Understanding the Rise of Marine Le Pen in France

In the 2017 French presidential elections, extreme right-wing candidate Marine Le Pen made history by gaining 33.9% percent of votes, finishing second to current President of France, Emmanuel Macron. Le Pen’s success in 2017 is part of a growing trend for her party the Rassemblement National, known until recently as the Front National, which has achieved unprecedented success in recent elections. Though the party has been in existence since 1972, it had never performed as well as it has since Marine Le Pen’s coercive replacement of her father Jean-Marie as president the party in 2011. This thesis explores the reasons behind Marine Le Pen and the Rassemblement National’s recent rise to prominence in France through a historically informed analysis. To do this, I first discuss the origins of the Front National, which has roots in French neo-fascist and extreme right politics following World War II. Then, I examine how the party has progressed from a fringe group of extreme right radicals in 1970s, to an important player in French and European elections under the leadership of Jean-Marie Le Pen. This historical analysis sets the groundwork for exploring the impact of the shift of power from Jean-Marie Le Pen, the party’s contentious founding president, to his daughter Marine Le Pen. Marine Le Pen’s savvy use of the mass media has played a major role in her attempt to establish a position for the party alongside other mainstream political actors in France today. I specifically look at how the party is depicted and popularized through fictional portrayals in the Netflix series Marseille, and the film Chez Nous. I argue that Marine Le Pen’s success lies in her ability to utilize populist rhetoric to repackage the overtly xenophobic ideology of the party. In doing so, Le Pen makes effective use of what I call illiberal communication, rendering the party more appealing to a wider range of voters. Arguably, the positive results of her work are evidenced by the party’s visibility in various pop culture mediums today.