The Rise Of The Dull

I came to Paris two years ago for all the obvious superficial reasons people like (or hate) Paris - and to start a new agency which failed after one year, but that's another story. After time working in the UK, Amsterdam and Portland Oregon, I liked the idea of living in a culture where food and snobbism are inseparable, where function without form is pointless and where intellectual complexity is a mass sport.  

I was therefore surprised a few weeks ago when I picked up Technikart - a French 'trendy' lifestyle magazine (being France think Dazed & Confused, and then merge it with the Spectator). The featured article focused on white, middle class males in their mid 20s who live in the safest Parisian suburbs - or what 15 years in marketing have trained me to see as invisible dullness.  

Forget the sexy, sophisticated, high-brow Paris stereotype that attracted me to this city. Forget also the harsher, dangerous but 'cool' suburbs north-east of Paris - the biggest influence on Parisian youth culture over the last couple of decades - with their 'verlan', or back-slang first captured in the movie 'La Haine' in 1995.

This article was entitled "La Banlieue Molle debarque!" - 'the soft suburbs are here' - and described these suburbs as 'not real countryside nor real city', 'a place where nothing happens'. I was intrigued.  

Less than one hour from the centre of Paris on the RER, Max and Greg, 22 and 24 year old, live with their parents in a house with garden, swimming pool and cable TV. Lacoste is their brand of choice. They have all the games consoles from Playstation to Xbox; their favourite games are playing Le Mans 24 hours in real time and 'Nainwak' - an online game where you are a garden gnome, are looking for other gnomes and need to hide from humans - I know, this is possibly the most interesting thing I came across; you can find more at www.nainwak.com.  

They move around in their Golf 3 dreaming of a Ferrari F40. Other than the gnomes, it's difficult to find anything out of the ordinary in their typical leisure activities; carting, paintball and go to the Parc des Princes stadium to see the PSG - Paris' unpopular football club. 

They define themselves as 'anti-urban'; they have no interest in the city. They are open about their lack of clear ambitions or dreams and are very happy to remain within their little world on the edge of Paris. A rock group from this 'banlieue pavillonnaire' - as it is colloquially called - named 'Déportivo' have an album out called 'Between themselves' with a single called 'Immobility'.   Intrigued I found lots of blogs that captures this Parisian ordinariness on Skyblog.com. What seems interesting is that counter to the typical message of most communication and information technology ads I see in France and elsewhere, these people are using technology to limit the 'relevant' world to their ordinariness outside of Paris.

For some reason after reading the article I began to see the ordinary everywhere and I embarked on an unconscious 'dull-hunting'.  

I noticed, for example, that in a recent study IPSOS concludes that 'this generation more than others feels the need to adopt more accessible role models'. French 15-30 year olds say that their look is three times more likely to be influenced by ordinary people in the street than by film or music stars.   Then I came across what some journalists here are calling 'Le Rock H&M'. The trend of stars from TV programmes like Popstars, Pop Idol or the French Star Academy, climbing the charts.  

These are stars that 'talk the talk', but come across as the most ordinary of your next door neighbours. Their image is largely created from accessible retailers like GAP, C&A, H&M - hence the name and H&M-ization comes from combining a cliche of familiar musicians with the ordinary.  

Steeve Estatof - the winner of 'La Nouvelle Star' on M6 - is the perfect example. He has modelled himself on Kurt Cobain but says that the first time a friend played him music from Nirvana he was surprised and felt he was listening to his own music. In the same interview he actually said "...I often get back to my hotel drunk, but rarely alone"; "I have the impression of being in the Truman Show"; "I was in Nice getting drunk on rock'n'roll...but then my parents upset me by asking me what the hell was I playing at"  

Another winner has modelled himself on Johnny Rotten; he's called himself Plastic Bertrand - sadly there's no hint of irony. Integrity, originality, skills or even captivating imagery are clearly not behind these peoples success; ordinariness is part of it.   I was reassured to see that the rise of the dull is far from a French trend. Take the SIMS - the best selling PC game of all time. It has evolved from a game where you played a combination between mayor, city planner, and God to a game about everyday life, with no guns, cars, objectives, levels, or even a way of winning. A game about playing out the ordinary lives of generic middle class characters: a true icon of the rise of the dull.  

In the US last week, ABC aired the most successful premiere in the last 8 years which is not the highest rated series of the new US TV season; 'Desperate Housewives'. Not surprisingly before showing it many people were not too excited by it; but clearly a series about four housewives in the suburbs will be a big hit.  

Does this mean that the mass today can increasingly be more influenced by the familiar than by the exotic? Or is it just a time when the ordinary answers a particular need for belonging?  

I found an interesting view where I did not expect it. Two weeks ago Paris was hosting 'Villette Numerique', an annual festival that showcases the latest in digital culture across different media.  

In the catalogue of the festival I found a quote by JG Ballard from the preface to the French edition of his novel Crash. He wrote:  "Our world today is governed by fiction of all kinds: mass consumption, advertising,&.we are living inside an enormous novel. It is becoming decreasingly necessary for the writer to provide his work with fictional content: fiction is already here. The work of the novelist is to invent reality."  

Don't get me wrong, the language and symbols of fashion still rule Paris as much if not more than ever; this is not a city that's about to become pragmatic and give up its love for myths in favour of plain reality. But there does seem to be a backlash against the excessive elevation of anything that is urban, designer and linked to cool youth in mainstream and not just fashion or youth media. The 'edge' risks becoming a cliché and those looking in the mainstream for inspiration are standing out more than ever. Maybe I should review the superficial reasons why I have moved to Paris.    

Filippo dell-Osso Regional Planning Director - Saatchi&Saatchi Paris

Filippo dell'Osso is Regional Planning Director for Saatchi and Saatchi in Paris. He's an Italian who began life at the Henley Centre. He then embarked on an odd quest for 'global' belonging by working for agencies around the world - from GGT in London, to Wieden+Kennedy in Amsterdam and then Portland, Oregon then to Paris where he helped give birth and then bury what he believed was the ideal agency - 'le Singe'