The village, located in the north-western part of France, is shown at the beginning of each volume and creates little doubt about its geographical location. Thanks to the testimony of Uderzo himself, we can say with confidence that the village in Armorica finds its real counterpart in the coastal town of Erquy, in present-day Brittany.
After finding refuge there with his brother during the Second World War, Uderzo could not help but be fascinated by the landscape of Erquy and then transpose it into his work. Although the village of Asterix and Obelix is a product of his imagination and his hand , it has several easily identifiable elements in the Armorican Coast: the three stones of the promontory, the quarries of the town where Obelix works his menhirs, or the beaches shown in Le domaine des Dieux Though similarities can also be found in the customs and habits of the Bretons of the Roman era, we cannot say the same with regard to the warrior attitude.
In the history of Erquy there is no trace of any heroic resistance, to the point that history books report the presence of a Roman camp on the promontory dating back to the Iron Age. Is there, then, a real counterpart to the strength and legendary courage of the Gauls? Well, yes, although not in France, and unfortunately declined to the harsh laws of reality. On this date, in the current Spanish province of Soria, a small village in the hills obtained its first victory against the Roman invader.
It was the small town of Numantia, a Celtiberian stronghold whose history bears a striking resemblance to that of the Armorican village of Asterix. The history of the city of Numantia is famous for the circumstances of the long conflict with Rome that took place between and BC. The Roman historian Floro compares them to Carthage and Corinth for their sense of freedom and resistance, so similar to that of the indomitable Gauls.
That's how Asterix was born. We never thought about real people but the story ideas came out of everyday life. The only message we wanted to put across was to laugh. We've always avoided taking any political or ideological stance. We were inspired to a great extent by his qualities as a resistance fighter [against the Romans] and so we decided that all the names of the Gauls would end in "ix. Did you intend for the books to be educational? To what extent did you worry about being historically accurate?
As I said, we wanted to create characters from French culture as opposed to the typical comic culture at the time where people were being asked to do pseudo-Tintins or super heroes. That's what I gave him but as I'm stubborn I still drew my strongman - and he ended up as Obelix! The only historical limits that we put on ourselves were countries visited by - or simply existing! Your books appeal to all ages on different levels - is that something you always aimed for? Of course we did always want to please readers of all ages, even if, as I said, we created the series for adolescents.
I've always said that people from seven to 77 enjoyed Tintin… well, what the heck, we'll go for the eight to 88s! You can't imagine how pleased it makes me when I hear about parents handing down their books to their children, who are still just as big fans of the characters.
What about Asterix in Britain - did you have fun working on this book, where you make - gentle - fun of a lot of British stereotypes? Do you like Britain? That book is one of my favourites because I love all the word-play. Because of that he really enjoyed putting the quirks of English grammar into French [to create the humorous style of speech of the British characters]. But it's a jolly good idea and I'll think about it!
As an Asterix fan I am glad you continued the series after Goscinny's death. Did you discuss it with him? Was it difficult for you? Did he leave any story ideas, or were the books since he died entirely your ideas, apart from Asterix and the Class Act? Thank you. We always said that after both our deaths the series would end, and that is what will happen. I was weighed down by grief for two years and it was thanks to expressions of friendship from readers and my family's encouragement that I decided to pick up my pencils again.
I published Asterix and the Great Divide in and I was really scared because everyone was waiting to pounce… but it was a great success and that encouraged me to carry on. We always worked very closely and we were friends. We spent a lot of time together and our families got on very well.
We had a lot of laughs together and had the same sense of humour, and we each brought our own experiences to a new storyline. These days I continue to create the books in the same way - first of all I write our characters' story and then I draw it. I miss him a lot. I ask myself if a certain joke would have made him laugh. He didn't leave any story ideas. Even Asterix and the Class Act [a compilation of stories, many of which had been previously published in other media like Pilote] contains a lot of short stories which, in most cases, I wrote alone for one reason or another but always with my friend's support during his lifetime.
Some readers were shocked that you brought extra-terrestrials into an Asterix book in Asterix and the Falling Sky [ - the latest book]. Did that surprise you, and do you regret doing it, or were you just trying to do something a bit different? Perhaps you were disappointed some people took it too seriously? It surprised and hurt me, but I must say that the attacks came more from the critics than the readers. I was hurt because no one completely understood what I was trying to do - I wasn't just introducing space ships and weird robots gratuitously.
I deplore the way this style dominates the comic market to the detriment of our Franco-Belgian, or at least European, style [the book pits a "good" alien, inspired by Walt Disney against a "bad" one inspired by Japanese Manga].
While reading Manga books - because I don't talk about things I know nothing about - I've often noticed the same things often crop up in this kind of comic, and in the way they approach their characters. I just wanted to poke a bit of fun at this genre as opposed to one that I admire - that's to say Mr Walt Disney's, who I paid tribute to with one of the characters who is a "Tadsilweny" - an anagram of his name.
People accused me of drawing corny-looking space ships when that's what I intended to do, because I can't say I find the style of Mangas to be especially ground-breaking.
That's their problem. The main thing, for me, is that people liked it enough to buy 2,, of the books. We were always surprised by it. Intentionally or not, Goscinny and Uderzo exploited the legacy of the Roman Empire across most of the continent. For wherever Roman conquest reached, there are still tales of heroic resistance and glamorous native freedom-fighters. This gap in the market has been endlessly and implausibly theorised.
Others have tried a political explanation, reading the cartoon conflicts between nice Gauls and nasty Romans as a thinly veiled attack on American imperialism and the dominance of the new superpower hence, they suggest, the unexpected niche market for the series in China and the Middle East. The legacy of the Roman Empire provides a context within popular culture for the different countries of Europe to talk with, and about, each other, and about their shared history and myths.
It would be hard to penetrate that from the other side of the Atlantic. Roman imperialism was then generally seen in stark, clear-cut terms. It offered the natives of these conquered territories a simple choice: Romanisation or resistance; learn Latin, wear togas, build baths or in the absence of a real-life magic potion paint yourself with woad, take to the scythed chariots and massacre the nearest detachment of Roman infantry. Approaches to Roman imperialism are now more realistic.
Their priorities were money and a quiet life. Provided the natives paid their taxes, did not openly rebel and, where necessary, made a few gestures to Roman cultural norms, their lives could - if they wished - continue much as before. This new version of Roman provincial life has not yet been immortalised in a strip cartoon. But some years ago the archaeologist Simon James drew a single comic vignette, which has become famous among classicists for encapsulating the new approach to the history of Roman imperialism in the northern provinces.
It shows a small native homestead, with a traditional round Iron Age hut and an obviously native family. Between the homestead and the road the canny natives have constructed a huge cardboard cut-out of a classical facade with pediment and columns, which they are gamely holding up to impress the soldiers and temporarily disguise the native life blithely going on behind.
0コメント