Culture of FranceThe culture of France is noted for its cosmopolitan, civilised approach to life, combined with great concern for style, fashion and appearances. French people are sometimes perceived as taking a great pride in the national identity and positive achievements of France, although many French people would argue that all nations tend to do that. French people address each other with formality, calling each other Madame, Mademoiselle or Monsieur in a way which may seem formulaic to outsiders, but signifies a respect for the individual which permeates the French way of life. The French value family life, the art of cooking good food and enjoyment of theatrical and musical arts.
Creative ArtsVisual ArtsMain article: Visual Arts in France ArchitectureMain article: Architecture of France LiteratureMain article: Literature of France CinemaMain article: Cinema of France
TheatreMain article: Theatre of France DanceMain article: Dance of France MusicMain article: Music of France MediaMain article: Media in France NewspapersTelevision & RadioA mass market cultural export from France that many people (at least some of those who grew up in Canada) fondly rember is a television series called Thierry La Fronde, about a Robin Hood-like heroic figure who lived during the Hundred Years' War, a period of conflict between England and France in the 14th century. Institutions
MuseumsList of French museums Schools(Art schools) LifestyleThis section is a . You can AskFactMaster.Com by expanding it (http://www.askfactmaster.com/Culture_of_France). CouplingThis section is a . You can AskFactMaster.Com by expanding it (http://www.askfactmaster.com/Culture_of_France). FamilyThis section is a . You can AskFactMaster.Com by expanding it (http://www.askfactmaster.com/Culture_of_France). WorkThis section is a . You can AskFactMaster.Com by expanding it (http://www.askfactmaster.com/Culture_of_France). ReligionPossibly the most important aspect of religion in France is the secular nature of the schools. This means that church and state must be kept seperate. For example, there is a law forbidding the wearing of ostentatious religious symbols in school.
UrbanThis section is a . You can AskFactMaster.Com by expanding it (http://www.askfactmaster.com/Culture_of_France). SuburbanRuralWomenCommunityBohemiansThe Bohemian history of Paris deserves an article in itself. Many culture icons spent some years in Paris, including Hemingway, Picasso, Toulouse Lautrec, Gertrude Stein, Samuel Beckett and many others. Customs and TraditionsOne of the first things some people note in France is the kissing on both cheeks (not always involving making contact with the lips) between two people. This is an old tradition, but only certain people kiss. Members of the same family will always kiss each other if at a gathering together, and even after not seeing each other for a few hours. Similarly, friends will kiss each other this way (apart from between two males-they would normally shake hands unless they're very close). CelebrationsFood & WineMain article: Cuisine of France Sports and HobbiesThe main sports in France are football, cycling, tennis and handball. France is notable for holding the football World Cup in 1998, and for holding the annual Tour de France, a cycling race. Sport is encouraged in school, and local sports clubs receive a large grant from the government. Babyfoot (table football) is a very popular pastime in bars and in homes in France, and the French are the predominate winners of worldwide table football competitions Le FootLanguageMain articles: French language, Languages of France French culture is profoundly allied with the French language, expressing a national psychology of high emotion, playfulness, and joie de vivre. The artful use of the mother tongue, and its defense against perceived decline or corruption by foreign terms, is a major preoccupation for some persons and entities. The French Minister of Culture works to promote the French cinema, and the Académie française sets an official standard of language purity. France counts many regional languages, some of them being very unrelated to standard French such as Breton and Alsatian. Most of them are from the same language group (Indo-European), and some regional languages are Romance, like French, such as Provençal. Many of them have enthusiastic proponents among the people. There is also a language completely unrelated to French, Basque. In April 2001, the Minister of Education, Jack Lang, admitted formally that for more than two centuries, the political powers of the French government had repressed regional languages, and announced that bilingual education would, for the first time, be recognized, and bilingual teachers recruited in French public schools. The real importance of local languages remains subject to debate. Social reformThe revolutionary ideal is a powerful totem in the French psyche. Some ideas of Situationism were realised in Disneyland Paris, although doubtless this would be denied by its builders. The French Revolution was itself an extreme form of social change, and its reverberations are everywhere apparent in day to day life there. Consider also the 1871 Paris Commune, and the 1968 student riots. Parallel to these events, it is possible to discern deeply conservative trends in French life. TransportationMain article: Transportation in France The TGV high speed rail network, train à grande vitesse is a fast rail transport which serves several areas of the country and is self financing. There are plans to reach most parts of France and many other destinations in Europe in coming years. Rail services are punctual, frequent and user friendly, in contrast to some other European networks. See also
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