VSis one of the oldest shows on French television, vying for the title of oldest with “Envoyé Spécial” and “Fort Boyard”. “Le Dessous des Cartes” has been broadcast every week almost without interruption for thirty-three years (on La Sept, then on Arte, from 1992), and everything indicates that the adventure is not about to end. . Who could have imagined that such a sober program, dealing with pure geopolitics through an austere format, would survive for so long to become a real institution in a media dominated by the search for sensationalism?
A “remarkable show”that should “be recognized as being of public utility”Who “plays an absolutely essential role for the good health of our democracy”… You only need to read a few comments online (or ask around) to see the unanimous praise addressed to this program created by ethnologist and international relations expert Jean-Christophe Victor. Basically, the proposal has hardly evolved since the first issue, where the latter explained that he wanted “show the constraint that geography places on world affairs”. “I suggest that once a day we stop rushing. We will focus on a single event to try to understand it, deepen it, in short, allow ourselves the luxury of reflection”he then invited.
A promise that still holds today, in a format of less than fifteen minutes, during which a voice-over analyzes a geopolitical phenomenon with simple, but precise words, placed on a succession of geographic maps embellished with a few explicit symbols. The voice has changed, digital technology has made the animations more fluid and creative, but the foundations have remained the same, such as the choice to rely on a planisphere from the Peters projection, which takes into account the real surface area of the continents. better than the more common Mercator projection.
Time and rigor
Above all, the chain has never backed down on the means of production and on two essential factors for those who want to do quality work: time and rigor. The executive producer, Angèle Le Névé, explained to our colleagues at Parisian, in June, that each weekly issue requires around three months of work, always in close collaboration with researchers specializing in the subject. By succeeding Jean-Christophe Victor, who died in 2016, Emilie Aubry was able to maintain continuity, while bringing a touch of modernity which never betrays the original intentions of the show.
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