Édouard Manet tried to warn us about the male gaze
We often come across the expression male gaze on the internet and in the media. It refers to the act, in arts, of depicting women and the world from a heterosexual male perspective. This perspective represents women as sexual objects, for the pleasure of the heterosexual male audience. The concept of male gaze was first articulated by the British Read more
Is the traditional Franco-Belgian comic format coming to an end?
When Art Spiegelman’s Maus received the Pulitzer Prize in 1992, the work was presented as a ‘graphic novel’. The term is once again imposed in traditional media when Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi meets with major critical and institutional success. These works are rarely described as comic strips (“Bandes Dessinées” in French, often abbreviated as BD), Read more
Vinyl records are back! This revival could be detrimental to the environment… or is it just our consumption habits?
While music has never been easier to access, vinyl records continue to stand out as something special. More vinyl were sold than CDs in 2024 in France, a situation that would have been unthinkable twenty years earlier. According to the 2025 Global Music Report published by the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), revenues Read more
La Folle Journée de Nantes: A Winter Celebration of Music for Everyone
Welcome to La Folle Journée For more than two decades, Nantes has established itself as one of the most dynamic cultural cities in France. Here, culture is not confined to a few key dates or venues reserved for insiders: it flows through the urban space throughout the year and reaches all audiences. Nantes’s cultural calendar Read more
Cultural Appropriation: The « Inspiration » Mask of the Luxury Empire
The years 2024 and 2025 have served as a harsh wake-up call for the global luxury industry. What was once dismissed as a « creative oversight » has evolved into a full-blown legitimacy crisis. When Prada debuted « leather sandals » in its Spring/Summer 2026 collection — priced at a staggering $1,200 — the internet’s « digital tribe » quickly identified Read more
Luxury and Art : A new cartography of cultural power
These last weeks, the luxury industry has found itself at the heart of a scandal. Several houses, including Dior or Valentino, which proudly display their artisanal excellence with the label “Made in Italy”, have been accused of having outsourced a part of their production in clandestine workshops, with workers paid only a few euros per Read more
L’Etranger (The Stranger) from Camus to Ozon: how can this canonic literary masterpiece be adapted in movie?
When cinema takes on such a mystical and complex work I returned to the novel The Stranger a few weeks before going to see the adaptation. As I closed the book, I was struck by the raw simplicity and silent depth of Camus’ writing: the absurdity, the absence of certainties, the feeling of being on Read more
How artificial intelligence is reshaping the entire music industry, from music creation to streaming platforms: challenges, opportunities and limitations
If you arrive on Etta Mae Hartwell’s page on Spotify and listen to a few songs, you have every reason to believe she is a talented living young artist. In her description, it says she sings her own stories with emotion and resilience. Some songs even have the label « (Live Session) ». But when you dig Read more
2026 is the New 2016 : Revival or Denial ?
Stranger Things is on TV in millions of homes, Taylor Swift and Zara Larsson are at the height of their fame, Instagram and its stories are more popular than ever… No, I’m not describing 2016, but rather the beginning of 2026. This feeling of collective déjà vu, shared on social media and in the press, Read more
When « true love » becomes a cultural slogan: Revisiting the classic love film « Love Actually » 20 years later.
Every winter during the Christmas season, the film « Love Actually » makes a limited return, holding high the most touching lines about true love and presenting dramatic yet perhaps real love stories. It is labeled as « heartwarming », « healing », and « about love », becoming a nearly default cultural symbol of Christmas. However, when a film repeatedly praised as Read more