Brings to mind my conversation with Chantal Ackerman in which she equated prototypical, contemporary American cinema with Michael Bay or others of his ilk.
And dueling concepts of what it means to be American divide our country. So who's to say? The term Hollywood is a stand-in for the American film industry but practically all its founders were born in Eastern Europe and half of the great directors were also born abroad. When I think "quintessentially French", I think Magnol, Gabin, and Tati (who come to think about it, owes a lot to Chaplin)Then again, Chaplin described himself as a disciple of Max Linder. Nationhood is an imaginary construct,to some extent.
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