#spirou4rights : a critical perspective on promoting human rights through comics. (2nd July 2020)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- #spirou4rights : a critical perspective on promoting human rights through comics. (2nd July 2020)
- Main Title:
- #spirou4rights : a critical perspective on promoting human rights through comics
- Authors:
- Reyns-Chikuma, Chris
- Abstract:
- 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.
- Is Part Of:
- Modern & contemporary France. Volume 28:Number 3(2020)
- Journal:
- Modern & contemporary France
- Issue:
- Volume 28:Number 3(2020)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 28, Issue 3 (2020)
- Year:
- 2020
- Volume:
- 28
- Issue:
- 3
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2020-0028-0003-0000
- Page Start:
- 309
- Page End:
- 327
- Publication Date:
- 2020-07-02
- Subjects:
- France -- History -- 18th century -- Periodicals
France -- History -- 1789- -- Periodicals
France -- History -- 20th century -- Periodicals
944 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cmcf20#.VyIGeFL2aic ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗
http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk/app/home/journal.asp?wasp=d66fb250b7b04cf987f3f7dbe3f214df&referrer=parent&backto=searchpublicationsresults, 1, 1;homemain, 1, 1; ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/09639489.2020.1752164 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0963-9489
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 5883.605000
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 22415.xml