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ABSTRACT
Comics have been used for propaganda or for promoting different ideas by various institutions for a while. Spirou4Rights is an exhibition made of 17 panels with many one-page strips explaining the 30 articles of the Proclamation of the Human Rights sponsored by the UN available from 2018. This is not the first time the UN decided to use comic characters to promote a political ideal, sometimes provoking a backlash (e.g. Wonder Woman controversy in 2016). Taking advantage of the fact that this exhibition would celebrate two anniversaries at the same time (the 80th anniversary for Spirou—1938, and the 70th for the Declaration–1948), the UN surprisingly chose a character which, although cute, generous and courageous, is unknown outside the Francophone and maybe Francophile worlds. After presenting the interesting process through which this exhibition came out (context, dates, people involved, reasons for the choice) and acknowledging the good will of every participant, I will show how, these posters, the comic strips and the accompanying special issue of the magazine Spirou, are somehow problematic specifically in terms of ethnic and gender representations, reproducing the mentality of the out-of-touch ‘Good Old White Boys’ Club,’ not surprising in the rather gender-conservative BD world but quite shocking in the UN world.
RÉSUMÉ
La bande dessinée a été utilisée pour de la propagande ou pour promouvoir diverses idées libérales par différentes institutions depuis longtemps. Spirou4Rights est une exposition faite de 17 panneaux utilisant des strips de BD pour expliquer les 30 articles de la Proclamation des droits humains sponsorisée par l’ONU en 2018. Ceci n’est pas la première fois que l’ONU décide d’utiliser des personnages de BD pour promouvoir un idéal politique, parfois provoquant un mini-scandale (e.g. la controverse autour de Wonder Woman en 2016). En profitant de deux anniversaires (le 80e anniversaire de Spirou—1938, et le 70e pour la Déclaration–1948), l’ONU, de manière surprenante, a choisi un personnage qui bien que sympathique, généreux et courageux, est inconnu en dehors du monde francophone et peut-être francophile. Après avoir présenté le processus intéressant à travers lequel cette exposition a été décidée (contexte, dates, gens impliqués, raisons du choix) et tout en reconnaissant la bonne volonté des participants (employés, artistes, …), je montre comment ces posters de l’expo et le numéro spécial du magazine Spirou qui l’accompagne, sont quelque peu problématiques, spécialement en ce qui concerne les représentations ethniques et de genres, qui reproduisent la mentalité du bon vieux ‘White Boys’ Club’ du monde de la BD et, plus surprenant, de l’ONU.
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Notes
1. In Citation2006, Amnesty International collaborated with 20+ artists to publish L’Illustration universelle des droits de l’homme, published by French publisher Glénat.
2. See spirou4rights and Standup4humanrights online.
4. Interestingly, the Japanese press had no articles about the topic in Japanese nor in English, and neither the Chinese press (Thank you to my source: Yan Belinda).
5. This scanty clothing was criticized by various groups sometimes for different reasons, such objections on religious grounds by Christian and Muslim or/and sexual objectification by feminists; for a feminist perspective on Wonder Woman.
6. For the backlash to Wonder Woman as UN honorary ambassador, see the bibliography for the list of some main news websites.
7. By Francophile world, I mean people learning, and institutions abroad teaching, the French language, as well as French-speaking cultures, like Alliance française, high schools and universities. See for example the Alliance française of Glasgow online.
8. The publisher Dupuis seems to also have invested in that project but it is not clear how successful it was/is; for example, they created a YouTube video, that only received 390 views as of 19 May 2019 (online: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRcy2oa37QM]); on the other hand, one can find pictures of the exhibition on the internet taken in various countries (such as in India: e.g. the Chitkara International School).
9. The interview was conducted on 13 December 2018 in the offices of Dupuis in Marcinelle, Belgium, with the editorial director Serge Honorez and the Press Liaison Sophie Dumont (that I both thank very much for their time and kindness); I have tried to arrange interviews with UN representatives involved in choosing Spirou, but my efforts have so far been in vain.
10. [‘Nous tenions à remercier […] le Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies aux Droits de l’Homme pour leur confiance’] (03).
11. For a critique of the universal values in general, and of the UDHR in particular, although vocalized most strongly by some Muslim entities (people, institutions, countries), it was so also by the American Anthropological Association and the Bangkok Declaration without necessarily rejecting universality as such; see Brown (Citation2016).
12. From its creator Rob-Vel in the late 1930s to Jijé (1940s), Franquin (1950s–60s), Fournier (1970s), Janry & Tome (1980s–90s), ….
13. see Delisle (Citation2016a, Citation2010, Citation2016b). This would explain why some texts on the various websites use subtle modifications in the wording such as ‘Some of the values of the Universal Declaration are echoed in his [Spirou’s] behaviour’, translated in French as ‘de nombreuses valeurs’, that is, ‘many’ not just ‘some’ (online: [htpps://www.standup4humanrights.org/en/2019/highlights_o1.html]).
14. This statement could be found online: [https://www.standup4humanrights.org/en/2019/highlights_01.html]. Notice that the text in French is slightly different: ‘Depuis toujours, le journal SPIROU a été porteur d’idéaux: l’ouverture vers le monde, la protection et la défense de l’opprimé, le respect de la différence, le courage et la générosité. C’est donc tout naturellement, que le Haut-Commissariat a choisi Spirou comme Défenseur des droits de l’homme.’ (my italics).
15. As shown by Dorfman and Mattelart’s foundational study in comics studies, How to Read Donald Duck, funny stories for kids are deceptively innocent (see Kunzle’s introduction for showing its weaknesses and relevance today).
16. See for example, Laydeeez Do Comics, the female-led exhibition by Sarah Lightman.
17. It is worth emphasizing that: first, Arabs in France and Europe are not usually categorized as white, contrary to what tends to be done in official classifications in the US; and second, that these classifications, such as BAME and any other one, are problematic: see sociologist Peter Aspinall’s reflections on ‘classification of ethnicity’, Citation2009.
18. Even if issues of assimilation are still debated, the number of Jewish artists involved in the US comics world is not questioned, see Kaplan (Citation2008).
19. See the work of recuperating the forgotten ones in the English-speaking world by Trina Robbins (Citation2001).
20. One can count Goscinny (co-author of Astérix, who died in 1973) as the first prominent Jewish bédéiste, and a couple more like Gotlib (died in 2016) and recently Joann Sfar (born in 1971). There are also some few non-white exceptions like Boudjelal (Farid, the comics artist, and his brother Mourad, a big player in the comics industry as the founder of the successful publishing house Soleil), and three non-white women, the Ivoirienne Marguerite Abouet (who worked in collaboration with white artist Clément Oubrerie), the Chinese-Monk aurélia aurita [sic], and Marjane Satrapi, Iranian author of the world bestseller, Persepolis (2000).
21. Until the late 1960s when one can see the emergence of strong female characters but created by male authors, there was almost nothing (with the exception of Seccotine), see Reyns-Chikuma and Milquet (Citation2016); see the French all female-led magazine Ah! Nana as an exception but short-lived (less than 2 years: 1976–78).
22. I myself used the link made available to me through an email sent by the cultural attaché of the French Embassy: www.standup4humanrights.org/spirou.
23. In French: [https://www.francetvinfo.fr/replay-radio/le-vrai-du-faux/seuls-12-des-auteurs-de-bande-dessinee-sont-des-femmes_1773387.html].
24. One can only speculate that the UN staff thought that it was not worth translating in the other 3 languages (Arabic, Chinese, and Russian) because Spirou would be totally unknown and/or unsuccessful in these parts of the world.
25. As stated by the editors of the magazine, the articles are official simplified versions, including in English (10).
26. It is similarly disappointing in terms of representation of non-straight/LGBT authorship and characters, as well as other minorities like mentally- or physically-challenged peoples.
27. While the broad public discourse is still relatively poor, stifled by most political parties, the academic discourse in France and Belgium, although not always agreeing with the American and Anglo-Saxon discourses, is very rich.
28. Dupuis is now part of a huge media corporation, called Média-Participations.
29. Yakari is the name of a young teen Sioux Lakota hero of an eponymous, very popular French BD series published from 1973 to 2016, and translated in English by British publisher Cinebook (14 albums out of 39), and adapted to cartoons for television twice (1983 and 2005); for a critical perspective of ‘Yakari’, see Meyer (Citation2013), online.
30. Some of the strip characters in the 30 posters are missing in the detachable poster (e.g. Imbattable, Agent 212, Roger, and the only non-serial strip by Berberian); others are on the detachable poster but not in any of the strips or articles, and some extras were added, like Catel’s Lucrèce, Bianco-Trondheim’s Zizi, and finally, the artist Derib represents himself on the extra strip but used one of his characters, the young ‘Indian’ Yakari, on the detachable poster.
31. See the eight goals set by the UN on its website: [https://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/].