Relations with peripheral characters

Discussion

Hello

I found that the American adaptation placed much less emphasis on sex than the French original. Women were seen more as persons and less as objects. Does this reflect a difference in actual society or is the film intentionally exaggerated (for humor)?

I think the theme of this movie is directed more towards the "feminine" part of the American society. If the women were shown as objects, it may lose some of its target audience.

Also, the French film seemed to show more naked bodies and sex scenes than the American one. However, the American showed "forms" through clothes (a lot of shorts, hairy chests through shirts, tight dresses...) I wonder if this is related to the expected audience connected with the baby theme.

Neither of the films addresses the moral concerns about a mother abonding her child. However, in the American version the mother is a foreigner (British), which I think is an interesting solution to avoid the issue. Do you find it shocking that the mother leaves her child unattended outside and expects almost "a stranger" to take care of it?

Sur le fait que les femmes soient plus considérées comme des objets dans le film américain, je ne pense pas que ce soit lié à la "cible" du film (après tout, le film français est autant destiné au public féminin que le film américain).

Je ne pense pas non plus que cela reflète une différence générale dans la société (quoi que je connaisse pas assez la société américaine pour me prononcer de façon certaine à ce sujet...)

Je pense plutot que c'est encore une fois une illustration du "politically correct" hollywoodien, qui veut que les héros soient des modèles. Si les héros américains avaient la même attitude que les héros français envers les femmes, cela casserait un peu leur image de gendre idéal...

je voudrais quand même parler d'un personnage secondaire FONDAMENTAL que tout le monde semble occulter, je veux parler bien évidemment de LA GIRAFE SOPHIE, seul véritable compagnon de la petite Mary, et qui est une girafe BIEN FRANCAISE, oui môssieur. Ainsi, nous savons que la girafe de notre enfance (elle a eu 40 ans en 2001) a traversé l'Atlantique, nous sommes donc rassurés sur les capacités de la France à l'export.
Pour ceux qui pourraient être avides d'information sur Sophie :
http://www.brefonline.com ; taper "girafe sophie" dans "RECHERCHE"

Benoit - I agree that the objectifying of women may have been down-played to make the men more ideal and likable. However, I also think that the men in the French film were also more wary of forming relationships with women, which may explain the objectification of women. Do you think that in French culture, people avoid relationships as much as the movie indicates?

Also necessary to this discussion are the different views on living with women. In the French version, a woman living in their appartment was entirely out of the question and this point was emphasized at least two times. In the American version, they ask her to move in as a solution to the child-care arrangements. I think this provides further evidence that serious relationships are not the goal in the French version. Does anyone have a different interpretation of this?

Isabelle, but was it a jiraffe or a dinosaur in the American version? Just kiddin. Although the guy in the store seemed pretty confused. There you go, another cultural difference, the French jiraffe vs the American dinosaur (Jurassic Park etc etc). It would be interesting to know if French kids have stuffed dinosaurs now as company to Sophie.

A short comment on the topic of the women. It is true that both movies are targeted to both sexes, but I believe that the change of improving the image of the women in the American version has some cultural message. The image of the women as object that the French version portraits has a far more negative impact in the American public than in the French (that is, the feminine public), which would really hurt the acceptation of this type of comedy here. My personal experience after arriving to this country is that American women do make a big deal about this (mostly here at MIT), at least publicly. I don't know much about French culture in particular, so I won't talk on its behalf, but in general latin culture has a more relaxed view on this issue. DISCLAIMER: (i'm being moral myself, can't help it), i am not stating that my personal view is different, only the fact that it's different between cultures.

What do you think? Are French women more relaxed about this issue than the Americans?

Dans le fim français les trois célibataires endurcis ne veulent pas montrer leur attachement à l'enfant. Michel Boujenah et Roland Giraud sont très mal à l'aise quand ils se surprennent l'un l'autre en train de montrer leur affection à la petite Marie. Alors que dans le film américains cela ne pose aucun problème aux trois hommes de montrer à quel point l'enfant compte pour eux. Mais par contre on ne ressent pas le même déchirement losque Sylvia vient reprendre son enfant.

Pour répondre à ta question, Ian, personnellement j'ai plus joué avec des dinosaures qu'avec la giraffe sophie (je ne connaissais pas, d'ailleurs, merci Isabelle pour cette minute culturelle ;) ).Et pourtant, mon enfance date de bien avant Jurassic park...

Mais ce n'est qu'une expérience personnelle, après tout

Isabelle,

Hahha. I am sorry, I can't help it. How do you know about the giraffe?
So observant… :)

Katarzyna, j'ai eu MA girafe quand j'étais petite... alors, ça a été le premier jouet que j'ai acheté pour ma fille à sa naissance...:-) elle a eu une belle girafe marquée "ma girafe 2000". Très jolie. Cette pauvre girafe est morte un an plus tard, les pattes avant amputées sans pitié par un coup de canine. Les enfants sont cruels avec les souvenirs de petite fille de leur maman... Tu peux maintenant comprendre pourquoi j'ai repéré Sophie dans le film ! Take care.

engage