The Eiffel Tower

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at the use of icons and what they represent. The paper focuses specifically on the Eiffel Tower, France. According to the paper, the Eiffel Tower has been a symbol of romance and courtship, but that is being altered due to dramatic changes in France and to French cultural unrest. This paper examines what those changes are and why images of the Eiffel Tower are now watered down and even corrupted by the reality of today.

Outline:
Icons
Eiffel Tower Generalizations
The Eiffel Tower's Newer Symbolism: Sex and Violence
Violence Against French Women

From the Paper:

"The Eiffel Tower was featured in a famous French play by Jean Cocteau ("Les Maries de la Tour Eiffel"); the Tower was like the "central character" according to Thompson. The story involved a wedding party that had reservations at the Tower's restaurant, but telegrams are falling from the sky, and a number of interesting things (a lion, an ostrich, a bather) catapult out of a photographer's camera before the wedding party arrives. "Nothing could be more stereotypically, absurdly French than a wedding party," Thompson mentions on page 1135. The author adds that the Eiffel Tower's form has become something of a "religious" symbol, but not that of Christianity or any other faith."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Fougeyrollas-Schwebel, Dominique. "Violence against women in France: the context, findings And impact of the Enveff survey?" Statistical Journal of the United Nations Vol. 22 (2005): 289-300.
• Fraser-Cavassoni, Natasha. "The Talk: Exchangiste Student." The New York Times 26 Feb. 2006: Retrieved April 6, 2007, from http://select.nytimes.com.
• Kingwell, Mark. "Ten Steps to the Creation of a Modern Media Icon." Marginalia: A Cultural Reader. New York: Penguin Books, 1999.
• Levin, Miriam R. "The Eiffel Tower Revisited." The French Review 62.6 (1989): 1052-1064.
• Thompson, William. "'The Symbol of Paris': Writing the Eiffel Tower." The French Review73.6 (2000): 1130-1140.

More papers on The Eiffel Tower:

• Book Review # 110746 : "The Looming Tower"
• Book Review # 100214 : "The Proud Tower"
• Book Review # 102377 : "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11"

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