This is what is called a “Barbara Streisand effect” from the name of this American star who, suing an unknown journalist published in an obscure provincial newspaper, transformed him in a few hours into a celebrity known to all.
Since last year, ActuaBD has been a partner of the Dieppe comic strip festival organized by the ANBD association (Norman Comic Strip Association). It is in this capacity that we made an initial announcement to point out that Jimthe author of Une Nuit à Rome (Ed. Grand Angle / Bamboo), was the guest of honour.
The idea was to lend a hand to this friendly little festival created more than twenty years ago by a handful of enthusiasts happy to find their favorite authors in the middle of summer. He hosted, excuse me, as well Moebiuswhat Mezieres or Loisel…
Notoriety, he no longer needs it. Because there, ouch!, the poster that Jim had drawn, was noticed by the deputy mayor in charge of community life, events and the fight against discrimination, Laetitia Legrand, who judged that the representation of this luminous and fulfilled woman did not correspond to her vision of the fight against discrimination. She refused to allow the city’s logo to be associated with this image, which she no doubt considered to be “sexist”. It must be said that this communist town hall, one of the last in France, writes its election posters in inclusive writing. This elected official was probably unaware that this woman was the heroine of a comic strip popular with thousands of readers, as she also underestimated the media impact of a medium like comics.
Don’t make waves…
In order not to make waves and above all to prevent the association from having to absorb the costs largely incurred (authors’ train tickets, hotel and meal reservations, etc.) a few days before the event, the organizers preferred to comply . It is up to them to manage this lamentable affair with the authors.
The friendship between Jim and the patron of the Festival Jean-Pierre Surestmade the designer propose, admittedly with bad grace, to modify the poster by lengthening the pile of books so as to hide these breasts that we cannot see… ActuaBD also accepted, at the request of the organizers , not to react immediately in order, as a partner, “not to throw oil on the fire”.
But too late: the case leaked, and soon the social networks made hot throats, taken up by the major national media: Le Parisien, Le Figaro, BFM TV, Le Point…
Censorship and controversy #Dieppe and its festival #BD. The poster, however wise, of the artist Jim was censored because of the too pronounced neckline (sic) of his heroine! Worse, the posters already printed were thrown in the trash!#Sexism #censure
— Branches Culture (@BranchesCulture) June 27, 2023
Within hours, the small Dieppe festival immediately became famous. Faced with this outcry, the mayor of Dieppe, Nicholas Langlois, consulted his Municipal Council and, taking the measure of the ridiculousness of the affair, disavowed his assistant, asking to restore the original poster.
End of the game, the association can breathe. “It is true that for a week when the refusal of the Town Hall had been announced, says Alain Ledoux on its Facebook page, the association somehow managed this unbearable situation less than a month before the event (correction of the poster, cancellation of the large posters on the panels of the City, corrections of the programs and tutti quanti). This represented a real cost to the association that no one could imagine. »
A friendly festival on the lawn facing the seafront
Photos: D. Pasamonik (The Comics Agency)
A misadventure that questions
The questions remain. That of the relationship of a festival with the public authorities. There are those who are in the small papers of flourishing town halls and who are very skilful in collecting subsidies at all levels, from the town hall to the Region, from local businesses to the best-endowed ministries. Among them, there are those who know how to impose themselves on elected officials (the Angoulême Festival is the most caricatural incarnation of this) and others who are like the dog in the fable, subject to the sometimes foolish whims of certain municipalities. .
Not without constraints. Thus, the Center National des Lettres subordinates its endowment to the remuneration of the authors. Only about ten festivals (out of more than 300) can afford it. This creates a sort of aristocracy that is often pegged to public support for alternative comics. However, this is the case in Dieppe, when the programming is too popular (Jim, like his publisher Bamboo, is rather despised by the programming of certain festivals), it does not correspond to the criteria of the season. Unable to access subsidies…
The other question concerns the political power’s understanding of the issues of comic strips. Some elected officials understand this well, we think of the festivals of Blois, Amiens, Brussels or Bastia which integrate their cultural policy well into a local anchorage, in particular towards the school public. But more often than not, due to a lack of long-term reflection, and above all ignorance of the case, unsuitable decisions are taken which are detrimental to the efforts made by the organisers.
Prints (uncensored) signed Jim are waiting for you at the festival
Photo : DR
“Finally, this affair, this “buzz”, continues Alain Ledoux, will have made the Festival gain its identity and its letters of nobility and today its fame. Who would have thought that this wave of media, most of the time favorable to the imperatives and objectives of the Dieppe Festival, served us without our wanting it. As a friend pointed out to me this afternoon Philippe Morin who many of us know to be the founder of PLG: “- But how did you do it? You have now exceeded the audience and notoriety of the Angoulême International Comics Festival in one week! to which I replied: “- Well, Philippe, we had nothing to do with it!” »
While waiting to go to the Festival between July 22 and 23, we can contribute to its Ulule kitty, just to bail it out a little.
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#quarter #hour #celebrity #Dieppe #Festival #including #ActuaBD
