1. It begun in its modern form during WWI, not only in France (see Paul Fussels great book The Great War and Modern Memory) with the despair and absurdity of a conflict no one had forseen --and the bitter humor it fostered in troops and in the rear alike -- Le Canard Enchaîné (the other satirical French weekly) was founded then; for its first issue of JAN 1915, as New Years wishes, it titled we wish you... a year (thinking of the fighters on the frontlines of course). 2. Its at the same time --no coincidence-- that Dada appeared [see @Tristan Tzara ]: in Switzerland, from refugees... a celebration of the absurd... 3. The period between WWI and WWII wasnt especially happy, uh? The 29 crisis, the rise of dictatorships... it led in France to an enduring radio success in 1938, the song Tout va très bien, Madame la Marquise, in which obedient servants explain on the phone to the poor Marquise (obviously representing France) that everythings fine, but for the death of her favourite mare, who died in the fire of the stables, that consumed the castle, because the Marquis committed suicide, mais (to the chorus) à part ça, Madame la marquise, tout va très bien, tout va très bien... 4. In between and later you had the surrealists, more absurdism and humour: remember Salvador Dalis Eight apparitions of Lenins head upon a piano...He was chastized and excluded by André Breton, who felt it was disrespectful to Lenin (Im not making this up, you know?), 5. Then you had May 68, of course... Rien nest permis, tout est possible, Il est interdit dinterdire... 6. Up till recent times and humorists like Guy Bedos, Coluche and Pierre Desproges, who wielded a humour you sometimes couldnt imagine using nowadays, in our politically correct times where --if you say yid you are automatically an antisemite...our US friends could think of Lenny Bruce here, the skit in Bob Fosses movie where he calls a spectator Booga wooga... 7. You should also mention Pilote and the cartoons by Reiser, Gotlib and others (Gébé, Fred...) who were the (tame) ancestors of Charlie Mensuel... 8. Basic to this long line of humour is le second degré: you say apparently revolting things, and everyone understands that you are criticizing the ideas you are apparently fostering... sometimes a perilous exercise; but when you hear Coluche or Desproges theres no ambiguity as to where their convictions were and whom they were deriding... [Ive read here and elsewhere comments by people who deemed Charlie Hebdo a bunch of racists... when you knew them, you find this surrealist indeed]. 9. And I didnt even mention Guignol, the traditional puppet show from Lyons (like Punch and Judy in the UK) that was (since the XVIIIth century) forever joking the institutions: le gendarme, the judges, the bourgeois and... the priest or the bishop, whatever... already, insolence and irreverence to religious power... Guignol and his partner Gnafron were supposed to be working in the silkweaving industry (traditional in Lyons) but were forever fighting over a barrel of Beaujolais they had to share... So yes Charlie Hebdo has strong roots in French culture and tradition, BTW guys like Wolinski and Cabu had a classical education and were learned in French History and in the history of social movements.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 17:41:18 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015