Le printemps des arabes oder Der arabische Frühling aus der Sicht französischer Comicmacher

Abstract

The aim of the present essay is to examine Jean-Pierre Filiu’s und Cyrille Pomès’ Le printemps des arabes as an example of the trendy comic genre known as documentary graphic novel and to discuss how the Arab Spring is represented. My analysis shows that the authors succeed in presenting a differentiated picture of the events that underlines the diversity and complexity of the protests and riots in the individual countries of the MENA region. The authors are particularly concerned to recognize the merits of all those citizens who engaged in struggling against oppression and injustice. Apart from this homage to the (mostly nameless) heroes for freedom, the docufictional work aims to break the widely held stereotypes about the Arab world. The authors want to inform and instruct the reader but they do so without any schoolmasterly didacticism. By choosing a polylogical and polyphonic narrating technique, they allow the recipient to get a feel for the powerful and sometimes rather chaotic dynamics of the revolutionary mass movements. Despite an often decidedly ironic tone, Le printemps des arabes is free from categorical damnation and stimulates the reader to make his own opinion.