French Production Research Articles

María Félix in Italy

ABSTRACT By the end of 1940s the Mexican film star, María Félix, had risen to the status of living legend at home and piqued the attention of filmmakers abroad. While her participation in Spanish and French productions has been studied, her performances in films produced in Italy, Incantesimo tragico (Dir. Mario Sequi, 1951) and Messalina (Dir. Carmine Gallone), have received less critical analysis. Building on scholarship about the regional and international reverberations of Mexican Golden Age cinema, studies on transnational stardom, as well as star theory, this article reveals how Felix’s projects in Italy constituted transnational experiments within a broader Southern European postwar strategy to counter Hollywood’s market dominance. In contradistinction to her Spanish and French films in which Félix was cast as a foreigner, in Italy Félix played Italian characters. Close film analysis illustrates how to varying degrees, Félix’s roles in Italy engaged her preestablished type known as the mujer sin alma (woman without a soul), and the examination of archival materials shows how the Italian popular press blended Félix’s onscreen characters with the actress off screen. Ultimately, Félix clashed with the ideals of postwar Italian female stardom and was met with an ambivalent financial and critical reception.

“Take my Moneybox”: The Symbolic Powers of the First Child Movie Stars in Early French Cinema (1906‐1916)

AbstractThis paper analyzes why child film star series produced by major French production companies (Pathé, Gaumont, Eclectic, and Éclair) in the early 1900s (Bébé, Bout‐de‐Zan, Willy, and the Maria Fromet series) were received with such interest by global audiences. This period, prior to World War I, was a brief era when French cinema held significant hegemony worldwide, before Hollywood's dominance began. There are ideas suggesting that child film stars emerged with American cinema. Contrary to this, however, French producers competed fiercely in the 10 years following 1906, producing series featuring child film stars. Substantial budgets were allocated for the marketing of these series, ultimately gaining a considerable fan base not only in Europe but also in America. When examining these film stars from the early 20th century within their historical context, they emerge as the first international child stars with international fame and financial success, unlike child musicians, vaudeville artists, and theater actors from the 18th and 19th centuries. Inspired by the field analysis of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, this article aims to establish a connection between the struggles within the field and the symbolic needs of the audience as reflected in the content of child star films. The films were viewed at the Eye Film Museum archive.

Immediate cross-language transfer of novel articulatory plans in bilingual speech.

Current models of second language (L2) acquisition focus on interactions with a first language (L1) at the level of speech sound targets. In multilinguals, the degree of interaction between the articulatory plans that guide speech in each language remains unclear. Here, we directly address this question in bilingual speakers. We use a sensorimotor adaptation paradigm to drive the acquisition of novel articulatory plans for speech in one language and then measure the extent to which these new motor plans influence articulatory plans in the speaker's other language. Twenty L1-French, L2-English bilinguals adapted their speech production to a real-time alteration of vowel sounds. In one session, the adaptation was acquired during French sentence production; in a second session, the adaptation was acquired during English sentence production. In each session, cross-language transfer of these novel articulatory plans for speech was assessed using a transfer task that involved the production of French and English words with heavily noise-masked auditory feedback. Sensorimotor adaptation that countered the vowel sound alteration was observed in both French and English. Regardless of the linguistic context in which the adaptation was acquired, the adaptation transferred to the production of words in both languages. The amount of transfer did not depend on whether the adaptation was acquired in the participant's L1 or L2. In a second experiment, the result was replicated with 20 L1-English, L2-French speakers. The experiments support the idea that, in bilinguals, the interaction between L1 and L2 articulatory motor plans is rapid and bidirectional. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Sinful, Sexual, Sacred: Locating a Thirteenth-Century Visuality through the Selective Erasures in Rylands MS French 5

Rylands MS French 5 is a thirteenth-century Bible picture book consisting of a single pictorial cycle depicting scenes from the Old Testament. The manuscript is remarkable for the predominance of its imagery and the erasures that selectively mar its otherwise unspoiled folios. The sites of these erasures can be categorised as evil, obscene, and divine subjects. Examining each in turn, I hope to demonstrate the importance of both the Bible picture book tradition and manuscript erasure for considerations of later medieval visuality. Where the Bible picture book encapsulates thirteenth-century confidence in the visual sense, the erasures signal the boundaries of this confidence, revealing a paradoxical mode of sight in which ocular passions merge and clash. In turn, these findings problematise attempts to theorise a homogenous thirteenth-century visuality, as different understandings of vision surfaced in the decades after the production of MS French 5 and played out in impassioned and contradictory ways on the manuscript page.

Out of time: fantasising the French romantic hero in the Netflix era

ABSTRACT Netflix’s globally oriented French products are commercially bound to negotiate between producing locally legible and internationally acceptable gender types. This article spotlights variations in representing the French romantic hero – traditionally a gallant séducteur – to a global audience hypersensitive to notions of toxic masculinity in two post-#MeToo Netflix Original French romantic comedy narratives: the series Plan cœur/The Hook-Up Plan (2018–2021) and the film Je ne suis pas un homme facile/I Am Not an Easy Man (Eléonore Pourriat, 2018). Noting that Netflix is now the key export channel for French romcoms, the article draws primarily on textual analysis, while also leveraging psychoanalytic and affective theories, to argue that the platform’s impetus to make French masculinity in particular more widely palatable, and (so) appeal to emergent popular feminism, has the potential to reconfigure parameters of legitimate gender norms, French and beyond.

Environmental footprint of dehydrated alfalfa production (Medicago sativa L.) in France

The production of dehydrated alfalfa for animal feed requires substantial energy-consuming processes, which raises questions about the environmental sustainability of this sector; less energy-intensive processes and a transition to renewable energy are needed. In this study, we quantified the environmental footprint of dehydrated alfalfa production in France and its evolution over time using data collected over two periods (2006–2009 and 2016 to 2019). This study was based on twelve production units spread throughout the main alfalfa production areas in France, which represent more than 50% of the national production of dehydrated alfalfa. A life cycle assessment was performed for the three steps of this production: production in the field, transportation from the field to the factory and the dehydration process. The results showed that the adaptation and renewal of the production tools between the two time periods allowed a reduction in the consumption of nonrenewable energy per ton of dehydrated alfalfa: lignite and coal decreased from an average of 352.3 kg t−1 dehydrated alfalfa in 2006–2007 to an average of 100.6 kg t−1 dehydrated alfalfa in 2018–2019. At the same time, the introduction of biomass as an energy source represented 127.4 kg biomass t−1 dehydrated alfalfa in 2018–2019. The decrease in the moisture content of fodder due to climate change and a longer time in the field before plant transport also significantly decreased the energy needed for dehydration at the factory level. Consequently, the French production sector reduced its impact on the “climate change” impact category from 1.150 kg CO2-eq. kg−1 dry matter of dehydrated alfalfa (first period) to 0.494 kg CO2-eq. kg−1 dry matter of dehydrated alfalfa (second period). Among the eight environmental impact categories studied, only the “land competition” criterion increased from 0.840 to 1.222 m2.y between the two periods due to the substitution of fossil energies with renewable energies from wood and energy crops.

How taste proximity affects consumer quality valuation of imported varieties: Evidence from the French food sector

AbstractConsumer tastes vary by country and influence food trade patterns. While previous literature highlights different cultural elements as either trade promoters or barriers, divergences in consumer tastes may also generate differences in the perception of the quality of products. As a consequence, consumer taste in destination countries is likely to affect the demand for imported products in a different manner according to the origin and the quality of products imported. Based on firm‐product level data on French exports, this study analyses how differences in taste proximity with French consumers across destination markets affect the export revenues of vertically differentiated varieties. To identify taste proximity, we rely on data gathered from TripAdvisor on the type of cuisine offered in restaurants all over the world. The results of this study suggest that quality of French products is more strongly appreciated and consumers are more willing to spend on high‐quality products in countries with a taste similar to that of French consumers.

Proposal for reference values for the developmental effects of valproate based on human data using a benchmark dose approach

Following accidental release of valproate into ambient air during manufacture at a French production site in 2018, concerns were raised for inhabitants of the surrounding area. As no toxicological reference value (TRV) was available, the risks could not be properly assessed. The French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) was mandated to determine a TRV by inhalation to be used for risk assessment. Major congenital malformations (MCMs) in offsprings of mothers exposed to valproate during pregnancy have been reported in international scientific literature. As these adverse effects were the most sensitive effect identified, they were retained as the critical effect to be used for the TRV. The data from a robust registry on MCMs established by the International Registry of Antiepileptic Drugs and Pregnancy (EURAP) were modellized and support a strong DRR between the prevalence of MCMs in the fetus and in utero exposure. A benchmark dose (BMD) was then calculated as the dose that may trigger a 5% increase in this risk. A lower 95% confidence limit (BMD5%L95%) of 2.26 mg/kg/day, leading to an oral TRV of 0.08 mg/kg/day and a respiratory TRV of 0.26 mg.m-3 after applying an uncertainty factor of 30, was determined.

Fisheries and aquaculture products consumption in France: when the Covid-19 crisis did not lead to more sustainable purchases

In terms of food consumption, sustainability dimensions are often conflicting with purchasing power and practical purchases. France lands, farms, imports, and consumes large quantities of fisheries and aquaculture products (FAPs). The pandemic affected both domestic and foreign FAP supply through restrictions on trade and fishing conditions. Numerous sale points offering FAPs were closed during the pandemic. This general context has likely questioned the role of consumers on environmental, economic, and social matters. The aim of the paper is to assess whether the Covid-19 crisis has been an opportunity for French consumers to align their consumption at-home with the environmental issues by favouring domestic producers, short channels, or eco-friendly products. Quantitative data on at-home ordinary household purchases in metropolitan France from 2017 to 2021 was used along with t-test methods. It seems that fresh FAPs consumption did not truly adapt to the domestic fish production in defiance of import restrictions and available surpluses. While fresh shellfish at-home consumption did not change significantly in 2020, salmon and cod are still widely favoured by French consumers at-home, although their French production is virtually non-existent. On the contrary, domestically produced fish species remains poorly consumed at-home. The abundant supply of fresh salmon initially intended for other markets has permitted to consolidate the dominant position of this species on the French at-home consumption market. Initiated by supermarkets and hypermarkets and followed up by consumers, the trend of purchasing pre-packaged fresh fish has been substantially amplified by the pandemic and seems to persist over time.

Introduction of a new French beer brand on the Polish market in the opinion of consumers

Objective: The study aims to identify the behavior, opinions, motives and expectations of Polish consumers towards beer brands, with a particular focus on a beer brand manufactured by a French brewery. The consumer survey carried out allows identification of several major potential consumer groups to be targeted by a medium-sized independent French brewery with its offer. Methodology: The study employed the use of primary sources obtained via a measurement instrument, in the form of an online survey questionnaire, developed for the purpose of the ResearchLab 2022 academic contest organized by Le Sphinx. The consumer survey was conducted in the period from April 12 to May 01, 2022. A method of indirect measurement, i.e., a survey questionnaire, was used to collect the material, which allows collection and examination of data on large research populations. The questionnaire consists of introductory questions regarding the beer market in Poland, consumer behavior questions concerning consumer awareness, preferences and consumption motives, questions pertaining to market barriers and foreign beer brands, as well as a metric part. The research process involved the use of Sphinx software, which allows intuitive development of a survey questionnaire, its quick distribution, convenient collection of data, as well as comprehensive quantitative and qualitative analysis thereof. The platform additionally allows for real-time tracking of the survey results, which quite is important when conducting research on a well-defined study group. The survey encompassed a research population of 3792 respondents (male and female) of different age ranges. The sample size was determined on the basis of Internet accessibility in Poland (92.4%, in 2021) (2021 Information Society in Poland…, 2021, p. 125). In order to maintain result representativeness, the minimum number of survey participants was calculated at 2401 respondents, assuming a confidence level of 95% and an error of 2%. The representative sample was of a quota nature, defined by the contest holder, and encompassed 40% of respondents aged 18-35 and 36-55 respectively, as well as 20% of respondents over 56 years of age. Gender-wise sample distribution was 60% males and 40% females. The data was examined using such statistical methods as structure analysis, as well as positional or classical measures. Results: The survey results show that the preferred beer package size is 500ml glass bottle, with an alcohol content of 3.6% to 7%. The main Polish market competition for the French independent brewery's new beer brand are Lech, Żywiec, and Desperados. The preferred beer types are lager (72%), IPA (47%) and flavored beer (47%). The beer flavors most commonly chosen by consumers on the Polish market are lemon and lime, mojito, apple and honey. An ideal beer, as typified by the respondents, would be characterized by average proportions of aroma, color, carbonation, bitterness and alcohol content. The factors prompting consumers to try new beer brands are primarily taste, price and advertising, therefore, it is worth focusing on the three, maintaining proportions in the order in which the factors have been presented. Information regarding alcohol novelties most commonly is derived from friends or Social Media, which is why advertising should involve the use of these channels for e.g., various types of Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Tik Tok contests. The respondents reacted positively to the French beer brand, and the majority would opt to try this type of beer, given the opportunity. Their expectation with regard to the brand is high price, good quality and taste, as well as elegance. Its envisioned label design is associated with the national colors of France, the city of Paris, Napoleon, and the Alps. It is thus worth taking the above associations into account when designing the label. Originality: The article presents the consumer opinions regarding introduction of a new French product on the Polish market. It is addressed to distributors of imported beer. Key words: beer, beer market in Poland, France, French brewery. Article category: Research Paper.

Islamic religiosity and consumer ethnocentrism in post-Arab Spring countries

PurposeReligious tendencies have increased in post-Arab Spring countries, raising the question of whether this geopolitical event has affected consumers' orientations towards foreign products, including those that have positive country-of-origin image. This paper investigates the effect of Islamic religiosity on the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and buying intention towards products from a developed country (France) in an Arab Spring country (Tunisia).Design/methodology/approachA survey questionnaire was lunched and data was collected from 492 Tunisian consumers living in both rural and urban areas. Research hypotheses were tested using a Partial Least Square- Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) method.FindingsTunisian consumers do not associate their ethnocentric feelings towards French products with their Islamic religiosity. Results show that both highly and moderately religious Tunisians trust French products because of their high country-of-origin image and their potential social connotations.Originality/valueThe results of this paper contribute to the literature that focuses on understanding consumption behaviours in developing countries in the aftermath of geopolitical events such as the Arab Spring.

Conflict of Semiotic Ideologies: Charlie Hebdo Controversy and Indonesian Muslims' Responses

<p class="abstrak">The controversy of the Prophet Muhammad's caricature in Charlie Hebdo magazine resulted in Muslim communities’ protests from various parts of the world, including Indonesia. In response to this religious harassment, various steps were taken, including boycotting French products and criticizing secularism, which has been the constitutional principle of French. This article aimed at providing another perspective in viewing the controversy by looking back at the point where this problem began, the caricature of the Prophet Muhammad. This study sees that caricatures are not only inanimate objects, but they also have agency. To be able to see this agency in the particularity of space and time, we rely on semiotic ideology as the theoretical framework. Semiotic ideology is an assumption of signs that see various possibilities in signs, including their materiality. The Charlie Hebdo controversy is a clash of semiotic ideologies formed by the particularity of space and time and manifested in the responses shown in the face of the Charlie Hebdo controversy. In Indonesia, this semiotic ideology was born from political polarization, religious resurgence, and conservative turn. We see that the analysis of icon and materiality still have not really taken any significant part of religious studies and Islamic studies in Indonesia, including in studying the Charlie Hebdo controversy.</p>

17th Century Costuming Features of Korčula’s Moreška

A tangible aspect that points to a historic past of the Korčula moreška is the skirted costume, which is unlike any other outfit worn on the island or elsewhere in Croatia. Recently, mid-seventeenth century archival costume illustrations of noble court ballets in Turin as well as costume designs of royal French productions in Paris were shared online, providing illustration of dance costuming in the theater. Popular Venetian public theater productions started in 1637 – studied by theater, stage costume, and dance researchers – reveal the importance of Roman features in costuming to denote nobility, strength, and leadership in theatrical spectacles. This Roman costume feature brings credence to the first known written description of a “Roman-Oriental” costume from the report of a moreška performance during the Saxon King’s visit to Korčula in 1838. Both the 17th century courtly spectacles and the Venetian public theater with many king-led combat dances thus extend our knowledge about costuming – sufficiently to warrant further research into the seventeenth century roots of Korčula moreška costuming.

French Military and Civil Deployment in Ottoman Istanbul During the Crimean War (1853–1856)

Based mainly on original French archival sources, this paper discusses the conduct and extent of French military and civil activities in Ottoman Istanbul during the Crimean War. Using both qualitative and quantitative indicators, the paper shows how the necessities generated by the war, promoted an unprecedented growth in the French military and civil presence in Istanbul. Through this approach, the paper explains to what degree the war created new market opportunities for various French products and services, a favourable environment for the establishment of French hospitals, and also occasions for cultural encounters between the French and the Ottomans in Istanbul.

A Contested Pill: Transnational Controversies over Medical Abortion in Germany, France, and the United States

In 1988, French pharmaceutical company Roussel Uclaf introduced Mifepristone (RU 486), a pill which medically induces abortion, but withdrew the drug one month later after severe protests. The abortion pill caused transnational controversies from 1988 to 1993. This article examines these controversies as a gateway to the entanglements between biomedical research, economic interests, and social protests in the last third of the twentieth century, as the American antiabortion movement initiated protests against the drug's French producer and its German parent company after its market release in France. The movement used boycotts against French products and utilized discomforting references to Germany's Nazi past to put pressure on pharmaceutical executives. In contrast, German, French, and American feminists and family-planners relied on transnational networks to enable medical trials and ensure the global distribution of Mifepristone. The article highlights how feminist demands for individual choice and public health concerns clashed with the antiabortion movements’ demands and entrepreneurs’ concerns about crude Holocaust comparisons. It shows that actors on both sides of the abortion controversy employed nonmedical arguments to influence scientific research and social movements acted on a transnational level to influence the market introduction of new biomedical advances.

The production of L3 stop-initial words by Spanish/English bilinguals

ABSTRACT This study examined the production of L3 French words by Spanish–English bilinguals who had no prior knowledge of the L3. Using a shadowing task, 39 Spanish L1/English L2 and 18 Spanish monolingual speakers produced 26 tokens of word-initial voiceless plosive consonants in French, Spanish and English (15 Spanish and French tokens for the monolingual group). Importantly, Spanish and French plosives are typically produced with short-lag VOT, whereas English plosives are produced with a long-lag VOT and aspiration. The results of generalised mixed-effects models revealed that L3 French productions by the bilingual group fell between L1 and L2 values, and provided evidence that the bilingual group experienced influence from both their L1, Spanish and their L2, English, while the monolingual group produced the French as a Spanish-like short-lag. Additionally, a post-hoc analysis of individual differences revealed that a subset of participants experienced heavy L1 influence on their L3 productions, whereas the remaining participants showed a lower, but considerable, degree of L2 influence on L3 productions. These findings provide support for the Linguistic Proximity Model (Westergaard et al., 2017) and suggest that the first exposure to a third language is not universal.

Complex network analysis to understand trading partnership in French swine production

The circulation of livestock pathogens in the pig industry is strongly related to animal movements. Epidemiological models developed to understand the circulation of pathogens within the industry should include the probability of transmission via between-farm contacts. The pig industry presents a structured network in time and space, whose composition changes over time. Therefore, to improve the predictive capabilities of epidemiological models, it is important to identify the drivers of farmers' choices in terms of trade partnerships. Combining complex network analysis approaches and exponential random graph models, this study aims to analyze patterns of the swine industry network and identify key factors responsible for between-farm contacts at the French scale. The analysis confirms the topological stability of the network over time while highlighting the important roles of companies, types of farm, farm sizes, outdoor housing systems and batch-rearing systems. Both approaches revealed to be complementary and very effective to understand the drivers of the network. Results of this study are promising for future developments of epidemiological models for livestock diseases. This study is part of the One Health European Joint Programme: BIOPIGEE.

Sikap Masyrakat Arab terhadap Perancis Pasca Kemunculan Karikatur Nabi Muhammad Saw dalam Majalah Charlie Hebdo Edisi September Tahun 2020: Studi Fenomenologi Edmund Husserl

<p><em>Abstract</em> -<strong> The purpose of this article is to describe the attitude of the Arab Arab community towards France after the appearance of the caricature of the Prophet Muhammad in the September 2020 edition of Charlie Hebdo Magazine based on the perspective of Edmund Husserl's phenomenological study. The problems that will be investigated are: (1) how did the caricature of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) appear in Charlie Hebdo magazine?: and (2) how was the attitude of the Arab community towards France after the appearance of the caricature of the Prophet Muhammad in the September 2020 edition of Charlie Hebdo Magazine? The object studied is in the form of national and international online news media. The research method used is qualitative. Data collection using the watch and note technique. Then the data were analyzed by descriptive analysis technique. To validate the data, the technique used is the triangulation technique. The results of this research are (1) the appearance of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in Charlie Hebdo magazine starting in 2006 which is a reprint of the Danish magazine Jyllands-Posten. Chalie Hebdo magazine has published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad four times in the vulnerable time between 2006 and 2020: and (2) the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in the September 2020 edition of Charlie Jebdo magazine has raised angry attitudes from the Arab Muslim community towards Franc, through the condemnation of many countries, demonstrations of the Arab Muslim community, to the boycott of French products.</strong></p><div class="WordSection1"><p><strong><em>Keywords</em></strong> – <em>Cartoon of Prophet Muhammad, Charlie Hebdo, Arab-France Coflict, Phenomenolog</em></p></div>

French crop yield, area and production data for ten staple crops from 1900 to 2018 at county resolution

Agricultural performance is influenced by environmental conditions, management decisions and economic circumstances. It is important to quantify their respective contribution to allow for detecting major hazards to production, projecting future yields under climate change and deriving adaptation options. For this purpose, time series of agricultural yields with high spatial and long-term temporal resolution are a primary requisite. Here we present a data set of crop performance in France, one of Europe’s major crop producers. The data set comprises ten crops (barley, maize, oats, potatoes, rapeseed, sugarbeet, sunflower, durum wheat, soft wheat and wine) and covers the years 1900 to 2018. It contains harvested area, production and yield data for all 96 French départements (i.e. counties or NUTS3 level) with a total number of 375,264 data points. Entries until 1988 have been digitized manually from statistical yearbooks. The technical validation indicates a high consistency of the data set within itself and with external resources. The data set may contribute to an enhanced understanding of the manifold influences on agricultural performance.

Analysing the relationship between L2 production and different stages of L2 processing: Eye-tracking and acoustic evidence for a novel contrast

This study analyses the relationship between native English speakers’ perception and production of the novel French /y/–/u/ contrast. Acoustic data were extracted from the learners’ production of French minimal pairs contrasting these French vowels and compared with their processing of the same items in a Visual World eye-tracking task. Results reveal that the vowel most acoustically similar to the learners’ native English /u/ vowel, French /y/, is both easier to identify at early processing stages and more acoustically similar to a native French control group in production, indicating a perception-production relationship. Furthermore, analyses of individual variation reveal that the learners who process both /y/ and /u/ more successfully at later processing stages are also more likely to mark a greater distinction between these phonemes in production. Together, these results indicate a relationship between L2 processing and L2 production at multiple levels. Implications for current L2 speech models are discussed.