The French Way (63 page)

144
. François Mitterrand, quoted in Zelikow and Rice,
Germany Unified
, 98.

145
. Bozo, “Before the Wall,” 304-10.

146
. Marie-Noëlle Cremieux,
Les Français face à la réunification allemande, automne 1989-automne 1990
(Paris: Éditions L'Harmattan, 2004).

147
. Bozo,
Mitterrand, the End of the Cold War, and German Reunification
, 130-31.

148
. Zelikow and Rice,
Germany Unified
, 206. Brent Scowcroft worried, “The United States seemed largely absent in longer-term French calculations about Europe. These appeared to be focused on the outlines of a Europe in which NATO would play a stagnant role, or even disappear, and the WEU as the defense component of the EC would gradually take over European security”; see Bush and Scowcroft,
World Transformed
, 266.

149
. Zelikow and Rice,
Germany Unified
, 169.

150
. Hutchings,
American Diplomacy
, 150.

151
. Ibid., 157.

152
. Bozo,
Mitterrand, the End of the Cold War, and German Reunification
, 246. Zelikow and Rice,
Germany Unified
, 169, stress that the continued presence of American troops was essential to make the United States a player in European politics. Or, as one high State Department official stated before Congress in 1990, the reasons for sustaining NATO were: first, the Soviet threat had not entirely disappeared; second, American leadership kept Germany under control and prevented the Europeans from returning to their bad old habits that had caused two world wars; third, it gave the United States a vital role in European affairs; and fourth, it curtailed isolationist impulse among the American people; James Dobbins testimony, summarized in Frank Costigliola,
France and the United States: The Cold Alliance since World War II
(New York: Twayne, 1992), 228.

153
. Hutchings,
American Diplomacy
, 136.

154
. Zelikow and Rice,
Germany Unified
, 206.

155
. François Mitterrand, quoted in Sarotte,
1989
, 24.

156
. George H. W. Bush to François Mitterrand, quoted in Bozo,
Mitterrand, the End of the Cold War, and German Reunification
, 249.

157
. Attali,
Verbatim
, 3:460.

158
. George H. W. Bush, quoted in Favier and Martin-Rolland,
La Décennie Mitterrand
, vol. 3,
Les Défis, 1988-1991
(Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1998), 251.

159
. Jacques Lanxade, quoted in Favier and Martin-Rolland,
La Décennie Mitterrand
, 3:256.

160
. Bozo,
Mitterrand, the End of the Cold War, and German Reunification
, 257.

161
. Ibid., 282.

162
. Zelikow and Rice,
Germany Unified
, 324.

163
. Frédéric Bozo, “'Winners and Losers': France, the United States, and the End of the Cold War,”
Diplomatic History
33 (2009): 948-49.

164
. Bozo,
Mitterrand, the End of the Cold War, and German Reunification
, 356.

165
. Hoffmann, “French Dilemmas,” 146.

166
. Hubert Védrine, quoted in Favier and Martin-Rolland,
La Décennie Mitterrand
, 2:290.

167
. Schultz,
Turmoil and Triumph
, 356.

168
. Dumas,
Affaires étrangères
, 269. De Gaulle, after initially refusing, deemed it necessary to attend the conference.

Chapter 4. The Adventures of Mickey Mouse, Big Mac, and Coke in the Land of the Gauls

1
. John Georgas, quoted in “Coke's Never-Ending Journey,”
Beverage World
, Fall 1993, 32.

2
. Todd Gitlin, “World Leaders: Mickey, et al.,”
New York Times
, 3 May 1992, 1.

3
. “Coke's Never-Ending Journey,” 32.

4
. Ray Kroc, quoted in Max Boas and Steve Chain,
Big Mac: The Unauthorized Story of McDonald's
(New York: New American Library, 1976), 23.

5
. Mark Pendergrast,
For God, Country and Coca-Cola
(New York: Scribner's, 1993), 93.

6
. Alan Bryman,
Disney and His Worlds
(London: Routledge, 1995), 77.

7
. “The Science of Alliance,”
Economist
, 4 April 1998, 69-70. See also “Disney Signs Up McDonald's,”
Leisure Week
, 31 May 1996, 6.

8
. Walt Disney's father believed the family came from Burgundy; see Richard Schickel,
The Disney Version
, 3rd ed. (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1997), 45. Disney also borrowed extensively from Europe—e.g., hiring European animators; see Robin Allan,
Walt Disney and Europe
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999).

9
. For an explanation of McDonald's complicated and evolving franchise system, see John F. Love,
McDonald's: Behind the Arches
(New York: Bantam, 1986), 48-65.

10
. Pendergrast,
For God, Country and Coca-Cola
, 62ff. Another recent history of the company is Frederick Allen,
Secret Formula
(New York: Harper Business, 1994).

11
. The most comprehensive, if uncritical, account of Euro Disney up to 1994 is Andrew Lainsbury,
Once upon an American Dream: the Story of Euro Disneyland
(Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2000).

12
. “Mickey Hops the Pond,”
Economist
, 28 March 1987, 75.

13
. Tim O'Brien, “Closing, Bankruptcy Fate of Many Ill-Planned French Theme Parks,”
Amusement Business
, 9 September 1991, 5.

14
. Tim O'Brien, “Futuroscope Combines Fun, Education,”
Amusement Business
, 11 May 1992, 46; Claude Barjonet, “Des milliards pour s'amuser,”
L'Expansion
16 (1986): 134-41.

15
. Julie Fingersh, “Disney in Europe: Is It by Invitation or Invasion?”
Amusement Business
, 9 March 1992, 3.

16
. On Disney's setup and its subsequent brush with bankruptcy, see Ron Grover,
The Disney Touch: How a Daring Management Team Revived an Entertainment Empire
(Homewood, IL: Business One Irwin, 1991), 185-98; Joe Flower,
Prince of the Magic Kingdom: Michael Eisner and the Re-making of Disney
(New York: Wiley, 1991), 207-16; Bryman,
Disney and His Worlds
, 76-80; Michael Eisner,
Work in Progress
(New York: Random House, 1998), 270-92; Lainsbury,
Once upon an American Dream
, chaps.
1
-
3
; Tim O'Brien, “Euro Disney: Can They Make It Work?”
Amusement Business
, 15 June 1992, 18. See also Roger Cohen, “When You Wish upon a Deficit,”
New York Times
, 18 July 1993, sec. 2, pp. 1, 18-19; Roger Cohen, “Euro Disney in Danger of Shutdown,”
New York Times
, 23 December 1993, D3; Alan Riding, “Rescue Set for Disney in France,”
New York Times
, 15 March 1994, D1-2.

17
. Marianne Debouzy, “Does Mickey Mouse Threaten French Culture? The French Debate about Euro Disneyland,” in
Kazaam! Splat! Ploof! The American Impact on European Popular Culture since 1945
, ed. Sabrina Ramet and Gordana Crnkovic (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003), 16-17.

18
. Debouzy, “Does Mickey Mouse Threaten French Culture?” 18-22, provides a good account of labor issues.

19
. Shanny Peer, “Marketing Mickey: Disney Goes to France,”
Tocqueville Review
13, no. 2 (1992): 137.

20
. Debouzy, “Does Mickey Mouse Threaten French Culture?” 22.

21
.
Le Canard Enchaîné
, 19 August 1992, 4, cited in Debouzy, “Does Mickey Mouse Threaten French Culture?” 20.

22
. Disney employees, quoted in Eisner,
Work in Progress
, 281. Eisner acknowledges his company did not manage the media well.

23
. Disney communications manager, quoted in Peer, “Marketing Mickey,” 128.

24
. Gilles Smadja,
Mickey l'arnaque
(Paris: Messidor, 1988).

25
. Isabelle Lefort, “Mickey ronge tout,”
Le Nouvel Observateur
, 12-18 August 1988, 43; and Patrick Bonazza, “Disneyland: les dents longues de Mickey,”
Le Nouvel Observateur
, 13 March 1987, 7-10; Jacques Julliard, “Cette souris est-elle dangereuse?”
Le Nouvel Observateur
, 3 January 1986, 20.

26
. Robert Fitzpatrick, quoted in Steven Greenhouse, “Playing Disney in the Parisian Fields,”
New York Times
, 17 February 1991, sec. 3, pp. 1, 6.

27
. See the references in note 16.

28
. Eisner said the alcohol policy “has been discussed every day, seven days a week, for the last seven years. It is probably the most discussed policy at [Euro Disney].” Michael Eisner, quoted in O'Brien, “Euro Disney: Can They Make It Work?” 5. He later defended his tough stand by arguing that when some alcoholic beverages were introduced, it made little difference because Europeans acted like Americans in the park and did not consume much wine or beer; Eisner,
Work in Progress
, 283-84.

29
. Nathaniel Nash, “Euro Disney Reports Its First Profits,”
New York Times
, 26 July 1995, D 3. The resort's operations were actually in the black much earlier, but the heavy debt payment kept it in deficit; Lisa Gubernick, “Mickey n'est pas fini,”
Forbes
, 14 February 1994, 42-43.

30
. Laura Holson, “The Feng Shui Kingdom,”
New York Times
, 25 April 2005, Ci.

31
. “Lost in France,”
Independent
(London), 24 February 1994, 23. See also “Debt Traps an American Mouse in Paris,”
Guardian
, 26 February 1994, 33.

32
. Eisner,
Work in Progress
, 270. See also Lainsbury,
Once upon an American Dream
, 53.

33
. Peer, “Marketing Mickey,” 134.

34
. Jean-Marie Gerbeaux, quoted in Lainsbury,
Once upon an American Dream
, 62.

35
. Michael Eisner said one of his reasons for this change was because Bourguignon “truly understood the culture”; Eisner,
Work in Progress
, 285.

36
. Eisner,
Work in Progress
, 292.

37
. Peer, “Marketing Mickey,” 130-34.

38
. Michael Eisner, quoted in Lainsbury,
Once upon an American Dream
, 134.

39
. Robert Fitzpatrick, quoted in Martha Zuber, “Mickey-sur-Marne : une culture conquérante?”
French Politics and Society
10 (1992): 67.

40
. This view continued to be voiced by Disney's management; see Holson, “The Feng Shui Kingdom.” Roger Cohen, “When You Wish upon a Deficit,” has observed the enthusiasm of French children for Mickey and company.

41
. Alain Finkielkraut and Jean Cau, quoted in Alan Riding, “Only the French Elite Scorn Mickey's Debut,”
New York Times
, 13 April 1992, 1, A13.

42
. Jean-Yves Guiomar, “Le conservatoire du néant,”
Le Débat
, January-February 1993, 152-61.

43
. Pierre-André Taguieff,
Sur la nouvelle droite: jalons d'une analyse critique
(Paris: Éditions Descartes et Cie, 1994), 301.

44
. Emmanuel de Roux, “L'ouverture d'Euro Disney,”
Le Monde
, 12-13 April 1992, 9.

45
. Debouzy, “Does Mickey Mouse Threaten French Culture?” 22-28.

46
. Riding, “Only the French Elite Scorn Mickey's Debut.”

47
. Robert Fitzpatrick, quoted in de Roux, “L'ouverture d'Euro Disney.”

48
. Lang's views are cited in de Roux, “L'ouverture d'Euro Disney.” He was also interviewed about the opening in Jacqueline Remy, “Lang: ‘Une culture n'en menace pas une autre,'”
L'Express
, 27 March 1992, 44-45.

49
. Roger Cohen, “Defy Disney? The Unmitigated Gaul!”
New York Times
, 9 April 1992, Di, D5; Riding, “Only the French Elite Scorn Mickey's Debut”; David Lawday, “Where All the Dwarfs Are Grumpy: Euro Disneyland Gives Paris a Run for the Money,”
U.S. News and World Report
, 28 May 1990, 50-51.

50
. Michel Serres, “La langue française doit faire de la résistance,”
Le Point
, 21-27 March 1992, 57; and Jean-François Revel, “Culture, ne craignons pas l'Amérique,”
Le Point
, 21-27 March 1992, 51.

51
. André Glucksmann, “American Magic, in an Homage to its Roots,”
New York Times
, 9 April 1992, 3.

52
. François Reynaert, “Des citrouilles en or,”
Le Nouvel Observateur
, 9-15 April 1992, 43.

53
. Henri Haget, “Qui a peur de Mickey Mouse?”
L'Express
, 27 March 1992, 32-45.

54
. Revel, “Culture, ne craignons pas l'Amérique,” 51.

55
. Christophe de Chenay, “Disney à la mode de chez nous,”
Le Monde
, 12 April 1993, ii.

56
. François Forestier, “On fait de l'art, ils font du spectacle,”
L'Express
, 27 March 1992, 43.

57
. Pierre Guerlain, “Qui diabolise Mickey?”
Esprit
, June 1992, 160-69.

58
. One survey of about fifty college students in 1999 showed that virtually everyone of them had seen a Disney film or read a Disney book as a child and had good memories of the experience. Half thought Euro Disney was not a problem, but only 28 percent had actually visited the resort. See Jacques Guyot, “France: Disney in the Land of Cultural Exception,” in
Dazzled by Disney? The Global Disney Audiences Project
, ed. Janet Wasko, Mark Phillips and Eileen Meehan (London: Leicester University Press, 2001), 121-34.

59
. Eisner,
Work in Progress
, 399.

60
. François Bostnavaron and Christophe de Chenay, “Gilles Péllison ‘L'idéal serait…le deuxième parc…‘,”
Le Monde
, 29 January 1999, 16.