Even as a little kid goscinny and uderzo’s depictions of black people were jarringly racist, even so going back and reading Asterix again it’s still kinda shocking.
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Replying to @AdamSerwer
I'm certainly not going to say they aren't racist — they are! — but to some extent the depictions may implicate specifically American racist tropes that wouldn't have been obvious to the French illustrators
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Replying to @alkali19
I don’t know enough about the history of comics to say, (maybe
@HeerJeet does) but the influence of racist southern caricatures seems really prominent to me and it’s hard to see it as unintended even if they did not think of themselves as acting maliciously.6 replies 0 retweets 48 likes -
Replying to @AdamSerwer @HeerJeet
there's probably a lot to unpack there — no doubt American racist caricature had an influence on Europe and certainly to say that G/U were acting unintentionally and not maliciously (assuming arguendo that is so) doesn't make the work itself any easier to deal with
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Replying to @alkali19 @AdamSerwer
One complicating detail is that Goscinny spent a lot of time in USA in early 1950s, hanging out with Harvey Kurtzman & other creators of MAD -- who taught Goscinny a lot. Kurtzman (who was very progressive and anti-racist) didn't use minstrel imagery.
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Here's a photo of Goscinny with Kurtzman at a NY restaurant, circa 1950/1951. Given this connection, I really feel Goscinny should have known better.pic.twitter.com/dxMp7x54N3
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