Power of cartoons and comics

 

There is an old saying from the ancient age, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. An Egyptian news company added there a very smart and admirable supplement: “cartoons for cartoons.”

 

In “Egypt paper launches campaign against Prophet Muhammad cartoons” Naglaa El-Emary of BBC Arabic reports that an Egyptian popular daily newspaper, Al-Watan has started the protest campaign against improper cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in the French magazine, Charlie Hebdo. To show the disagreement with the French cartoons, Al-Watan devotes a twelve page section which consists of several writings of famous experts and thirteen cartoons under the catchword, “Fight cartoons with cartoons”. The readers of Al-Watan, which has a critical viewpoint on the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, the political party to which the Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi belongs, welcome the campaign because of its rational and appropriate way to state the objection.

 

I was impressed very much by the smart and humorous method of the Egyptian newspaper had chosen to state their disagreement with the French cartoons. I also got information, what the Egyptian people think about the U.S. and other Western countries attitude to the Islamic world. As we are learning now in our class, to understand values, languages, and customs of other countries is not an easy thing. Especially, to deal with other’s religions and values related to a religion is a very difficult and sensitive matter. If treated carelessly, it can cause the serious sequences, as we experienced lately and are experiencing now. Instead of stating their protest by demonstrating or violating, Al-Watan showed us the possibility of mutual understanding of sensitive matters in humorous way. It also showed the power of cartoons, which makes us laugh or grin even in the difficult circumstances.

 

I like cartoons which satirize government, politicians and others in power. In the Japanese newspaper which I subscribe, there is a satirical cartoon every Sunday. I enjoy reading it and always grin at it. When I strongly disagree with government’s policy, and feel furious or pessimistic, the cartoon which satirizes it makes me laugh and feel better. I’ve heard that the best way to protest dictators and his despotism is to ridicule them. For example, Russia is famous for numerous splendid jokes about its soviet leaders. Compare to jokes, the advantage of cartoons is that people understand them in one glance, and usually without captions written in a foreign language.

 

Comics also have such advantages. Even foreign comic book can attract people by the pictures, make people curious what the story is about, and encourage them to translate into own languages. I was surprised to know that many Japanese comics have translated into Thai and accepted by Thai people. I’m very pleased about that, because I can share my feelings and impressions about comics with Thai readers. I also enjoy reading the strip cartoon drawn by Thai cartoonist, Wisut “Tum” Ponnimit in one of the Japanese information magazines published in Bangkok. I like its warm atmosphere and enjoy knowing about daily life in Thailand through it. I think reading cartoons and comics is a good way to know the ways of thinking, life styles, and even some values of others, which leads to the mutual understanding.

 

   

 

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Reference
 Naglaa El-Emary  Egypt paper launches campaign against Prophet Muhammad carrtoons(2012,September, 25) BBC News Middle East. Retrieved October 2, 2012
from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19721654