An American education

Any true French-bashing American patriot will assure you: the French are anti-American. The sky is blue, the rain is made of water and the French are anti-American. 

When asked why, the explanation probably will have something to do with French education, myths, and a systematic bias in the representation of America and Americans. The French are simply assumed to put some negative spin in just about everything related to America.

What is odd however is that millions of young Frenchies have been exposed to a very positive image of America and Americans ever since the end of WWII through the comic strips they were avidly reading. 

The 6 most famous ones are Buck Danny, Lucky Luke, les Tuniques bleues, Jerry Spring, Blueberry and Steve Warson.

- Buck Danny, started in 1947, was the most pro-American strip you could think of, to the point it would have made George Washington’s mother embarrassed! The series started just after the end of WWII with a recollection of the Pacific war and portrayed 3 heroic American pilots. Staunchly anti-communist, the strip enthralled literally millions of youngsters in the 50s’ and 60s’. Very realistic and incredibly accurately documented, Buck Danny was THE American hero.

- Lucky Luke was another breed of American figure (1948). Non-realistic as opposed to Buck Danny, Lucky Luke the Cowboy has had over 50 instalments with many made into animated movies. Still a hit with French teenagers, Lucky Luke is the cool, good natured American guy, the one everybody wants to be friend with. 

- Les Tuniques bleues (”The Blue Tunics”) was started at the end of the 60s’. Set during the Civil War, the series recount the adventures of two rightful and generous American soldiers, depicted in a sympathetic and faithful light and dedicated to the defence of the good old Stars’n Stripes.

 

- Jerry Spring, another hero of the late XIXth century, probably was the most elaborate of these characters, with a moral dimension that made him the most human of all of them. Modest, Jerry Spring deals with situations where morality is the key issue and fights both good and bad guys. More than 20 albums of his adventures were published between 1954 and 1970. The drawings were sheer masterpieces!

- Lieutenant Blueberry was created in 1963 by the same author as The Adventures of Buck Danny. But times having changed, Blueberry is a former soldier who’s been mistreated by the army and acts on his own. He reflects the disenchantment that the western, as a Hollywood genre, went through in the 60s. Blueberry knows failure, doubt and sometimes edges on despair. Another very human figure from America. 

- Steve Warson holds a special rank in this list because he wasn’t so much the hero of a serial but the closest friend of the French hero, Michel Vaillant (1959 and on). A movie featuring their feats was released 2 years ago. The unusual thing about Steve Warson is that he impersonates the wise and clever one as opposed to Michel Vaillant himself who too often acts abruptly and out of anger. Another positive American figure for the young Frenchies.

So with millions of Frenchies having been exposed in their youth to such a positive spin about America and the Americans, and with these heroes still being very popular, is it really likely that the French would be so rabidly anti-American? And has any American teenager ever had the opportunity to read any comic strip with such a positive view of the French? What’s your take on it?

Note: all of these strips originated from Belgium but France being a much bigger market, this is where they went to stardom.