Mao references?
Something I never got in this film were the reference to Mao Zedong. What's the significance of this?
shareFor all his reading from the Red Book and having that bust of Mao, Theo is a poseur. They sit talking about class warfare in that vast flat in the expensive 8th arrondisement while enjoying expensive wine, and Theo sees Maoism as an epic film more than as serious politics.
Matthew points out, "If you really believed what you were saying, you'd be out there." This goads Theo into joining the demonstration/riot, and it's there that Matthew really wakes up from his dream-life with the twins.
That's my guess, anyway.
Thank you!
shareAlso, Maoism was somewhat popular in France during that period. You'll notice there are Maoist posters around Paris in the film, not just in Theo's room.
shareHe was popular with the young in America at that time as well.
let's go and say a prayer for a boy who couldn't run as fast as I could
No, America was in the Cold War at the time.
shareAnd we were fighting a real war in Vietnam, that did not stop young Americans from marching in the streets carrying North Vietnamese flags and pictures of Ho Chi Minh. Mao's 'Little red Book' was quite popular among college students at that time.
let's go and say a prayer for a boy who couldn't run as fast as I could
I agree with you about North Vietnamese flags and pictures of Ho Chi Minh, but I think that was because of our specific involvement in a hot war in Vietnam.
France has always been more radical than the US, including in the 60s. I could be wrong but I don't remember Maoism being particularly strong in the US at any point, yet more than one film has portrayed Maoism as being popular in France in the 60s (such as Goddard's La Chinoise [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061473/]).