Cross-cultural communication （132）　

132) Soft Power
This may be a sudden question, have you ever seen the movie “Casablanca”? It is an American film made in 1942. Yes, it was produced and released during World War II. Starring Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart, two of the most popular actors of the time, it is a romantic film, but it was actually a propaganda film produced by the US government to boost morale during the war.

Rick (Bogart), a former U.S. Marine who fought in the Spanish Civil War, arrives in Casablanca, then a French colony in Morocco, with a broken heart. There, he reunites with Ilsa (Bergman), his former lover from Paris. At the time, France was effectively occupied by Nazi Germany and under the puppet Vichy regime, with German troops stationed in Morocco as well. One day, while Nazi officers were singing German military songs at Rick's bar, Ilsa's husband Victor (a Jewish anti-Nazi fighter) found it offensive. With Rick's tacit approval, he signaled to the band to start playing. To everyone's surprise, the song was “La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem. This scene, where all the French-speaking patrons in the bar join in the chorus, is one of the most famous and emotionally charged moments in the film. (You can watch it on YouTube by searching for “Casablanca La Marseillaise.”)

Now, what I want to say about this scene in Casablanca. This movie was made to make the American people fully aware of the national policy at the time?that the Allied forces would win World War II?and to boost their morale and encourage them to buy more war bonds. And the most exciting scene in the movie is the chorus of the French national anthem. Indeed, France was occupied by the Nazis, and the only official resistance came from General de Gaulle, who established an exile government in London. France was undoubtedly the tragic protagonist and the nation that garnered the most sympathy among the Allied powers. However, I believe that what inspired the Hollywood director to create this scene was the soft power that France had built up since the French Revolution.

Starting with the values of liberty, equality, and fraternity symbolized by the French tricolor flag, and including the country's willingness to accept artists, scholars, and even revolutionaries from other nations, the soft power that the French Republic demonstrated to the world after the French Revolution was of the highest order. One of the Beatles' songs I have admired since my high school days is “All You Need Is Love,” and the opening melody is that of “La Marseillaise.” Even John and Paul, British citizens who were always at odds with France, associate “love” with France.

Now, the term “soft power” is, as you can see, an English expression, and it was coined by Joseph Nye, an American international relations scholar. The term “soft” refers to a country's influence that is not military or economic, but rather cultural or political. The lifestyle of the United States during its period of rapid economic growth in the 1950s, as reflected in Hollywood movies and television dramas, became the envy of people around the world. Nye, who lived through that era, coined the term “soft power.” The original book is a relatively short work of just over 200 pages, but it devotes significant pages to the history of soft power in European countries. Nye also extensively discusses and praises the skill with which France historically developed its soft power.

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