hello hello Baguette! I'm Derp, your assigned asker for the aphaskevent. Yay! My ask is about Asterix. The comic series one. I grew up reading them in Indonesian translation, and those were hilarious. I wanna know more about its history and influence in France and the world :D
@aphaskevent @aphindonesia @hetaliafandomhub
Hellooooo Derp! Glad to see you here for the Event! ♥
Astérix is a monument of french comics (which we call BDs, as in Bandes-Dessinées) and also a huge part of my childhood!
For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, Astérix is a series of comics that follow the adventures of Astérix the Gaul, his best friend Obélix, and the recurring characters of the village they live in. Their stories take place in the first century B.C. after Vercingetorix’ defeat in -56 B.C. and the entirety of Gaul is under Roman Rule…
All of it? No! One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders. And life is not easy for the Roman legionaries who garrison the fortified camps of Totorum, Aquarium, Laudanum and Compendium…
… That is the little mantra that introduces each comic. At least, the english translation! Basically Astérix’s story is a History AU where only his village still resists against Roman occupation thanks to a magic potion their Druid gives them.
Panoramix (the Druid), Astérix, and Obélix (+ Idéfix, Obélix’s pup)
Every comic (save for a few) is rather formulaic; each tells the story of Astérix and his friend Obélix who live peacefully in their village until an outsider comes asking for help or the Romans become a larger threat than usual. This usually starts the story, sending the two Gauls away from their village to accomplish the task of helping the outsider or numbing the roman threat.
The tone of the series is generally comedic and the sense of humour is… Very french, let’s say. The visual gags are things that can me appreciated in any edition of the Astérix comics and cartoons but the real jokes are usually untranslatable word-play- Though I will always give kudos to the translators who try their best to let Goscignny’s genius shine through! The most notable word-play jokes are in character names. Depending on one’s ‘nationality’, a character will have a name which is a word jumble with a suffix associated with their country of origin. Gaul names end in -ix, Roman names in -us, Egyptian names in -is, Norman/Viking names in -af, Briton names in -ax, etc… This is usually for male characters, as there aren’t many female characters. When there are female characters, their names will either follow the previous rule or be a word-play ending in -ine. All names have to sound like a real word or phrase, which is why many names and jokes get lost in translation, for example.
The first Astérix BD, Astérix le Gaulois came out in 1959 as a collab between René Goscignny (writer), Albert Uderzo (artist), and a Franco-Belgian editor, Dargaud (which was also responsible for the Tintin series).Goscignny unfortunately died in 1977, leaving the writing to Uderzo alone (and it shows) though his name was never removed from the covers. Uderzo himself retired from his work as a cartoonist after the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attacks.
A drawing Uderzo did as an homage to the cartoonists who were killed during the Charlie Hebdo attack.
As of 2015, 36 volumes of the Astérix and Obélix’s adventures have been published. A new one is to be published in October 2017 with a new writer and artist who mimick the original style. Goscignny and Uderzo’s name will remain on the cover, however.
The impact Astérix & Obélix had on french society and culture was massive. We’re a country of nerds who love our BDs, kids grew up reading them since the 1960s and physical copies have been passed down from parents to children- Hell, my introduction to the series was through my dad giving me his old comics as soon as I knew how to read! I loved all the characters and I still do- My favourite was Obélix. Growing up as a chubby kid and whatnot… (I’m even working on a R63 copslay of him now shhhh)Everybody here has read Astérix at least once in their lives… And if they haven’t read it, they’ve definitely seen the movie adaptations and/or gone to the theme park (which opened in 1989).
Lemme tell you about the films, bc BOY are the movies good. In France we have a knack for making good BD film adaptations, animated or live-action. The Astérix movies are among our favourites ♥ Many french comedy actors consider that being a part of an Astérix movie is a peak in one’s career, that’s how big the franchise is.
Well-known actors who have played in the live action ones as main characters include…
- As Astérix: Christian Clavier, Clovis Cormillac, and Édouard Baer
- As Julius Caesar: Alain Chabat, Alain Delon (yes, THAT Alain Delon), and Fabrice Luchini
- As Obélix: Gérard Depardieu (yes. that Gérard Depardieu.)
There’s a bunch of films that have been made but lemme just introduce three of my favourite.
NOTE: The post is getting super long, so I’m gonna put my blabbing about my three fave movies + conclusion under a cut! Happy reading!
