Why do you insist on Fanta? (Or America Overseas)

With the exception of expensive, high-end, dine-in restaurants and cafes, most of the places to get food in France are closed by 5 or 6 pm.

But not McDonald's.  I went into the McDonald's on the east end of campus around 7:30 Thursday of this week.  It was populated almost entirely by teenagers and featured free wi-fi and an ATM.  Another McDonald's downtown is three stories high and features its own separate coffee shop with free wi-fi and an ATM.

I approached the register which was run by a teenage girl with dyed black hair and an obsidian nose ring.

"Hello," she said.

"Hello," I said.

"What would you like?"

"I would like a bacon cheeseburger with a small fry."

She punched my order into the touch pad, and the meal appeared in green letters on the register's screen.  Then she said, "We have Fanta."

"Um... okay," I said.

"Do you want a Fanta?"

"No."

"All right, that's a bacon cheesburger, a small fry,and a medium Fanta."

"No, I said that I don't want any Fanta."

"So, a small Fanta then?"

"No, I don't want anything to drink."

She removed a small, paper cup, approached the drink fountain behind the counter, and placed it under the Fanta spout.

My French can't this unintelligible, I thought to myself, and said, "Demon child, verily, I beseech thee!  Fanta was never part of our contract!"

While maintaining eye-contact, the cashier filled my cup and returned to the register, "That'll be 8.75."

Okay, so maybe that last part wasn't so eloquent, but I still made it very clear that I didn't want a Fanta or anything else to drink.

Why tell this anecdote about me failing at the most basic of communicative tasks and being punished by having to pay the equivalent of about twelve US dollars for a bacon cheeseburger,--which only had cheese, bacon, and pickels on it, by the way-- a small fry, and a juice glass's worth of Fanta?  I'm finding that American cultural and economic interests are popping up much more frequently than I originally expected.

Sure, I knew about globalization prior to coming, but there have been multiple moments over here when I've wanted to throw my hands up at just how ridiculous and intrusive snippets of American culture are weaved into the fabric of everyday life.

Case in Point

Granted, the above image was taken from one of the windows at the International Students' Residence, but there are other more glaring examples of this throughout the city.  Advertisements make heavy use of American slang, a hefty chunk, if not all, of the movies at French cinemas are American (though they often have French audio), and the music at every bar and club that I've been to is dominated by American pop music.

I'd like to point out that I'm not talking about some sweeping cultural take-over.  Still, it's a little unsettling to be in a place that is clearly foreign in nature yet has pockets of familiarity.  I came to France to get away from familiar things and to experience something new, so when I'm sneakily thrown back into my own context I get frustrated.  

Well...okay.
**Gleefully enters and orders an Italian BMT**

I suppose getting mad at Subway and McDonald's, which both have the resources to spread around the globe, is a little irrational.  Still, I wonder if the things I'm seeing are precursors to a truly international world in which everything everywhere is homogeneous.  

But then again, if the world is headed to homogeneity, it probably wouldn't have been so difficult to express to the McDonald's cashier that Fanta is undesirable.

What do you think?  Is there merit to my fears, or am I being paranoid?