This amusing BBC write-up of how enchanted the French are by the American male archetype may be unintentionally revealing of Brits’ own American man-crush:
The French are enthralled by the three Americans who acted so swiftly to stop the Thalys gunman. In their news conference Sunday afternoon at the US embassy in Paris, they came over as archetypes of American masculine virtue: handsome, strong, modest.
Deep in the French gene, there is something that responds positively to this. It is the same spirit that is so grateful – 70 years on – for the American sacrifice in the Normandy landings: a recognition of the American capacity to join moral clarity with swift, decisive action.
Recognition, but also not a little envy. The press has made much of the fact that while the three Americans – and their ally the British businessman Chris Norman – have been feted with news conferences and all the rigmarole of instant fame, the Frenchman who also played a heroic part has preferred to remain anonymous.
It is a source of national pride – and a relief – that it was not just les Anglo-Saxons who “had a go”.
