Who knows if this site's still alive, but yeah, French culture exists in the US. The United States is made up of different nations, so to speak ... the Northeast, West Coast, the South, the Midwest, etc., so it's hard to think of the United States as having a single, unified opinion of anything.
But, the French fall into two camps: respected for their culture vs. hated for their culture. Then there are the people who can only think of wine, cheese, and that the French are the lovers of Europe! I grew up outside of New York City and live there currently; my mother and aunt lived in France during the 80s, and we have family friends there. It's not terribly uncommon for people who live on the coastal Northeast to have connections to Europe, but it's definitely much different elsewhere in the US thanks to isolation and distance over land (it's funny, people in the US hate the French the same way they hate people from the Northeast; they're both snobs, apparently).
French film, pop music, etc., is definitely known around here. But, from an American perspective, the French seem really intense about accents. A classmate in college had parents born in France and she told a story about her father, who was born and raised in France, who lost his authentic French accent after living in the US for so long. When he visited France, the French shunned him because of his accent. To an American that seems truly bizarre, but I know it's the case in Italy, too ... a girlfriend was from Italy and she recounted similar things happening when she visited there.
I guess the French are also seen as being really stuck up on traditional culture, like families eating at the dinner table at a certain hour, etc. Where I'm from that's pretty much the norm, and so is the politeness and courtesy that's expected on say ... public transportation, etc. The coastal Northeast is still kind-of connected to its European roots. The rest of the country, god knows what it's like over there, but it's probably much different. That's why it's hard to judge anything as being universally American.
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Who knows if this site's still alive, but yeah, French culture exists in the US. The United States is made up of different nations, so to speak ... the Northeast, West Coast, the South, the Midwest, etc., so it's hard to think of the United States as having a single, unified opinion of anything.
But, the French fall into two camps: respected for their culture vs. hated for their culture. Then there are the people who can only think of wine, cheese, and that the French are the lovers of Europe! I grew up outside of New York City and live there currently; my mother and aunt lived in France during the 80s, and we have family friends there. It's not terribly uncommon for people who live on the coastal Northeast to have connections to Europe, but it's definitely much different elsewhere in the US thanks to isolation and distance over land (it's funny, people in the US hate the French the same way they hate people from the Northeast; they're both snobs, apparently).
French film, pop music, etc., is definitely known around here. But, from an American perspective, the French seem really intense about accents. A classmate in college had parents born in France and she told a story about her father, who was born and raised in France, who lost his authentic French accent after living in the US for so long. When he visited France, the French shunned him because of his accent. To an American that seems truly bizarre, but I know it's the case in Italy, too ... a girlfriend was from Italy and she recounted similar things happening when she visited there.
I guess the French are also seen as being really stuck up on traditional culture, like families eating at the dinner table at a certain hour, etc. Where I'm from that's pretty much the norm, and so is the politeness and courtesy that's expected on say ... public transportation, etc. The coastal Northeast is still kind-of connected to its European roots. The rest of the country, god knows what it's like over there, but it's probably much different. That's why it's hard to judge anything as being universally American.