Recently, the movie The Class was shown at the New York Film Festival, to the displeasure of
many French. The actors were young Parisians. According to one movie critic: With their cell
phones and pouts, these bored, restless junior high school students look pretty much the fidgety
progeny of Anytown, U.S.A. One difference being that these African, Arab, and Asian Parisians
live in a country that insists its citizens have only one cultural identity, even if its identityas
Frances smoldering suburbs vividly suggestmany of these same young people dont feel welcome
to share. Many French believe that Americans are obsessed with issues of race and ethnicity,
particularly with tracking statistics where people are artificially put into airtight categories
(whites, blacks, Hispanics, and such). France does not even include this type of information in its
census, believing that this is against a common French identity as a republican ideal. Do you
think it is meaningful to classify people into types? Why do you think the United States, contrary
to the French, insists on classifying people? Are there any advantages and/or disadvantages in
doing this? Explain..
Recently, the movie The Class was shown at the New York Film Festiva.pdf
1. Recently, the movie The Class was shown at the New York Film Festival, to the displeasure of
many French. The actors were young Parisians. According to one movie critic: With their cell
phones and pouts, these bored, restless junior high school students look pretty much the fidgety
progeny of Anytown, U.S.A. One difference being that these African, Arab, and Asian Parisians
live in a country that insists its citizens have only one cultural identity, even if its identityas
Frances smoldering suburbs vividly suggestmany of these same young people dont feel welcome
to share. Many French believe that Americans are obsessed with issues of race and ethnicity,
particularly with tracking statistics where people are artificially put into airtight categories
(whites, blacks, Hispanics, and such). France does not even include this type of information in its
census, believing that this is against a common French identity as a republican ideal. Do you
think it is meaningful to classify people into types? Why do you think the United States, contrary
to the French, insists on classifying people? Are there any advantages and/or disadvantages in
doing this? Explain.
