It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to write
about, Paris is so big and full of amazing monuments and history in every
street you go to. I saw the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Les Invalides, but all that is
just so touristy, and to be honest I’m not a fan of acting like a tourist,
which means, I don’t like to go where tourists go, but I must confess I had to
see all of those places, however to me my favorite place is not just one, but a tie
between Cafe des deux moulins and the Champs de Mars.
The Cafe des Deux Moulins is simply because I’m a film major
and this cafe place was used in the filming of the French film Amélie, and the
reason I came to Paris and wanted to learn French was because of French cinema.
To me there’s nothing like a French movie, mostly from the Nouvelle Vague
period, but the movie Amélie is simply beautiful. There are many flaws, of
which I won’t mention because I’m in Paris and I’m optimistic about life, but
the film itself in a whole is very cute, romantic, and it feels like it’s a different
world, a parallel universe perhaps.
To be able to go to the cafe and see where they shot it, to
me is just a dream come true. As a filmmaker, but most of all, film lover, a
cinephile if you will, I live life as if I’m in a movie, and when I went to this
place, I felt just like I was in a movie, and for a minute I thought my life
was worth living, and to be honest, the whole time I’m in Paris I feel like my
life is worth living.
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| me happy at Cafe des deux moulins in Montmartre |
Now my next favorite thing of Paris was the Champs de Mars,
not because of its looks, or because it’s next to the Eiffel tower and you get
a beautiful view of it, but more because of psychological, spiritual, and
historical reasons.
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| Champs de Mars (view from Eiffel Tower) |
As some of you might already know, I’m a lover (amatrice as
the French would say) of the French History, but mostly and mainly, the French
Revolution.
I don’t know why that is, but that’s why life is interesting
sometimes, it surprises you in ways you wouldn’t expect. For instance, I used
to think my life would be in America, but turns out now I can’t stand that
place and I want to move to France as soon as possible.
Anyway, when I saw the Champs de Mars I was extremely
emotional.
First why is it called Champs de Mars in the first place?!
It's named after Campus Martius in Rome.
Years ago during a war between the Gaulois (first ancestors of the French) and the Romans, the Gaulois fought the Romans until the very end, which was something the Romans respected, and so they called this place Champs de Mars in honor of the Roman God of War, Mars, because of the Gaulois's strength and will to fight back to defend their land.
The park is a Gaulois cemetery pretty much. Bodies were buried there, but that was so many years ago.
Years after that, my favorite thing about this place happened...
During the French Revolution there was a Massacre in that same place, and it was called the Champs de Mars Massacre, and it happened because of the king’s flight to Montmédy (Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette with her three children were disguised), and when he was caught in Varennes in June 21st 1791, people in Paris, especially the group called Girondins and the Jacobins, and other non- royalist political groups became extremely angry at the king and queen, and because of that the idea of Republic started to spread around Paris, and suddenly a constitutional monarchy had no purpose and sense to most of the French people. And so during the commemoration of the second anniversary of the fall of the Bastille in July 14th 1791 at the Champs de Mars (just a reminder that the Eiffel tower was not there yet and would only be constructed 100 years later for the centennial of the Revolution! Kudos!), the people from some political groups, but mainly, the Girondin, Jean Pierre Brissot drew a petition asking for the end of the monarchy and the start of a Republic in France. Suddenly chaos arose. The National Guard, which worked and served the king and queen, began to shut down any sign of disrespect towards the monarchs, which led to the killing of a few people at the Champs de Mars.
First why is it called Champs de Mars in the first place?!
It's named after Campus Martius in Rome.
Years ago during a war between the Gaulois (first ancestors of the French) and the Romans, the Gaulois fought the Romans until the very end, which was something the Romans respected, and so they called this place Champs de Mars in honor of the Roman God of War, Mars, because of the Gaulois's strength and will to fight back to defend their land.
The park is a Gaulois cemetery pretty much. Bodies were buried there, but that was so many years ago.
Years after that, my favorite thing about this place happened...
During the French Revolution there was a Massacre in that same place, and it was called the Champs de Mars Massacre, and it happened because of the king’s flight to Montmédy (Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette with her three children were disguised), and when he was caught in Varennes in June 21st 1791, people in Paris, especially the group called Girondins and the Jacobins, and other non- royalist political groups became extremely angry at the king and queen, and because of that the idea of Republic started to spread around Paris, and suddenly a constitutional monarchy had no purpose and sense to most of the French people. And so during the commemoration of the second anniversary of the fall of the Bastille in July 14th 1791 at the Champs de Mars (just a reminder that the Eiffel tower was not there yet and would only be constructed 100 years later for the centennial of the Revolution! Kudos!), the people from some political groups, but mainly, the Girondin, Jean Pierre Brissot drew a petition asking for the end of the monarchy and the start of a Republic in France. Suddenly chaos arose. The National Guard, which worked and served the king and queen, began to shut down any sign of disrespect towards the monarchs, which led to the killing of a few people at the Champs de Mars.
While I was there walking at the Champs de Mars I was
picturing those people there and then a few years later in June 1794, people
were right there for the Festival of the Supreme Being and one of my favorites
figures of the French Revolution, Maximilien Robespierre (not ashamed, he was
better than Napoléon and Hitler, à mon avis of course) was right there talking
to an angry crowd of Parisians. To me that feeling was one of the best feelings
in the world, and I couldn’t help but wish I was alive then so I could have
seen it in person, but it’s much better to be there as a woman who have
rights and is free.
When it comes to comparing cultures from here and the US, France wins. By far.
So all I will say is that I needed to come here because I needed CULTURE, something I think US lacks. Culture is a key word to me, it’s the key to life, understanding it and living it. Being in Paris, a place where some of my favorite filmmakers lived, and created a whole movement, a place where people fight for what they believe, to me that is priceless.
Yes, there are strikes every week, but at least there are strikes, people speak up. French people can be hypocrites, but to me at least they know they are hypocrites, while in America people don't realize they're living a lie, an illusion of a life they believe to be good and perfect, when this life was just implanted into their brains, it's not real.
Don't get me wrong, no place is perfect. And the US is a great country, but, for me personally, France, and especially Paris, is where I can walk on the streets and feel comfortable. I feel free here, while in the US I don't. I feel like a product. Here, I feel like a real person, where it's ok to have flaws, because here they know humans are flawed, if you're trying so hard to be perfect you have a weird problem, and not the opposite.
I love the chaos, I love the depression in the metro, to me that's what being human is about. Why will I smile if I don't feel like it? Honesty is a big thing here. Saying what you think again, strikes....
I could do a whole analysis here even comparing French films with American films. It's interesting how much you can tell from a country and its culture, needs, priorities, just from their movies.
French movies tend to be way more humanistic and realistic than American cinema, while American cinema focuses in special effects, superheroes (ew), materialism. There are always exceptions (BIRDMAN, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Woody Allen!!!), but this is what I got from watching for my whole life American films, and then discovering French cinema 3 years ago, and immersing myself into a whole new world that is very similar to mine in reality.
So that's it, I'm going to stop here because when I start talking about films, and especially French cinema, I could go on and on. Sorry about the French history "class", I just really love their history.
Liberté, égalité, fraternité to all.
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