French Revolution
By Lady Gaga
SEK - Catalunya
Social Science
Ignasi Llobera
2013/14
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
AIM:
- to analyse and evaluate
- a range of sources (texts, images, songs, etc.)
- in terms of origin and purpose,
- recognizing values and limitations.
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
Origin:
Author:
- Birth Name: Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta,
better known by her stage name Lady Gaga
- Born in 1986 NYC, she is an American singer,
songwriter, activist, record producer, businesswoman,
fashion designer, philanthropist, and actress.
- Years active: 2005 – present.
- Genres: Pop, dance, electronic, rock.
Historical Context:
- USA, 21st century.
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
The song:
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
Purpose:
- Let people know about a very important historical
event in Europe
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
The song:
Inequality. The relics of feudalism. Revolution in France.
The Three Estates ensured nobles favoritism. Revolution in France.
La liberté, égalité, fraternité. A revolution.
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
The song:
Don’t want no taxes, I’m paying too much. Let them eat cake we had a banquet for lunch.
I need my bread. Bread bread bread! Off with her head.
It went from 8 sous to 12 in a year. Exactly what impoverished peasants had feared.
The royals jeered. Ha ha ha. There’s more for us.
There was a famine. The peasants wouldn’t pay. Bad malnutrition and tooth decay.
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
Analyse the song:
"Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of
the French phrase "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche",
supposedly spoken by "a great princess" upon learning
that the peasants had no bread. Spanish translation:
“Que coman croissants”.
While it is commonly attributed to Queen Marie
Antoinette, there is no record of this phrase ever
having been uttered by her.
Queen Maria Antoinette (1755 – 1793; House of Habsburg-Lorraine):
- Spouse King Louis XVI of France (House of Bourbon)
- Queen consort of France and Navarre (1774 – 1792)
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
Analyse the song:
“It went from 8 sous to 12 in a year ”:
The price of a four pound loaf of bread (what an average French family ate in a day)
goes up from 8 sous to 12 sous, but you only make 10 sous a day, then you will
barely be able afford food. Forget about rent, firewood for keeping warm, etc…
“The royals jeered”: To laugh at a person or thing; to mock
“There was a famine”: A severe shortage of food.
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
The song:
It went from famine to Napoleon’s war. You and me, let’s start a revolution.
We will not take this poverty anymore. You and me let’s start a revolution.
On a tennis court we swore to a constitution. Revolution in France.
On July 14 we stormed the Bastille; we showed them. Revolution in France.
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
Analyse the song:
“On a tennis court we swore to a constitution.”:
The Tennis Court Oath was a pivotal event during the first days of the French
Revolution. The Oath was signed by 576 of the 577 members from the Third
Estate who were locked out of a meeting of the Estates-General on 20 June 1789.
The Oath signified the first
time that French citizens
formally stood in opposition
to Louis XVI, and the National
Assembly's refusal to back
down forced the king to
make concessions. The Oath
also inspired a wide variety of
revolutionary activity in the
months afterwards,
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
Analyse the song:
“On July 14 we stormed the Bastille.”:
The insurgents set their eyes on
the large weapons cache inside
the Bastille fortress, which was
also perceived to be a symbol
of royal power.
After several hours of combat,
the prison fell that afternoon.
Although the fortress had held
only seven prisoners, the
Bastille served as a potent
symbol of everything hated
under the Ancien Régime.
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
The song:
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
The song:
The month of August, 1789. No feudalism, Declaration of Rights.
August decrees. Swept aside the two estates.
Women of Paris march down to Versailles. Carrying weapons the French King they defied.
You give us bread. Bread! Bread or we’ll stab you dead!
A new constitution. With a limited monarchy. It was a bad time for France.
We took on Austria in a war in the spring. Europe frightened by our revolution.
We will not take it Louis XVI must die. Tension heightened by our revolution.
Radical political mobs unite to start a revolution in France.
Breech-less sans-culottes of the Paris Commune demanded revolution in France.
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
Analyse the song:
“The month of August, 1789. No feudalism, Declaration of Rights.”:
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen is a fundamental document of
the French Revolution and in the history
of human rights, defining the individual and
collective rights of all the estates of the realm as
universal.
The rights of man are held to be universal: valid
at all times and in every place, pertaining
to human nature itself.
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
Analyse the song:
“August decrees”: from Old French decre: decided. To be decisive.
“Radical political mobs unite”: OFTEN DEROGATORY a group or class of people.
“Breech-less sans-culottes of the Paris Commune demanded revolution in France”:
Breech-less sans-culottes:
Parisian labourer who wore
long trousers rather than the
knee-length ones typical of
the bourgeoisie; often
involved in popular protests
and riots.
Paris Commune: The
government of Paris from
1789 until 1795
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
The song:
Walk, walk, scaffold baby . Guillotine was going crazy. Take heads of kings and ladies.
Europe armed for the invading. Walk walk scaffold baby. Guillotine was going crazy.
Robespierre, Reign of Terror. Did it for the Public Safety.
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
Analyse the song:
“scaffold baby”: It refers to the "Guillotine".
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
Analyse the song:
“Robespierre, Reign of Terror. Did it for the Public Safety”
Robespierre: a French lawyer and politician, and one of
the best-known and most influential figures of
the French Revolution. He advocated against the death
penalty and for the abolition of slavery, while
supporting equality of rights, universal suffrage and the
establishment of a republic. As a member of
the Committee of Public Safety, he was an important
figure during the period of the Revolution commonly
known as the Reign of Terror, which ended a few
months after his arrest and execution in July 1794.
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
Analyse the song:
“Reign of Terror.”:
The Reign of Terror (1793 – 1794), was a
period of violence that occurred after the
onset of the French Revolution, marked by
mass executions of "enemies of the
revolution".
The death toll ranged in the tens of thousands,
with 16,594 executed by guillotine and
another 25,000 in summary executions across
France.
The guillotine (called the "National Razor")
became the symbol of the revolutionary
cause, strengthened by a string of
executions: King Louis XVI and Queen Marie
Antoinette among others.
Robespierre guillotining the executioner after
having guillotined everyone else in France
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
The song:
I want your loyalty or I’ll get my revenge. I take you out till your rebellion ends.
Don’t want no church. Catholicism is dead. No room for God. Worship reason instead.
Good ol’ Notre Dame became a “temple of reason”. Revolution in France.
A new calendar with months named for times and seasons. Revolution in France.
The Terror ended and with Robespierre gone. Was this the ending of the revolution?
Five members of the new Directory ruled. Could it be a permanent solution?
Directory and legislature filled with corruption. Revolution in France.
Monarchists and wars would cause even more disruption. Revolution in France.
Ooh, oo, oo la la. Coup d’état . Ooh oo, oo la la. Napoleon’s here!
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
Analyse the song:
“Coup de tat ”: Coup d'état
Cout d’état: The sudden deposition of a government, usually by a small group of
the existing state establishment—typically the military—to depose the extant
government and replace it with another body, civil or military.
“Napoleon’s here! ”:
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 - 1821)
- A French military and political leader who
rose to prominence during the latter stages
of the French Revolution.
- Emperor of the French (1804-1815).
- King of Italy (1805-1814)
- He was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in
June 1815
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
The song:
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
Values:
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
Limitations:
SEK-Catalunya Social Science
French Revolution by Lady Gaga
The song:
SEK-Catalunya Social Science