flowing conversation taking place between trumpets and saxophones. The piano and percussion adds a very satisfying background accompaniment to the excerpt.   

   

    The video above is not the music to "générique d'ouverture" but the animation is to give you an idea how the music and the animation go hand in hand. Compared to American animation, where things tend to be more conservative, the French are not afraid to express human emotion to any limits. In their perspective, the human art of expression should not be censored because it is who we are. If we are covering up/sugar-coating the way humans portray their emotions, then we are not being true to ourselves.    

  

    These ideas are not something I read about, but rather several conversations I had with my French friend about her culture and the comparisons of the French and American culture.    

   

   From an American point of view, we tend the French to be very exposé when it comes to the arts, sexuality, and etc. because we developed from a conservative Puritan mindset. In France, their intentions were not meant to defy or rebel against a set of 'morals,' but expression was something to be shown and revered by leaving it in its original and its purest form. 

   At the same time, she also told me the French are very trendy. They always look for something new in all areas such as fashion, film, music, the arts. I believe this is why jazz became such a hit because jazz was not a European phenomenon. It was a phenomenon from the New World. A world that most Europeans were so curious about. Even today, she tells me America always leads and inspires the European youth in so many areas, especially in music and film. 

   I do not mean to digress from the excerpt of this animated piece, but understanding music and culture tremendously helps me understand why and how things came to be.