From Bal Masques to Masked Balls

The lifting of COVID-19-related-lockdown was greeted cautiously in Paris on May 11, 2020. There was some tentative singing, drinks with friends at a nearby café, a few cameras to immortalize the moment… Yet, barely an hour after the beginning of this first phase of France’s “deconfinement” plan, a s...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Emmanuelle Lallement, Aurélie Godet
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online 2020-11-01
Series:Journal of Festive Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.h-net.org/jfs/article/view/87
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849696830266277888
author Emmanuelle Lallement
Aurélie Godet
author_facet Emmanuelle Lallement
Aurélie Godet
author_sort Emmanuelle Lallement
collection DOAJ
description The lifting of COVID-19-related-lockdown was greeted cautiously in Paris on May 11, 2020. There was some tentative singing, drinks with friends at a nearby café, a few cameras to immortalize the moment… Yet, barely an hour after the beginning of this first phase of France’s “deconfinement” plan, a small crowd of people gathered on the Champs Elysées to celebrate the ability to get out without a self-authorized written certification of their purpose. Nothing too exuberant, but still, seeing these residents gather in a public place that has welcomed so many Parisian festive gatherings said a lot about the general mood of the city. Like the “apéro Skype” trend[1] to which French people had reluctantly given in, the event was flaunted as a powerful emblem of the confinement period. Indeed, this text argues that social distancing has paradoxically revealed the role that festive sociability plays in our lives. In the era of protective and control measures (“gestes-barrières” in French), festivity has become all the more precious as it has been made almost impossible.   [1] [Translator’s note] “Apéro” is short for aperitif (pre-dinner drinks). As this French tradition moved online during lockdown, a new ritual was born, that of the “apéro Skype” or “Skypéro” (a portmanteau word with the same meaning).
format Article
id doaj-art-f0528dcfd3d04e199c8a5fb59675bc02
institution DOAJ
issn 2641-9939
language English
publishDate 2020-11-01
publisher H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online
record_format Article
series Journal of Festive Studies
spelling doaj-art-f0528dcfd3d04e199c8a5fb59675bc022025-08-20T03:19:20ZengH-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences OnlineJournal of Festive Studies2641-99392020-11-0121324010.33823/jfs.2020.2.1.877From Bal Masques to Masked BallsEmmanuelle LallementAurélie GodetThe lifting of COVID-19-related-lockdown was greeted cautiously in Paris on May 11, 2020. There was some tentative singing, drinks with friends at a nearby café, a few cameras to immortalize the moment… Yet, barely an hour after the beginning of this first phase of France’s “deconfinement” plan, a small crowd of people gathered on the Champs Elysées to celebrate the ability to get out without a self-authorized written certification of their purpose. Nothing too exuberant, but still, seeing these residents gather in a public place that has welcomed so many Parisian festive gatherings said a lot about the general mood of the city. Like the “apéro Skype” trend[1] to which French people had reluctantly given in, the event was flaunted as a powerful emblem of the confinement period. Indeed, this text argues that social distancing has paradoxically revealed the role that festive sociability plays in our lives. In the era of protective and control measures (“gestes-barrières” in French), festivity has become all the more precious as it has been made almost impossible.   [1] [Translator’s note] “Apéro” is short for aperitif (pre-dinner drinks). As this French tradition moved online during lockdown, a new ritual was born, that of the “apéro Skype” or “Skypéro” (a portmanteau word with the same meaning).https://journals.h-net.org/jfs/article/view/87pandemicsocial distancingproxemicsfestivity
spellingShingle Emmanuelle Lallement
Aurélie Godet
From Bal Masques to Masked Balls
Journal of Festive Studies
pandemic
social distancing
proxemics
festivity
title From Bal Masques to Masked Balls
title_full From Bal Masques to Masked Balls
title_fullStr From Bal Masques to Masked Balls
title_full_unstemmed From Bal Masques to Masked Balls
title_short From Bal Masques to Masked Balls
title_sort from bal masques to masked balls
topic pandemic
social distancing
proxemics
festivity
url https://journals.h-net.org/jfs/article/view/87
work_keys_str_mv AT emmanuellelallement frombalmasquestomaskedballs
AT aureliegodet frombalmasquestomaskedballs