Gary, it's time to don the berets

And rise to the defense of the frogs:

France's artistic elite has turned on American critics who claimed that their nation's culture was dead.

Time claims singer Johnny Hallyday is France's only globally-known icon

The surge of Gallic pride was provoked by the front page of the latest European edition of Time, which asked readers to name a living French artist or writer of international standing.

The magazine itself came up with just one: the singer Johnny Hallyday - who announced this week that he would stop touring in 2009 due to old age.

It added that thousands of artists were only able to survive because of the huge subsidies France poured into culture, and few have had any success abroad.

Time contended that the country that produced surrealism and impressionism had been overtaken by London and New York for art.

Unlike the ground-breaking New Wave movies of the 1960s, it said that the 200 French films made every year were mostly "low budget trifles".

Similarly, the falling clout of the French language meant that very few of its novels were published abroad.

In addition, Time stated that there were no French composers or conductors to match Debussy or Ravel, and whereas Charles Aznavour and Edith Piaf were once heard the world over, the US and Britain now ruled the pop scene.

Not so, said Maurice Druon, the novelist and member of the Academie Française - the high temple of the French cultural establishment - who opened the counter attack in a Figaro article yesterday entitled: "Non, la culture française n'est pas morte!" (No, French culture is not dead!).

"Here we go again," wrote Mr Druon, a former culture minister. "Every four or five years, the US is seized by an anti-French fever that it takes upon itself to communicate to the universe.

"But culture is not determined by the weekly box office. Culture asserts itself over time. Like most of his public, the author from Time confuses culture and entertainment. Can an artist be summed up by his weight in dollars alone?"

Another commentator, Didier Jacob in the Nouvel Observateur, said that the problem stemmed from the American definition of French culture.

"If it could be reduced to an algebraic formula, it would be: De Gaulle + Sartre + baguette + Sophie Marceau's breasts = the culture of France," he said.

Leave it to the idiotards at Time to never have heard of Melissa Theuriau.

Yips! from Gary:
French culture is not dead. It's resting.

Something to consider: if culture is indeed "determined by the weekly box office", the U.S. is pretty screwed.

Then again maybe instead of resting, I should say sleeping. Or at least the French educational system seems to be. As demonstrated by this:

Maybe the question should have been what revolves around France? The answer being: everything.

h/t: The Corner Via The Daily Standard