(Self portrait by Pablo Picasso from 1907. He wouldn't like this either.)On Antiques Roadshow just now, to explain the setting of a Picasso painting, someone said: "July 14th, Bastille Day, is sort of the French version of our Fourth of July."
That struck me as good example of lazy everyday ethnocentrism. Instead of explaining the holiday on its own terms (which wouldn't take much, it's enough to say that it commemorates the French revolution) it is explained as a French version of an American one.
This irritates me because it makes the world smaller, as it makes us only talk about things that can be compared to things that we already know. And it makes us diminish things, because we will focus on the aspects that resemble something we already know, and leave the rest aside.
And it breads misunderstanding, because we will jump to conclusions. I bet there are people who now think the French had to fight the English for their independence. For instance.
No comments:
Post a Comment