French Revolution

French Revolution

By Lady Gaga

SEK - Catalunya Social ScienceIgnasi Llobera

2013/14

French Revolution by Lady Gaga SEK-Catalunya Social Science

AIM:

- recognizing values and limitations.

- to analyse and evaluate

- a range of sources (texts, images, songs, etc.)

- in terms of origin and purpose,


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.


The song:


Purpose:- Let people know about a very important historical

event in Europe


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.



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.


"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)

Analyse the song:


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.


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.


Analyse the song:

“On a tennis court we swore to a constitution.”:

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,

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.


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.


The song:


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.


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.


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


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.


Analyse the song:

“scaffold baby”: It refers to the "Guillotine".


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.


Analyse the song:

“Reign of Terror.”:

Robespierre guillotining the executioner after having guillotined everyone else in France

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.


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!


Analyse the song:

“Coup de tat ”: Coup d'état

“Napoleon’s here! ”:

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 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


The song:


Values:


Limitations:


The song:

Documents

French Revolution