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Pour cette fin d'édition 2021, plusieurs articles en anglais sur la culture anglophone ont été écrits et partagés sur cette page!
Fanfiction
FANFICTION
by Jean-Baptiste Roca
Throughout history, literature has always been a mirror which reflected the world in which it was written; from the ancient Greek epics such as Homer’s Illiad to today’s novels, the codes and themes of literature have evolved alongside humanity. This is, in great part, due to technological advances. In the Ancient era, most stories were orally transmitted from generation to generation, with paper being reserved to the elites. In the Medieval era, thousands of monks copied thousands of books in order to preserve them, but the limited time and manpower also limited access to most people. Gutenberg’s printing press would change that, enabling the spread of literature throughout the world.
However, none of these inventions affected the development of literature as much as the creation of internet and the digital revolution. An invention which required no paper or publisher, the internet effectively gave pen and paper to anyone who might access it, as well as the ability to gain visibility no matter their skill or connection.
That was when “Fanfiction” as a medium was truly born. Many authors had, through the centuries, been inspired to make their own work (the hypertext) based on the work of another author (the hypotext). One can think of Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea, expanding upon the background of some of Jane Eyre’s characters). However, the internet changed this by expanding the scale massively, not only by allowing more people to write, but also by bringing the genre to other mediums.
Indeed, when one looks at the very first fanfiction communities, one finds very little classical literature, and a lot of mainstream media. The Stargate community for example, was one of the strongest fanfiction communities in the early days of the genre (around 1998, when Fanfiction.net, the first website dedicated solely to fanfiction, was created). As time went on, more and more medias were included in the genre, until one could find fanfiction about everything they could possibly want: from the more typical mediums such as novels and movies, but also mangas, comic books and, sometimes, even other fanfiction.
That is not to say fanfiction is a perfect medium however. Indeed, the fact that everyone is able to pick up a metaphorical pen before starting to write, without anyone to ensure the quality of the work, means that some works of fiction are extremely bad. This is especially true when one looks at syntax or grammar: the absence of professional spellcheckers or editors means the level of writing can be extremely low, to the point some works are all but unreadable.
Not only that, but the anonymity brought by the internet also allows some sort of “ultimate freedom” which some take advantage of by broadcasting truly horrible messages. This, of course, is not exclusive to fanfiction but a problem of the internet as a whole. However, in the fanfiction community, there is the particular problem of people broadcasting particularly heinous beliefs, which range from harmless to horrific. For example, it is not uncommon for authors to write about the murder of a character they dislike in an extremely gruesome and graphic way.
So, in the end, is fanfiction good or bad? Much like classical literature, it can be both. The potential for exploring new aspects of mainstream works, or to create new universes is there, and so is the potential to write horrendous fiction. Ultimately, the problem lies not with fanfiction itself, but with the internet, more precisely the belief that if one hides behind a pseudonym, then one is free to do whatever they want. Thankfully, a lot of the most egregious content is deleted nowadays, through the use of moderators and report systems which allows fanfiction websites to be relatively safe compared to the early days of the internet.
The public image of Donald Trump – The birth of the Don
THE BIRTH OF THE DON
by Jean-Baptiste Roca
Of all the events which occurred during the first two decades of the 21st century, few had as much impact as the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States. An unexpected president, Trump’s election was a shock to many Americans, the Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton being ahead in almost all the polls. And yet, Trump won in spite of all of this.
But who or what is Donald Trump exactly? It is well-known that all politicians put on a mask in public, a persona, in order to appeal to the people. One of the main arguments made by Trump’s electors was that he did no such thing and that he told things “as they were” without any kind of filter. If that was truly the case however, one would be hard pressed to explain the evolution of his public image in his forty years on the public stage.
To better understand who Trump is, we have to look at his origins. The second son of a real estate mogul, Trump learned very early in his life to never admit to a wrong, and quickly became his father’s favorite over his older brother Fred (whose failure to meet their father impossible standard might have contributed to his brother’s attitude). A man of ambition, Fred Trump Sr. decided to use his son as a proxy to move beyond the poor neighborhood of Brooklyn into the more profitable and prestigious society of Manhattan.
Seeing his second son as a potential successor, Fred Sr. invested in his image by helping him enter New York’s high society (having been born poor, the patriarch had trouble fitting in with them). This, and the growing amount of responsibility and power he held withing his father’s empire, eventually resulted into Donald Trump becoming his family’s public face. This was the beginning of the character of Donald Trump on the public stage: a ruthless, cunning, self-made man. This reputation was purely artificial of course, but with the democratization of TV in the 1980s, as well as the fashion of the time to show off one’s wealth (something Donald Trump was all too happy to do), this contributed to the rise of the rise of the Trump name in New York, becoming a household name known to all.
It was in the 1990s that Trump became a national phenomenon; his appearance in several TV ads and movies (such as Home Alone 2) as well as his opening casinos in the city of Atlanta gave him some measure of fame. However, it was the reality TV show The Apprentice (2004) which truly made him famous. The concept was simple: people presented their projects and skills, and Trump picked a winner which would go on to work for him. It was at this time that the character of Donald Trump acquired national fame, alongside his catchphrase of the time, “you’re fired”.
But once again, it was all a lie. The ads in which he appeared were not for the sake of publicity but because the Trump family was going bankrupt; between all the extravagant shows of wealth as well as the aforementioned casinos running at a loss (because of poor financial decisions and competing against each other, due to their close proximity), money was running low. As for The Apprentice, none of the candidates which were hired after their victory remained in Trump’s employ for more than a few years. In other words, Trump benefited from the show more than the candidates did. This likely contributed to his victory in 2016, as many knew him only through the show and therefore had an idealized vision of him, which yet again contributed to his reputation. So strong was said reputation that even the banks believed in it, giving him twelve million dollars a year just to help him maintain his lifestyle.
The public image of Donald Trump – Make America Great Again
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN
by Jean-Baptiste Roca
In the previous article, we saw how Donald Trump’s image as a genius businessman was built on his father’s fortune, as well as several shows of wealth which contributed to building up his reputation at a national level.
This went on for nearly two decades, until Donald Trump announced he would run for President in 2016. One would think that his personality changed, just as other presidents’ did, but here, his boastful and brash statement worked in his favor; his reputation as a financial genius and his grand statements gave him another image: that of an outsider, the man who was not corrupted by the system and would “Make America Great Again”. He did not really change, but merely transposed his usual tactics to politics.
For the Republican party, which had been criticizing its candidates (such as John McCain, who once defended his rival Barack Obama at a conference) for being “too soft” for years, this actually made him the perfect candidate. Not only was he opposing and mocking the Democrats they hated, his lack of experience and connections made him an “outsider” to a party whose leaders had been seen as detached by their electoral base.
However, the most important of his election was, once again, the fake image he had built up as a cunning businessman. The national success of The Apprentice likely contributed to its spread through the entirety of the United States; not only that, but this image was actually stronger for the people who did not live in New York (where Trump was extremely unpopular) due to a lack of information. The fact that New York was (and remains) a Democratic stronghold likely also played a role in him being seen as a champion for the poorer Republican states (since his being hated by the Democrat New York automatically made him an ally of the Republican cause in the eyes of many).
This feeling was only reinforced by his treating the election like a show. While many decried his behavior as crude and unbecoming of a candidate to the position of President, this actually made him extremely popular with many lower-class Americans, who saw his “honesty” as a good point in comparison to the career politicians which ran against him (showing once again the effect of his reputation as an outsider). Perhaps more importantly, he was also seen as a walking satire, more of a means to entertain than an actual candidate, up until the election itself. Of course, that was not a first; American politics always had an over-the-top dimension to them, but Donald Trump really played on that fact, turning his campaign into one massive show.
Even today, rumors persist that the election was nothing more than an advertisement campaign for Trump, and that he himself did not intend to be elected. Whether those rumors are true or not, Trump managed to sell himself as a product; instead of running on promises and speeches like his opponents, his campaign was built on symbols and slogans, such as the wall or “Make America Great Again”.
This behavior also helped his campaign in an indirect way, as many grew complacent due to their belief that the Democrat Hillary Clinton was sure to win (this would backfire later on, as a third of all Americans did not vote during the election, thinking that Clinton had already won). The rest was history; in an unexpected victory, Donald Trump was elected 45th president of the United States, in spite of the Democrats’ efforts to prevent it.
And yet, this triumph was not to last; Trump had been elected on flashy statements and grand promises that he now had to keep. And soon enough, he would learn a lesson that many famous figures turned politicians had learned in the past: winning the election was easy, but governing was harder.
The public image of Donald Trump – Law and Qrder
LAW AND QRDER
by Jean-Baptiste Roca
In the previous article, we saw how Trump used his fame as a private actor in the United States in order to propel himself to the position of President. As it would turn out, this victory would be both the peak of his political career and the beginning of his downfall.
If Trump had gotten away with boasting and bullying when he was in a position of total power over his employees, he could hardly do the same thing when he was in a position which came with responsibility. Trump’s persona had proven itself a success with the average American, as well as many Republicans during the election (most of whom followed him because they hated Clinton more than they disliked him), it proved far less popular with the same politicians during his presidency.
Barely a year into his presidency, and staff members were already complaining about his behavior. Two years, and tales of his outlandish requests (such as his insisting on sending a copy of Elton John’s Rocket Man to Kim Jong Un when North Korea tested nuclear weapons) were common in the newspaper. By the time re-election came, several tell-alls and memoirs by former Trump staff were being published, denouncing his behavior (The Room Where it Happened by John Bolton and Too Much and Never Enough by his niece Mary Trump being the most famous).
Of course, the opinions of people on the topic were as polarized as they were on Donald Trump himself; on one hand, the Democrats used them as proof of his incompetence and as a sign that he was unsuited for his job. This hardly helped their cause however, as all the people who could have been convinced by such arguments had already been a long time ago. Meanwhile, Trump’s supporters decried the books as propaganda and signs of a conspiracy against him. Their release did not affect their opinion of him. In fact, 9 out of 10 Republicans who voted Trump in 2016 declared that they would do so as well in 2020, if only because, once again, they hated the Democrats more than they disliked him.
However, while Trump maintained his support among the electorate, the same could not be said of other Republicans, who made no secret of their opinion. Few of them actually opposed him in public, but many made comments in private, or refused to help him in his endeavors. It soon became clear that the Republican party was losing its cohesion, which might have led to a splintering in the future. Therefore, Trump needed to reassert himself as their leader, find a new way to get people to follow him. Ironically, his salvation came into the form of two crisis which could have destroyed any other president.
The first was the rise of Black Lives Matter movement following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Where any other President might have tried to calm things down with promises of reform, Donald Trump saw a golden opportunity; by demonizing the protesters as violent anarchists that would burn the United States to the ground, he propped himself up as a champion of order, and rallied the members of his party, both the conservatives and those who believed in him as a symbol. And it worked. In fact, this strategy was so effective that “law and order” became the party’s slogan for the election campaign.
At the around same time, a theory emerged on the internet, when an anonymous person (calling themselves Q), declared that Donald Trump was actually some sort of secret agent who had infiltrated the government in order to fight against a cabal of pedophiles aiming to rule over the world (though the particulars vary, such as whether or not they bathe in virgin blood to reach immortality). This conspiracy theory was extremely fainthearted and outright ridiculous, yet the supporters of the Republican party (who was considered the Trump party by many observers) embraced it wholeheartedly.
This was perhaps the logical end of the evolution of Trump’s image: from a businessman, to a politician, to a downright messianic figure for his supporters. This ended up being such a huge phenomenon that even the Democrats took part in it indirectly, by propping up Joe Biden as a similar messianic figure (something which did not last long, as the first few months of his presidency showed that he was not the hero he was presented as).
Maybe this is Donald Trump’s real legacy. At the time this article is being written, it has been six months since Joe Biden won the election of 2020. Yet, some people still see him as a savior and a heroic figure, in a way that is not different from how Trump’s supporters saw their own leader. Perhaps this is Trump’s true legacy. Not the wall, not the Republicans, not climate change, but the lasting effect he might have had on American politics. In a way, by bringing his opponents down to his level and forcing them to play by his rules, Trump might have lost a battle but won the war in a way that changed the face of American politics forever.