From Word to Image

Published by

Clarissa

November 20, 2015

When people first showed me this recent Charlie Hebdo cartoon, I didn’t understand it. And not because of the text, I get the text. It’s the picture that I don’t get unless somebody explains it to me.

When people finally told me that the holes the champagne is gushing from are supposed to stand for bullet holes, sending the message that you can’t kill the French joie de vivre, I could appreciate this great cartoon.

This is why I don’t enjoy, let alone analyze, movies. I don’t process images at all. I watch a lot of television, especially when I work, but the process of watching involves very little actual watching. I barely look at the screen because it rarely communicates useful information to me.

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11 responses to “From Word to Image”

cliff arroyo

November 20, 2015

How would you translate the text? All I get is

“They’e got the weapons. We ….. them? We have Champagne?

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Shakti

November 20, 2015

They have the weapons, one shits them, one has the champagne! — literally.

In English it would be something like “They have weapons, fuck them, we have champagne!”

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Shakti

November 20, 2015

Clarissa, did they have many cartoons or any when you were growing up?

I understand the language of the picture, because I’ve seen this visual gag of “someone full of holes who has just drunk something is now leaking like a barrel full of wine” many times before in cartoons like Tom and Jerry or Roadrunner.

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1. Clarissa
  
  November 20, 2015
  
  Yes, we did. Here is one anti-NATO cartoon from a very famous cartoon magazine in the USSR:
  
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  1. Clarissa
    
    November 20, 2015
    
    And this one says, “Don’t look at me, look at my letter of reference.”
    
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Shakti

November 20, 2015

Ok — I figured you had political propaganda cartoons. Those look like they’re aimed at adults.

What did they pitch at children? Apologies if you’ve answered this in a post before, but I notice people will base things they “know” on cartoons. Or film. Like they “know” the good guys have excellent wonderful aim and the bad guys are incompetent.

And did they have a lot of cartoon gun violence or is that mainly an American thing?

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1. Clarissa
  
  November 20, 2015
  
  Thank you for the interest.
  
  Children saw a lot of cartoons ridiculing bad students.
  Here the big guy says, “It’s not that I’ve had to repeat this grade. I’m a veteran!”:
  
  And this is a Soviet helicoptering Mommy.
  
  Of course, guns were not featured because Soviet citizens were not allowed access to weapons.
  
  And this is not specifically for children but I love it.
  The issue is dedicated to the International Women’s Day. Two women are reading a fairy-tale where men are working while women are resting. Because that’s
  totally a fairy-tale situation. 🙂
  
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  1. Shakti
    
    November 20, 2015
    
    Random observations:
    
    I love that the infant dude is wearing a double breasted suit and what looks like pilgrim shoes.
    Also, pinafore dresses were a thing in school uniforms? (I wore a black and white checked jumper but uniforms in school were an exception.)
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      November 20, 2015
      
      The Soviet uniform for girls always included an apron. And the boys’ uniform looked like a business suit. I’m sure I don’t need to explain the connotations.
      
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Jones

November 21, 2015

Either I’m secretly a Very Bad Person or I’m cynical enough to see what you’re not seeing, especially if you turn the excessive drinking figure upside-down …

It could also be that you’ve been posting on a theme recently and that’s managed to get past my semiotic filters.

[… but this close to the holidays, for shame Charlie!]

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1. Jones
  
  November 21, 2015
  
  I’ll make this easier because even the commenters at the San Francisco Gate don’t see this …
  
  Go ahead, tell me this is a coincidence, but I won’t buy it for a moment.
  
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