The politics of fun

the long version

This authoritative study considers contemporary policies for the arts in France and the cultural and political issues they have raised. The author concentrates particularly on the seminal Mitterrand years but also disentangles the various influences which marked them. Analysing the role of the curious, often notorious, and ever more powerful 'Ministry of Culture', he traces the gradual shift from the democratization of high culture, adopted as a quasi-religious crusade by the first Minister for Cultural Affairs, Andre Malraux, during the De Gaulle era, to the aesthetic relativism and 'fun' culture which became the trademark of the department during the 1980s and 1990s under the controversial Jack Lang. He also examines wider debates about the relationship between culture, society and the state.