On Sunday was the Superbowl, the culmination of the NFL Playoffs. The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots to be crowned the 52nd Superbowl champions (and Philly nearly burned down after). I watched more out of a duty to American culture rather than a desire to see either team play. I ended up rooting for the Eagles, but that was more because I was cheering against the Patriots (Go Bills!).
Paris is 7 hours ahead of Minneapolis, so when the Superbowl began at a reasonable 5:30pm local time, it was already 12:30 AM in Paris. Since I don’t have a TV in my apartment, my roommate and I trekked to Galway Irish Pub near the Notre Dame cathedral. It’s one of the many Irish, British, or Canadian sports bars in Paris that stayed open for the duration of the Superbowl.
We arrived on the second to last metro of the night, and made our way upstairs to a table overlooking the River Seine. The bar was pretty narrow, maybe 30 to 40 feet in length. The first floor had the bar, with a glass paned room flanking the door. Several TVs lined the walls, all turned to the SkySports stream of the game, complete with British announcers and (sadly) no American TV Advertisements. My friend from Michigan had saved us two seats, and there were already 7 other American students there with us. Behind my seat in the other corner of the mahogany lined pub were a group of French diners, and behind my friend was a group of British patrons. Kiddy corner to us were a particularly obnoxious group of French people, 2 guys, and 2 girls.
At first, I thought they were American because one of the guys was wearing a shirt that said “Rush ’17”, and on the back the greek letters for some fraternity. It turns out they were French based on their accents. What was really weird for me was that they would be speaking in French, but then would throw in English phrases or pop culture references. They began singing Hotline Bling by Drake (“I know when that hotline bling…do do do do do), but the “do do do” part was not the correct melody. They would also use what I think were American mannerisms, like taking shots (I later noticed they were taking shots of water), and chanting at things that happen. When they showed Tom Brady’s baby, the French group started chanting “La Bébé,La Bébé, La Bébé” over and over again. They would also talk in somewhat broken English for stretches at a time.
At first, I thought they were actually mocking us. But the more and more I listened in, I realized that they might actually be genuinely trying to act American. For their part, they were the only French group on the second floor that actually stayed for the duration of the Superbowl (everyone else left around 2am). When I brought this up to our Intercultural Communications and Leadership teacher, he reinforced this point. It seemed like what I mistook for obnoxious behavior was actually an attempt at acting culturally U.S. American.
I think my discomfort was that the way they were acting was unnatural. It’s as if somewhat had told them how Americans acted (or they learned it from pop culture) but they had never actually talked to a U.S. American in the process. The converse for French people would be if an American walked out of the metro wearing stripes, a beret, and carrying an entire baguette in hand. When people adopt only some, but not all aspects of your culture, it starts to produce an uncanny valley effect.
If we attempt to learn anything about a culture (mannerisms, beliefs, language) divorced from people of that culture, we are probably destined to act the way those French people acted. Lesson of the day is to always try to interact with natives and constantly evaluate the validity of the stereotypes you hold. Maybe the French do enjoy wine and cheese, but before assuming so, we should try to talk to some actual French people to see 1) if it’s true, and 2) how they actually express that fact.