Open AccessThe construction of national and foreign identities in French and Belgian postwar comics (1939-1970)
Author(s) -
Pascal Lefèvre
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
comicalités
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2117-4911
DOI - 10.4000/comicalites.875
Subject(s) - comics , militarism , ethnic group , stereotype (uml) , period (music) , popular culture , femininity , world war ii , national identities , art , political science , history , gender studies , media studies , sociology , literature , national identity , aesthetics , law , psychology , politics , social psychology
The second World War had various repercussions in the comics produced in the 25 years after the Liberation in France and Belgium: one remarkable consequence was the construction, in comics as La Bête est morte ! and Astérix, of a fictive French ethnicity which was eagerly contrasted to the stereotype of the militaristic Prussian. Despite a few comics demonstrated the positive effects of reconciliation with former enemies or of European cooperation, most comics rather clung to older stereotypes of other European people. These popular culture products offered a particular - but not always consistent - view on national identities in the post-war perio