archives@tulane.edu / Today Marie-Antoinette appears in the USA as a dazzling character. Propaganda from the French revolution compared her to the Chimera, and she indeed shares some traits with this mythological monster. Heterogeneous and composite, she is both a wicked queen and a tragic heroin. Media outlets invoke her name to criticize politicians and celebrities, while also painting her as a compassionate figure and paragon of feminism. A symbol of French luxury, Marie-Antoinette is a queen of fashion and a comparative tool for gauging contempt of the wealthiest. The historian, journalist or economist can seize upon one facet of her to offer a critical or benevolent personal view, thus creating a confused, contradictory, and sublime picture of her.
Claiming that this use of her images distorts history, we will study the queen’s occurrence in modern USA in popular culture and scholarly works. A symbol of economic prosperity, she provides opposing guidelines for definitions of success. We will show that these factors come from a fictive figure, a Chimera in its definition of an unreal monster. We will then explore the different manifestations of the queen to understand where they originated, spotlighting New Orleans, where her image is particularly influential. We will also explore American and world images, showing how US medias and film industry influence the world’s understanding of the character. / 1 / Guillaume Tabet
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_121649 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Contributors | Tabet, Guillaume (author), Falaky, Fayçal (Thesis advisor), Bantigny, Ludivine (Thesis advisor), Dupuy, Pascal (Thesis advisor), School of Liberal Arts French and Italian (Degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | French |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | electronic, pages: 594 |
| Rights | No embargo, Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law. |
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