So advertising in general can be very sexist and French advertising is certainly no exception. The “sex sells” concept seems to have been invented here (all the ads of naked women selling cellulite and fat-burning cream at pharmacies seem to contradict the care free image of French women who never diet yet think of a banana as fattening promoted by French Women Don’t Get Fat).

I was already getting sick of the ads promoting the apparent sexual prowess of chocolate when I saw this:

The ad on the right showing the device being used to take notes on a financial report apparently wasn’t sufficient to attract women hence the ad on the left where it’s being used to organize shoe and bag shopping.

And in this ad our heroine is using it for a work meeting but only to decide which shoes to wear (ultimately deciding to be “daring” and wear her red ones). Not only is it frivolous but seriously, who needs an electronic device to plan her outfits?

What about showing how it can be used for grocery shopping/meal planning (which actually can get complicated and could be helped with an organizational device), track fertility, planning an evening out or a vacation, to study, etc?

And would the kind of woman whose most pressing thoughts are what kind of shoes she’s going to wear and to buy really be hanging out on the RER A platform at Conflans Fin d’Oise?

Earlier I discussed the site On Va Sortir. Thanks to this site I discovered the thriving world of French improv, or l’impro. It quickly became one of my primary types of OVS outings due to the fact that there’s so much of it and that for the same price as an amateur theatre production with low production values and uneven quality I can see top of the line quality improv pros.

Many anglophones will be most familiar with improv through Whose Line is it Anyway - both the British and American versions. The style of improv on those shows is very different from what you’ll see live. Whose Line is a series of improv games that give the actors explicit rules, outline their characters, the situation, etc so that everything the actors do or say is essentially a punchline.

The live shows are a series of improvised sketches. Whether a spectacle or a match d’impro, the actors are given a theme (either from the audience or an arbitre) from which they have to construct the whole universe of the sketch from
characters and their motivations to setting and props to plot. Some themes strongly suggest some of these elements making the task easier whereas others can be quite abstract. Sometimes there might be special parameters placed on the scene like in Whose Line, such as in the style of a musical comedy, modern theatre or Shakespeare, but the given outline of the sketch still remains pretty vague. What this means is that there will tend to be fewer laugh out load moments and sometimes the whole constructing a universe and developing a plot part fails miserably, resulting in a sketch that is boring and/or makes no sense. But when it’s good, it’s really good. :-)

As you can expect, it seems the more you pay the better chance that what you’re going to see is going to be good. An example of this is the spectacle Colors - which for 15 euros on Billet Reduc you get a professional show that’s reliably good set in a historic theatre. They play every Sunday night (which is actually a perfect way to send off the weekend) with a special guest as Mr./Miss White (though as a foreigner you’ll probably almost never know who it is). This was my first improv show in Paris and it remains my favorite.

The amateur shows will cost less or even be free but with wildly different experiences. Because of how difficult it can be, even good amateur troupes will have off nights. One that I saw in a match, Les malades de l’imaginaire, had one night that was ok with quite a few sketches that just didn’t work out, in addition to others which were quite good. And then I saw them another night that was just spectacular from beginning to end. I saw another troupe in a match that mostly fell flat while their spectacle was decent. One troupe that puts on a free spectacle (with a chapeau à la fin), Les flibustiers de l’imaginaire, was great. And I wasn’t alone in thinking that - they seem to have quite a cult following so their monthly shows are very highly-attended. But I saw another troupe offering a free spectacle with chapeau which was so awful that I had to pay 15 euros to see Colors that week just to get the taste out of my mouth.

The match setting can be more forgiving for less than perfect improvs if you have a good arbitre calling them out in an entertaining way for not moving the action along, confusing the audience, etc. Plus, in addition to getting to vote on each improv, each audience member is issued a slipper that they are free to throw whenever they are displeased.

For amateur shows, the venues will vary from small theatres in cafes to gyms to random multi-purpose rooms. This typically means no theatre seating so get there early to make sure you can see.

Improv can be quite challenging to understand for those of us who aren’t native in French. Obviously, you should have a good level, as in you should be able to watch fictional French TV without too much trouble. Comedy in general can be tough for language learners, so be prepared to accept the fact that sometimes the whole room will be in stitches and you’ll have no idea what they just said (or you understood but you obviously didn’t get the cultural reference or euphemism or whatever that made it so funny). In addition, the lack of props, costumes and scenery means you’ll be relying on the actors’ skill in miming these and sometimes the sketches may not make total sense (or any). And, of course since it’s improv you won’t find a plot synopsis to read ahead of time to prepare. But this just makes the moments where you do get the joke that much better.

It’s a great experience, so think of your themes (making sure to check the spelling and grammar) and have a great time! Look for shows on Billet Reduc and OVS.

Are you a foreigner who came to Paris hoping to make lots of French friends but can’t seem to break out of the exchange student/assistant/expat crowd? Want to meet French people without the drama of dating French dragueurs (certainly understandable)? Try www.onvasortir.com -it’s a site like meetup.com for Frenchies where people post all kinds of different outings designed for people to meet each other. Bars, restaurants, theatre, movies, hiking, jogging and even travelling. There is a meetup.com for Paris but it seems to be more popular with anglophones whereas you’ll probably be the only non-French person at an On Va Sortir event. When you arrive to your event and someone asks you if you’re from OVS you’ve found your group!