Today in queer theory we were to watch a movie entitled "Paris was a Woman" which began with a song by Edith Piaf and shortly after her R's started rolling one girl in the class commented that she didn't much like the woman singing.
I guess my gasp caught the attention of a few of the other students, but I still couldn't let this statement go uncorrected. Even if you don't respect or like the voice of the woman who sang "La vie en rose" et "Non, je ne regrette rien" one must still concede to her greatness for both her work and legacy.
And so I told this girl that "the woman singing" was none other than Edith Piaf and, should she wish to not automatically gain a place in the ire of any respectable French person, she should not repeat that culturally-unaware statement.
I am not by any means suggesting that I have somehow magically passed into a place where I am aware of every cultural reference and nuance, but if there is one thing I have learned in my time here it is that some things, even if believed, do not to be need said. Such was the case today.
It was a lesson. And now I find the words "Non, je ne regrette rien" stuck in my head...
I guess my gasp caught the attention of a few of the other students, but I still couldn't let this statement go uncorrected. Even if you don't respect or like the voice of the woman who sang "La vie en rose" et "Non, je ne regrette rien" one must still concede to her greatness for both her work and legacy.
And so I told this girl that "the woman singing" was none other than Edith Piaf and, should she wish to not automatically gain a place in the ire of any respectable French person, she should not repeat that culturally-unaware statement.
I am not by any means suggesting that I have somehow magically passed into a place where I am aware of every cultural reference and nuance, but if there is one thing I have learned in my time here it is that some things, even if believed, do not to be need said. Such was the case today.
It was a lesson. And now I find the words "Non, je ne regrette rien" stuck in my head...
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