Invisible Presence

Catriona MacLeod

Description

This book looks at the representation of female characters in French comics from their first appearance in 1905. Organised into three sections, the book looks at the representation of women as main characters created by men, as secondary characters created by men, and as characters created by women.



It focuses on female characters, both primary and secondary, in the francophone comic or bande dessinée, as well as the work of female bande dessinée creators more generally. Until now these characters and creators have received relatively little scholarly attention; this new book is set to change this status quo.



Using feminist scholarship, especially from well-known film and literary theorists, the book asks what it means to draw women from within a phallocentric, male-dominated paradigm, as well as how the particular medium of bande dessinée, its form as well as its history, has shaped dominant representations of women.



This is the first book to study the representation of women in the French-language drawn strip. There are no other works with this specific focus, either on women in Franco-Belgian comics, or on the drawn representation of women by men.



This is a very useful addition to both general discussions of French-language comics, and to discussions of women’s comics, which are focused on comics by women only.



As it is written in English, and due to the popularity of comic art in Britain and the United States, this book will primarily appeal to an Anglo-American market. However, the cultural and gender studies approach this text employs (theoretical frameworks still not widely seen in non-Anglophone studies of the bande dessinée) will ensure that the text is also of interest to a Franco-Belgian audience.



With a focus on an art-form which also inspires a lot of public (non-academic) enthusiasm, it will also appeal to fans of the bande dessinée (or wider comic art medium) who are interested in the representation of women in comic art, and to comics scholars on a broad scale.

Introduction – Women Problems

SECTION 1: PRIMARY WOMEN CHARACTERS

Chapter 1 – Bécassine to Barbarella…But What Came in Between? An Introductory History of Female Primary Characters in the Francophone Bande Dessinée

Chapter 2 – Bécassine: The First Lady of Bande Dessinée?

Chapter 3 – Barbarella: Study of a Sex-Symbol

Chapter 4 – Solving the Mystery of Adèle Blanc-Sec

SECTION 2: SECONDARY WOMEN CHARACTERS

Preface: A Brief Consideration of the Minor

Chapter 5 – Beyond Bonemine: An Introductory History of Female Secondary Characters in the Francophone Bande Dessinée

Chapter 6 – A Study of Stereotypes: The Secondary Female Characters of Astérix

Chapter 7 – Secondary Women in Urban Realism: La Vie de ma mère

Chapter 8 – Black Secondary Women in the Works of Warnauts and Raives: The Eroticization of Difference

Chapter 9 – Secondary Women in the BD New Wave: The Female Figures of Le Combat ordinaire

SECTION 3: WOMEN CHARACTERS BY WOMEN CREATORS

Chapter 10 – The Women that Women Draw: An Introductory History of Female Characters Drawn by Women Artists in the Francophone Bande Dessinée

Chapter 11 – The Rise and Fall of Ah! Nana: France’s first and only all-female illustré

Chapter 12 – Murdering the Male Gaze: Chantal Montellier’s Odile et les crocodiles

Chapter 13 – Everyday extremes: Aurélia Aurita’s Fraise et chocolat

Conclusion – Problem Solved?

Figures

Bibliography

Sujets

• Arts visuels
• Dessin
• Gender Studies
• Literary Criticism
• Cartooning
• Techniques
• Graphic Novels
• Comics
• Franco-Belgian comics
• Cultural Studies
• Technique
• ART

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 05 août 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781789383928
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 6 Mo

Extrait

Invisible Presence

First published in the UK in 2021 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2021 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2021 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copy editor: MPS Limited
Cover designer: Aleksandra Szumlas
Production manager: Helen Gannon
Typesetter: MPS Limited
Hardback ISBN 978-1-78938-390-4
ePDF ISBN 978-1-78938-391-1
ePUB ISBN 978-1-78938-392-8
Printed and bound by TJ Books, UK
To find out about all our publications, please visit our website.
There you can subscribe to our e-newsletter, browse or download our current catalogue and buy any titles that are in print.
www.intellectbooks.com
This is a peer-reviewed publication.
For Allan J. MacLeod. QED.
Contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Women Problems
SECTION 1: PRIMARY WOMEN CHARACTERS
1 . Bécassine to Barbarella … But What Came in Between? An Introductory History of Female Primary Characters in the Francophone Bande Dessinée
2 . Bécassine: The First Lady of Bande Dessinée ?
3 . Barbarella: Study of a Sex-Symbol
4 . Solving the Mystery of Adèle Blanc-Sec
SECTION 2: SECONDARY WOMEN CHARACTERS
5 . Beyond Bonemine: An Introductory History of Female Secondary Characters in the Francophone Bande Dessinée
6 . A Study of Stereotypes: The Secondary Female Characters of Astérix
7 . Secondary Women in Urban Realism: La Vie de ma mère
8 . Black Secondary Women in the Works of Warnauts and Raives: The Eroticization of Difference
9 . Secondary Women in the BD New Wave: The Female Figures of Le Combat ordinaire
SECTION 3: WOMEN CHARACTERS BY WOMEN CREATORS
10 . The Women that Women Draw: An Introductory History of Female Characters Drawn by Women Artists in the Francophone Bande Dessinée
11 . The Rise and Fall of Ah! Nana : France’s First and Only All-Female illustré
12 . Murdering the Male Gaze: Chantal Montellier’s Odile et les crocodiles
13 . Everyday Extremes: Aurélia Aurita’s Fraise et chocolat
Conclusion: Problem Solved?
Figures
Notes
References
Index
Figures Figure 1: Forest, Barbarella (Edition Intégrale: Premier tome) (1994), p. 3 © 2019 Humanoids, Inc. Los Angeles. Figure 2: Forest, Barbarella (Edition Intégrale: Premier tome) (1994), p. 14 © 2019 Humanoids, Inc. Los Angeles. Figure 3: Forest, Barbarella (Edition Intégrale: Premier tome) (1994), p. 6 © 2019 Humanoids, Inc. Los Angeles. Figure 4: Forest, Barbarella (Edition Intégrale: Premier tome) (1994), p. 53 © 2019 Humanoids, Inc. Los Angeles. Figure 5: Extrait de l’ouvrage Adèle et la bête , Tardi (2007), p. 27 © Casterman. Avec l’aimable autorisation des auteurs et des Editions Casterman. Figure 6: Extrait de l’ouvrage Adèle et la bête , Tardi (2007), p. 21 © Casterman. Avec l’aimable autorisation des auteurs et des Editions Casterman. Figure 7: Extrait de l’ouvrage Adèle et la bête , Tardi (2007), p. 22 © Casterman. Avec l’aimable autorisation des auteurs et des Editions Casterman. Figure 8: Extrait de l’ouvrage La Vie de ma mère: Face B , Chauzy et Jonquet (2003), p.11 © Casterman. Avec l’aimable autorisation des auteurs et des Editions Casterman. Figure 9: Larcenet, Le Combat ordinaire (2004), p.13 © DARGAUD 2003 – www.dargaud.com. All rights reserved. Figure 10: Claveloux, ‘La Conasse et le Prince Charmant’ in Ah! Nana (no.2) (1977), p. 29 © Nicole Claveloux (many thanks to the artist for allowing the reproduction of this image). Figure 11: Capuana, Untitled Strip in Ah! Nana (no. 6) (1977), back cover. © Cecilia Capuana (many thanks to the artist for allowing the reproduction of this image). Figure 12: Capuana, ‘Visite inattendue’ in Ah! Nana (no.3) (1977), p.24. © Cecilia Capuana (many thanks to the artist for allowing the reproduction of this image). Figure 13: Capuana, ‘Visite inattendue’ in Ah! Nana (no.3) (1977), p.25. © Cecilia Capuana (many thanks to the artist for allowing the reproduction of this image). Figure 14: Montellier, Odile et les crocodiles (2008), p. 19 © Actes Sud 2008. Figure 15: Aurita, Fraise et chocolat (2006), p. 72 © Les Impressions Nouvelles – 2006. Figure 16: Aurita, Fraise et chocolat (2006), p. 75 © Les Impressions Nouvelles - 2006.
Acknowledgements
This book began as a Ph.D. dissertation. I’d like to extend heartfelt thanks to my supervisors, Laurence Grove and Keith Reader, for all of their help and support and to my examiners Ann Miller and Rachel Douglas for their very useful feedback, in addition to the University of Glasgow and, finally, the AHRC for funding the project. Thanks also go to the University of London Institute in Paris for awarding me a period of research leave in order to make the book a book, and my colleagues at ULIP for being indefatigable sources of advice and encouragement. Several research colleagues helped me greatly with their advice on specific chapters: thanks go to Ann Miller (again), Armelle Blin-Rolland and Lise Tannahill.
A version of Chapter 8 previously appeared as an article in Contemporary French Civilization . Many thanks are due to Liverpool University Press for granting permission for its reproduction in this book. Several artists and publishing houses were also kind enough to waive their fee for reproducing images in this book. Thanks are due to Cecilia Capuana, Nicole Claveloux, Les Humanoïdes Associés, Les Impressions Nouvelles, Dargaud and Casterman.
I’d like to personally thank my friends and family, especially my parents, Jennifer and Allan MacLeod, for all their support on everything (all the time) and Granny, Mary King, for being so generous in support of all our educations. Final thanks go to my very visible little women, Nora and Inès, for being constant reminders of why this work is important.
Introduction: Women Problems
The problem of woman is the most marvellous and disturbing problem in all the world 1
—André Breton (1962: 213n)
In 2009, during an event in Glasgow, the artist Lewis Trondheim was asked why there were few women characters to be found in his many French-language comic strip, or bande dessinée (BD), 2 créations. He shrugged and answered: ‘[w]omen are harder to draw’. 3 The audience tittered at Trondheim’s rueful confession, but were perhaps unaware that he was articulating a difficulty already expressed by several of the most recognized names in the history of Franco-Belgian comics. Like Trondheim, Moebius, an undisputed master of sequential art, admitted to having trouble drawing female characters, stating in 1993 that he had ‘never successfully drawn a real woman’ (quoted in Peeters 1994: 52n80). 4 Before Moebius, Astérix co-creator René Goscinny expressed a difficulty with the idea of ‘caricaturing’ women to include in his strips, claiming that his respect for women prevented this (Pilloy 1994: 11; see also Groensteen 2013) – a point of view that mirrored almost exactly the words of the most famous of artists in bande dessinée history, Hergé, who added that ‘women characters rarely lend themselves to comedy’ anyway (quoted in Peeters 1994: 52n80). 5 Drawing woman, it seems, has long posed a variety of problems in the bande dessinée medium.
These ‘women problems’ are complex, but, when examined, may be broadly broken down into two principal and interconnected issues: the problem of creating images of, and thus a gaze directed towards, ‘real’ – to borrow Moebius’s expression – women, and the problem of doing so within the specificities of the bande dessinée medium.
The first of these – the notion that creating images of women to be looked at is problematic in a male-centred world – is not specific to drawn art; exploring the theoretical basis for this has been a particular focus of feminist art criticism. In an early example of such criticism, John Berger explained in his now-famous BBC series, Ways of Seeing (1972), that ‘a woman, in the culture of privileged Europeans, is first and foremost a sight to be looked at’ ( Ways of Seeing (Episode 2) 1972), whether in oil paintings and photographs, or on the street. Certainly, images of women abound in the visual arts. Renoir, for example, is said to have once stated that without the female body, he would never have become a painter (Nochlin 2006: 4). However, in a traditionally male-dominated society, such as that of privileged Europeans, really looking at a woman is not easy to do. In such a society, the looker – an active, and, thus, powerful, consumer of images – is imagined to be (and, thus, regardless of gender, is positioned as) male and heterosexual; images are therefore created and coded by artists specifically in order to please this male viewer. In Ways of Seeing , Berger gave the example of the female nude in European pre-modernist painting, one category of fine art in which women were the principal focus. He claimed that amongst tens of thousands of examples of female nudes, only twenty or thirty exceptions showed the woman ‘revealed as herself’: the majority showed women wearing the disguise of hairless, idealized, passive nudity, all designed to appeal to the sexuality of the male ‘spectator-owner’ ([Episode 2] 1972). The idea of women was present in this art, then, but ‘real’ women were very often not. Summarizing the wider findings of feminist art criticism much later, in 2003, Griselda Pollock agreed, noting that in modern society, still dominated by the notion of male, heterosexual primacy, ‘the visual sign “woman” does not describe female people with changing bodies, intellects, desires, capacities’ (2003: 178). Rather, ‘Woman’ as image is a creation of masculine fantasy and fear and is, thus, ‘neither natu