Abstract
This paper focuses on how Japan was represented in the most popular Belgian comics at a particular period in time, right after the Second World War and just before the image of Japan as an economic superpower (that exported many commodities to Europe or the USA) became widespread from the 1960s on.
Within the field of European comics, Belgian comics played a crucial role in the decades after the war with major artists such as Hergé, Franquin, Jacobs, Vandersteen and many others. Moreover, the Belgian comics industry attracted many artists from other countries and exported her products to various countries (especially France). The comics published in dailies, journals and albums formed at that time an important means of entertainment for the youngsters (television started only in the 1950s in Belgium). Furthermore, the Belgian comics culture is interesting since it involves two different traditions: a French language one and a Dutch language one.
In various stories, published between 1945 and 1960, we find representations of Japan. On the whole, two basic approaches of the Japanese Otherness stand out:
- the “Yellow Peril”, strongly referring to the last World War (for instance Jacobs Blake et Mortimer, Le Secret de l’espadon, Hubinon & Troisfontaines, Charlier Buck Danny, Les Japs attaquent). Usually these comics were drawn in a more realistic style.
- the “touristic ancient or exotic Japan” without any reference to WWII (for instance Vandersteen Suske en Wiske, De Stemmenrover, Will & Rosy Tif et Tondu, Le Fantôme du samouraï). Usually comics of this approach combine adventure and humour.
The first kind of comics is typically for the comics produced in the first years after war, while the second kind is rather typical for the late 1950s. So, even in this brief period of 15 years already an important shift of the image of Japan is noticeable, from a belligerent enemy to an exotic and touristically interesting culture. The paper will offer a more detailed analysis of some examples and formulates some possible explanations for this shift.
References
Barker, C. (2002) Making Sense of Cultural Studies. Central Problems and Critical Debates. London: Sage Publications
Béra, M., Denni, M., Mellot, P. (1996) BDM. Trésors de la bande dessinée 1997-1998. Paris: éditions de l’Amateur
De Cooman, D. (2005) Japanese-Belgian Political and Commercial Relations from 1941 to the 1960s. In: Vande Walle, W.F., ed. Japan & Belgium. Four Centuries of Exchange. Commissioners-General of the Belgium Government at the Universal Exposition of Aichi, 270-276
De Vries, R. (2012) Comics and Co-evolutions. A Study of the Dynamics in the Niche of Comics Publishers in the Low Countries. PhD, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Flynn, P. (1982) Visions of People: The Influences of Japanese Prints–Ukiyo-e upon Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century French Art. [Online] Available from: http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1982/4/82.04.03.x.html [Accessed April 28, 2016]
Greene, N. (2014) From Fu Manchu to Kung Fu Panda: Images of China in American Film. Hong Kong University Press
Herman, P. (2009) Europe Japon, Regards croisés en bandes dessinées. Grenoble: Glénat
Hoppenstand, G. (1992) Yellow Devil Doctors and Opium Dens: A Survey of the Yellow Peril Stereotypes in Mass Media Entertainment. In: Nachbar, J., Lause, K., eds. Popular Culture: An Introductory Text. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 277-291
Jodelet, D., ed. (1989) Les représentations sociales. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France
Malcorps, J., Tyrions, R. (1984) De papieren droomfabriek. Leuven: Infodok
Marchetti, G. (1993) Romance and the “Yellow Peril”, Race, Sex and Discursive Strategies in Hollywood Fiction. Berkely: University of California Press
Kerremans, Y., Lefèvre, P. (1997) 50 jaar Nero, kroniek van een dagbladverschijnsel. Antwerpen: Standaard Uitgeverij
Konijn, E., Hoorn, J. (2005) Some like it bad: Testing a model for perceiving and experiencing fictional characters. Media Psychology, Vol. 7(2), 107-144
Lefèvre, P. (2000) La bande dessinée occidentale au XXème siècle. In: Dierick, C., ed. Le Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée. Bruxelles: Dexia, 141-205
Lefèvre, P.(2004) The Cold War and Belgian Comics. International Journal of Comic Art, Vol. 6(2), Fall, 195-204
Lefèvre, P.(2007a) Prettige Prentjes. De Vlaamse strip in de jaren 1950. In: Absilis, K., Jacobs, K., eds. Van Hugo Claus tot hoelahoep: Vlaanderen in beweging (1950-1960). Antwerpen: Garant, 111-123
Lefèvre, P. (2007b) The Unresolved Past, Repercussions of World War II in Belgian Comics. International Journal of Comic Art, Vol. 9(1), Spring, 296-310
Lefèvre, P. (2012) The construction of national and foreign identities in French and Belgian postwar comics (1945-1970). Comicalités [Online], May. Available from: http://comicalites.revues.org/875?lang=en [Accessed May 21, 2012]
Lefèvre, P. (2013) Narration in the Flemish Dual Publication System. The Crossover Genre 'Humoristic Adventure'. In: Stein, D., Thon, J-N., eds. From Comic Strips to Graphic Novels: Contributions to the Theory and History of Graphic Narrative. Berlin: De Gruyter, Vol. 14(4), 255-269
Lefèvre, P. (2016) No Content without Form. Graphic Style as the Primary Entrance to a Story. In: Cohn, N., ed. The Visual Narrative Reader. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 67-88
Leguebe, W. (1977) La société des bulles. Bruxelles: Vie Ouvrière
Lesage, S. (2014) L'effet codex: quand la bande dessinée gagne le livre. L'album de bande dessinée en France de 1950 à 1990. PhD, Université Versailles Saint- Quentin
Locher, P. (2011) Contemporary experimental aesthetics: State of the art technology. i-Perception, 2(7), 697-707. Available from: http://ipe.sagepub.com/content/2/7/697.full.pdf+html [Accessed May 12, 2016]
Matla, H (1998) Stripkatalogus (negende editie). ‘s-Gravenhage: Panda Mayer, R. (2013) Serial Fu Manchu: The Chinese Supervillain and the Spread of Yellow Peril Ideology. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press
McQuail, D. (1994) Mass Communication Theory. An Introduction. London: Sage Publications
Morris-Suzuki, T. (2005) The past within us: Media, memory, history. London: Verso.
Pagello, F., ed. (2010) EPOP Popular Roots of European Culture. Catalogue. Louvainla-Neuve, Pescara: EPOP
Paymans, H. (1976) Propagandistic Aspects of Modern Comic-Books. International Communication Gazette, Vol. 22, 219-229
Peeters, B. (2002) Hergé, fils de Tintin. Paris: Flammarion
Raudsepp, M. (2005) Why Is It So Difficult to Understand the Theory of Social Representations? Culture & Psychology, Vol. 11(4), 455-468
Rawson, P. (1987) Drawing. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Rheault, S. (2013) Japanese Culture in Franco-Belgian Bande Dessinée. International Journal of Comic Art, Vol. 15(1), Spring, 383-394
Sharp, P.B. (2000) From Yellow Peril to Japanese wasteland: John Hersey’s ‘Hiroshima’. Twentieth Century Literature, Vol. 46(4), 434-452
Strauss, A., Corbin, J. (1998) Basics of qualitative research, techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications
Tchen, J.K.W., Yeats, D. (2014) Yellow Peril! An Archive of Anti-Asian Fear. New York, NY: Verso.
Tilley, C.L. (2012) Seducing the Innocent: Fredric Wertham and the Falsifications That Helped Condemn Comics. Information & Culture, Vol. 47(4), 383-413
Van Hooydonck, P. (1994) Willy Vandersteen. De Bruegel van het beeldverhaal. Antwerpen: Standaard Uitgeverij
Zhang, Q. (2010) Asian Americans beyond the model minority stereotype: The nerdy and the left out. Journal of international and intercultural communication, Vol. 3(1), 20-37
Zhang, Q. (2015) Perceived Intergroup Stereotypes, Threats, and Emotions Toward Asian Americans. Howard Journal of Communications, Vol. 26(2), 115-131
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2016 Pascal Lefèvre