Culture takes many forms, a fact that the government of France is discovering.
In a measure to promote the interest of young people in culture, it led to the delivery of a 300-euro voucher last May to people of legal age. Known as “Cultural Pass”, the use of this app has led to the change of name for its users as the “Manga Pass”.
According to data collected by a variety of media in France, 75% of the users of the voucher have implemented it in the purchase of fictional items such as comics and novels. Two-thirds of these purchases are specifically sleeves that dominate this space.
It is easy to understand why. Manga are usually a more expensive collectible compared to book series, due to the number of volumes that an officially published series can have in the country.
Therefore, receiving 300 dollars tax-free from the state, with the possibility of being used only for artistic purposes, are the ideal way to complete a collection or have a sustained purchase of all kinds of sleeves.
Beyond the sneer at the name and the use of money, the reactions of book and comic merchants have been positive, expressing that they should not feel ashamed to read manga or to read manga, especially when not too long ago the complaint it was that there were not enough readers of any printed material.
The Cultural Pass is one of the promises that Emmanuel Macron had offered in his presidential campaign, as a method to sustain curiosity in the arts for the youth population of France.
During the celebration of the inauguration of this app, Macron considered that it is a great victory, by bringing the population closer to a new era of literature, films and art with this starting point.
