Bête et méchant: Politics, Editorial Cartoons and Bande dessinée in the French Satirical Newspaper Charlie hebdo Jane Weston Abstract The weekly French satirical newspaper, Charlie hebdo, which originally ran from 1969 to 1982, pending a revival in 1992, distinguishes itself through its bête et méchant [‘stupid and nasty’] humorous heritage, defined in its parent publication, Hara-Kiri, as the freedom to make jokes on potentially any subject, however taboo. Whilst this satirical ethos predominated in Charlie hebdo up to 1982, its enduring place in the publication has become more ambiguous since 1992, with the abrupt sacking of Siné in July 2008 seemingly belying its vigorous defence of provocative humour in the context of the 2006 Danish caricature affair. An important underlying continuity nonetheless remains in Charlie hebdo and transcends the bête et méchant project: that of negotiating a space for satirical expression that has continuously engaged with both elements of bande dessinée and the rich French tradition of polemical editorial cartooning and caricature. Single-panelled editorial cartooning,1 bande dessinée,2 and hybridisations of the two have always coexisted in the French satirical newspaper Charlie hebdo [‘Charlie Weekly’], both within its original format, which ran from 1969 to 1982, and since its revival in 1992. One of the most important specificities of this satirical weekly publication within the French humorous press is its association with bête et méchant [‘stupid and nasty’] humour, the provocative satirical brand of the group of humorists and cartoonists who first conceived of the term in the early 1960s in the context of the monthly satirical magazine Hara-Kiri.3 Bête et méchant humour favoured scatology, sexually explicit material and black humour in general. A key early example of such spirit was a parodical, but genuine advertisement that appeared in Hara-Kiri mensuel in December 1 Editorial cartoons are defined for these purposes as single-framed cartoons intended to provide some kind of commentary on real-life events. 2 Bande dessinée is defined here as extended, multi-panelled word-image narrative on a wide variety of subject matter, fictional or otherwise. 3 The magazine first appeared in September 1960 as a ‘mensuel satirique’, changing to ‘mensuel bête et méchant’ in May 1961. European Comic Art 2.1 ISSN 1754-3797 (print) 1754-3800 (online) © Liverpool University Press 110 jane weston 1964 for Renoma, a Parisian tailor, which claimed that the shop had been a former favourite of Hitler, who had bought all his favourite suits there. Whilst this piece provoked violent protests by Jewish deportee groups, the journal’s founder François Cavanna situates such humour within a serious justification of the group’s ethos as a determinedly de-sacralising force: Rien n’est sacré. Principe numéro un. Pas même ta propre mère, pas les martyrs juifs, pas même ceux qui crèvent de faim… Rire de tout, de tout, férocement, amère- ment, pour exorciser les vieux monstres. C’est leur faire trop d’honneur que de ne les aborder qu’avec la mine compassée. C’est justement du pire qu’il faut rire le plus fort, c’est là où ça te fait le plus mal que tu dois gratter au sang. [‘Nothing is sacred. Principle number one. Not even your own mother, not the Jewish martyrs, not even people starving of hunger… Laugh at everything, ferociously, bitterly, to exorcise the old monsters. It would pay them too much respect only to approach them with a straight face. It’s exactly about the worst things that you should laugh the loudest, it’s where it hurts the most that you should scratch until it bleeds.’]4 Defined as the freedom to laugh about potentially any subject, however taboo or sensitive, bête et méchant humour was adopted from Hara-Kiri and predomi- nant in the original Charlie hebdo up to 1982. In contrast, only an ever-dimin- ishing echo of it has persisted since 1992, although it undeniably remains, as a central tenet of Charlie hebdo’s original spirit, a key reference point in debates surrounding the publication’s current satirical tone. Over the past 15 years, the ongoing importance of bête et méchant humour in relation to Charlie hebdo has been illustrated by the growing sense of betrayal expressed by a signifi- cant portion of its readership over its turn to an increasingly serious, and less juvenile, satire, under the strong and autocratic editorship of Philippe Val.5 Under Val, the defence of a serious set of values has indeed far more explicitly nourished the newspaper’s editorial line than was ever the case in the original Charlie hebdo. In certain contexts it has chosen to place such concerns above the perpetuation of bête et méchant humour, which tends to reject barriers to provocation and jealously protect the freedom of contributors to take risks in terms of their jokes, regardless of its potential to violate seriously held moral convictions. The sacking in July 2008 of the long-standing contributor Siné for his refusal to apologise for contributing jokes seen by some to leave the news- paper open to accusations of anti-Semitism illustrates how, at least in certain contexts, the original profoundly libertarian tenets of the newspaper now take 4 François Cavanna, Bête et méchant (Paris: Belfond, 1982), 233. 5 Present-day contributor Charb stated, in interview, about the ethos in the new Charlie hebdo: ‘Méchant peut-être, bête de moins en moins. La nouvelle formule de Charlie, c’est moins des gags ou des plaisanteries gratuites qu’avant […] c’est un peu plus prétentieux qu’avant, mais c’est aussi plus politique, comme orientation’ [‘Nasty, perhaps, but less and less stupid. The new formula at Charlie is fewer gratuitous gags and jokes than before […] it’s a little more pretentious before, but it’s also a more political orientation’]. Interview of 29 January 2004. Politics, Editorial Cartoons and Bande dessinée in Charlie hebdo 111 second place to editorial prudence, even at the cost of alienating a portion of its readership.6 An important counter-balance to such changes in the satirical ethos of Charlie hebdo is the extent to which there is still aesthetic continuity with the original publication. Beyond the presence of cartoonists from the original Charlie hebdo, this is because it continues to foster the cross-pollination of elements of bande dessinée and traditional editorial cartooning in its very distinctive house style. This has, to an extent, offset its now frequently lacklustre engagement with libertarian and provocative humour as a guarantor of continuity. It is, I shall argue, the principal reason why today’s Charlie hebdo is still readily identifi- able as a ‘spiritual’ successor to the original newspaper. It continues to engage with current affairs through various forms of cartoon art. In this analysis, I shall therefore examine the evolving role of bête et méchant humour in relation to Charlie hebdo and its predecessor, Hara-Kiri, situating such changes in the context of the ongoing opportunity it accords to its cartoonists: that of negoti- ating a space for satirical expression which has continuously engaged both with bande dessinée and a rich French tradition of editorial cartooning and caricature dating back to the nineteenth century. The ‘Original’ Charlie hebdo: 1969–1981 Charlie hebdo was first published under the name of Hara-Kiri hebdo in 1969, as a weekly supplement to the radically provocative satirical publication, Hara- Kiri, where bête et méchant was first created to label its satirical ethos. Hara-Kiri was founded in large part through the efforts of François Cavanna, its editor and major talent-spotter, and Georges Bernier, who was responsible for its sales and distribution and who later became one of its emblematic and anarchic bête et méchant humorists, under the pseudonym Le Professeur Choron. Cavanna’s editorship served to nourish bête et méchant humour in Hara-Kiri, due to his lucid instinct for how such humour could provide contributors and readers alike with a source of illicit, carnivalesque pleasure where painful subjects could be explored in a context of unusually high freedom from any imperatives to take them seriously.7 Humour generally taboo in the press, like jokes on the 6 In an article in Le Monde of 22 August 2008 (‘De quoi Siné est-il le nom?’ [‘Of what is Siné the Name?’]),Bernard-Henri Lévy presented Val’s decision as a response to a violation of the founding pact of Charlie hebdo. The existence of any such pact refers to the new version of Charlie hebdo rather than the original, which was never overtly explicit in terms of its prohibitions for humour: ‘Voilà un directeur – Philippe Val – qui rappelle au chroniqueur le pacte fondateur qu’est, pour Charlie hebdo, leur journal, le refus catégorique de toute forme d’antisémitisme ou de racisme et qui lui demande, en conséquence, de s’excuser ou de s’en aller’ [‘Here is a director – Philippe Val – who reminds this contributor of the founding pact which is, for Charlie hebdo, the categorical refusal of all forms of anti-Semitism or racism and which therefore asks him to apologise or to leave’]. 7 Cf. Cavanna’s autobiographical work, Bête et méchant. 112 jane weston military, death and sexuality were therefore a staple in the magazine.8 Hara-Kiri was above all created as a reaction against much of the popular humorous post-war French press, with newspapers such as Marius, Le Hérisson [‘The Hedgehog’] and L’Almanach Vermot being typical of the style rejected.9 Hara-Kiri sought to challenge thematic and aesthetic blandness with graphic images, drawing on scatological, sexually explicit material and elements of the grotesque. Its front cover photographs were exemplary in this respect, becoming increasingly shocking and facetious as the decade progressed.