While this hasn't altered my studies much, being a French film, there was quite a bit of new vocabulary to learn (subtitles were helpful):

1. Mariages: Weddings. This is mentioned quite early.
2. Massacre: Same meaning as in English. Again, c’est un film interessant.
3. Communiquer: (to) communicate.
4. Chapeau: Hat
5. Cerises: Cherries
6. Racistes: Racists. Yep. Interesting movie.
7. Arbres: Trees.
8. Voisin: Neighbor.
9. Exposition cadavre: Cadaver exhibition
10. Viande: Meat
11. Carnivore: carnivorous
12. Carrée: Square
13. Rien: Nothing
14. Monnaie: Money
15. Que est-ce vous fait: What are you doing?

Being set almost entirely in France, it presented an interesting (albeit quite exaggerated) image of Paris. Shown occasionally were the infamous faire la bise, a hospital, various government officials, and some “typical citizens” (particularly memorably, a very angry man whose entire part in the film was to yell “a**hole” in French). I was actually surprised at how close an analogue French urban culture, as depicted, is to urban culture in America. It was, in a way, eye-opening: My default assumption about France was largely, as I believe most people have experienced, shaped by American films. To actually watch something out of France demonstrated just how wrong my default assumption was, and how similar the French really are to Americans. I would imagine that this is because urban areas tend to be progressive, which means dropping a lot of traditions most people would expect in France, and especially since in major population centers like Paris there is a heavy influx of people from other places, which leads to cultural pollution and the eventual eradication of tradition in tote.

La Belle Verte is a film about extra-terrestrial vegan telepaths who travel to Earth. The goal of the movie seems to be largely to point out hypocrisies and problems in modern human society (“For instance, if you want something, you can’t get it without money.”, “Even to eat?”, “Especially!”). It was a very well-made movie; while not as comedic as advertised, it contained very well-presented messages about society and human cruelty.
J’aime ce film. C’est interessant.
My Activity: My activity of choice was to watch a Francophone movie.
My Movie Choice: I decided to watch a Coline Serreau film named “La Belle Verte”.

# Tyler Clarke

## Cultural Activity 1

Scroll Down To "You've Reached The End"
Word Count:
Web design by Tyler Clarke. Images extracted from “La Belle Verte” by Tyler Clarke.
Design not licensed. Use it as you like. I have no clue which copyrights, trademarks, and licenses apply to the images, but I extracted them from a legally obtained copy.
Scripts by Tyler Clarke, with the help of unlicensed StackOverflow snippets (referenced in the code with comments).
You've reached the end!