Frank wrote:

The Asterix series is not as far as I know widely read here in the states, I have never heard about it until this thread. From what I have gathered so far it offers a rather unrealistic and false history of the Roman/Gallic conflict much the same way that the Bible gives a false history of the Roman occupation of eastern Europe. Both also seem to promote a bogus portrayal of Roman ideals and actions during those times.

The cartoon may possess a moral message that I am not seeing from this limited account but I agree with Grim it seems to hold little to no true education value.

Anything that shows the Romans to be cowards is way off; the Romans marched into a hostile, foreign land and conquered it, despite being vastly out numbered and facing men that were by comparison wild giants. Many historical accounts show that the roman legions were out numbered by as much as 10 to one but the legions often still came out victorious!

Oh dear, I forgot we had a specialist of Roman history who would insist on having the truth...
Well then, what French students really learn in primary school goes like this:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallic_Wars

I just have limited knowledge of Asterix-- really Frank, you should try, it's an excellent comic. I know you would like the hilarious side of it-- whether it can be thought to be offensive for the Romans I don't know-- you could consider it to be the counter-propaganda version of Caesar's version of events. There is one which takes place during the Olympic Games, one where Asterix and Obelix go to Great Britain (Asterix chez les Bretons, my favourite).
It's a classic among comics, the drawings are excellent, the text is full of original ideas. Some of it may be particularly funny if you are French or European, I remember the transposition of France from the 1970's into Gaul of the first century BC but it's been translated into many languages so it's got a wide appeal.

Now, did the Romans really run away in front of the Gauls? Everywhere you go in Europe you find remains of things they built (part of a wall surrounding Tours is still standing) and that are a testimony of their knowledge and efficiency. And since they built all those things, they probably did not run. In fact, when the first Asterix was published, in 1959, we had built so many centuries' worth of inferiority complexes that psychiatric fees (at taxpayer's expense) were beginning to run high and the government had this think tank...


Some of you may not know about Asterix, and I am sure you will agree with me that this is an impediment to international exchange among scholars.

Therefore, I suggest we create a cartoon forum at Booktalk and discuss one Asterix comic as our Comic of the Month.
Topics of discussion may include:
- historical accuracy.
- Insights into the various countries depicted as they were in the middle of the twentieth century.
- Artistic value of the cartoons.
- morals/ lack of morals in the cartoons.
- Educational value.
- European interest: building a specific culture EU members have in common.
- project for the future: explaining EU culture and values overseas (and selling our products).

Honestly, all I remember is that it's fun and well-made.
I remember seeing a few Asterix (among other cartoons) in high school libraries, in all possible languages but not in French. When I taught in England I saw them, in French, in the school library.
Since Tawni writes from Canada, where bi-linguism is national policy, would this be Asterix in both French and English.

And next question: can you imagine Asterix being banned in Quebec???


School starts on Monday here. I told one of my colleagues about Asterix's misadventure in Canada, she found the offending picture-- her husband collects the comics-- and we discussed the alleged nakedness of the discuss thrower-- she says she can see a bit of clothing but this was over the phone so I'll have to wait until monday for the book.

Later: I gave my colleague the link to this page at BT, and she e-mailed me back , saying the version Tawni gave us is definitely different from hers. In the paper comic she has, the discus thrower is clothed: it's not much clothing but he could not be acused of being naked.
So, change one picture a bit from the original, have a group of parents and educators discuss this for hours, and then ban the book from the library?

The only reason I really heard was just the graphic depiction of violence, which were based merely on one frame from "Asterix and the Laurel Wreath". They were ofeended that the discus thrower being hit was naked, that a stone discus explodes in his hand and that his toes are spread apart and twitching.

Ophelia
Oh dear, I forgot we had a specialist of Roman history who would insist on having the truth...
Well then, what French students really learn in primary school goes like this:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallic_Wars

Well I am glad that the real history is being taught in school.

Ophelia
I just have limited knowledge of Asterix-- really Frank, you should try, it's an excellent comic. I know you would like the hilarious side of it-- whether it can be thought to be offensive for the Romans I don't know

I'm not very concerned about how it makes the Romans look as long as it's not being used as historical. It does sound interesting, I will look into reading some of it when I have some free time.

Later

...just an update... "Asterix and the Laurel Wreath" , "Asterix and the Cauldron" and "Asterix the Gladiator" were all pulled off the library shelves last week...

You never did mention where you are posting this about.

I was a French major from high school to college (before changing to Japanese...but I digress). The one thing that helped me learn the language was watching Asterik. I didn't take it as historical accuracy but for grammar and so forth. That cartoon was extremely helpful in my learning.

I am also Native American (Cheyenne to be exact). I find both Peter Pan and Pocahontas (both Disney films) to be very demeaning. Especially Peter Pan. I do not demand from any school or library to remove them. Stupid people are just that...stupid people and they will never learn any different. However, will these "good minded" Christian people remove them from the library? I think not. Will they remove Song of the South? I think not. Stupid and ignorant people only believe that they are doing the right thing. When the truth of the matter is that they are only trying to keep from explaining to their children what is wrong or right. They are trying to avoid the job that they set themselves up for...being parents. They are rely too much on the tv, xbox, and other people to "babysit" their children instead of sitting them down and say look at this and tell me what is wrong with it? Be parents not idots. Be involved in your kids life. Don't smother.

It is a wonder how we have all survived our childhood by climbing trees, swimming in creeks next to farmland, camping outdoors, sharing ice cream with a friend, and petting stray cats. Amazing!