IMAGES OF ME AND THE OTHER (FOREIGNER) IN ASTERIX

Abstract

Asterix, the main hero in the well-known French cartoon by Goscinny and Uderzo, together with Obelix, Paronamix, Ideiafix and the other protagonists, may be considered the representatives of discursive-identitarian French-ness. Power relationships and projections of Gaulist images (‘me’) and, by extension, the French, may be perceived through verbal enunciations and image representations of this specific cartoon; likewise, the Romans and, by extension, the non-French (the other, the foreigner). Based on French Discourse Analysis, current paper analyzes the imaginary representations of the ‘me’ and the ‘other’ in the Asterix cartoon. The positiveness of the image of the ME, as the Gauls (or French), and the negativeness of the image of the OTHER, as the Romans (or foreigners) are underscored.