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September 11, 2001 has become a generation’s
John F Kennedy moment. Where you were, what you
were doing on the day of the horrific attack on the
Twin Towers is etched on each of our memories as
keenly as the president’s assassination was
on those of the previous generation.
Newspaper cartoons may not seem the most
appropriate medium to relate the narrative of the
past few years, but a new collection published by
Globe Cartoon in Geneva may make you think
again.
Another World
In collaboration with the American newspaper,
Chappatte is now publishing a selection of his
cartoons that have appeared in the IHT over the
last four years. Funny, sad, intelligent and
thought provoking, they make up a fascinating
chronicle of a period that has changed the planet,
transforming it into another world.
The cartoons in ‘Another World’ start
from a few months before the attack on the World
Trade Centre when the IHT hired Chappatte to
provide them with a non-American view on world
events. These early drawings show an interest in a
wide range of people and issues. From the newly
elected President Bush to the economy to the
environment and the Kyoto Protocol. Then came
September 11& a prism which shapes all his
subsequent works.
Chappatte says the day itself generated some of the
worst cartoons ever produced as artists, like
everybody else, attempted to grapple with the scale
of the atrocity. “You can try to illustrate
grief but no-one could ever be up to the grief of
that day,” he says.
On September 12, dozens of drawings showed the
Statue of Liberty in tears. Chappatte himself
produced an ambiguous work that depicted the Statue
shrouded in smoke but he has not included it in the
book. It was, he says, his toughest assignment and
one that was perhaps impossible to fulfil. “The
attack was a real personal shock to me. I’d
lived in the neighbourhood of the Towers for three
years, within four blocks of them, and one of my
children was born in New York.”
Looking at the cartoons that Chappatte produced in
the days following September 11 make it clear that
the world was entering a dangerous era. One shows
huge American missiles aimed at a knife-wielding
terrorist – underlining the inequality of the
battle to come but also the vulnerability of the US
despite its military might. Later drawings show the
war against the Taleban, the widening transatlantic
divide and the inexorable build-up to the invasion
of Iraq. Other events of the past four years, such
as corporate accounting scandals, also receive
attention.
President Bush
Chappatte agrees that President Bush is the
undoubted star of the book, providing a rich source
of material even for those who may disagree with
his politics. “It’s true that Bush is a
dream come true for a cartoonist — and not
only him but the guys around him. Bush is a
caricature of himself sometimes.”
However, writing for a largely American audience
makes Chappatte’s task more interesting as he
has to be a little more inventive in depicting the
President. “With Europeans you can really
push the limits against Bush but for an American
audience you have to find the real core of the
issue, not just attack Bush as stupid. You won’t
find any cartoons of Bush in a cowboy hat in my
book.”
Chappatte is clearly no admirer of George W Bush
but realises the limitations of a cartoonist such
as himself. He does not expect to bring Bush down
through satire or even alter people’s views
of the President. He says cartoonists reflect
public perception rather than change it. “A
fool never toppled a King,” he says.
Chappatte is certainly no rabid anti-American
either, but rather an admirer of many US
institutions. He regrets the growing
misunderstandings between Europe and the US. “The
more the US goes it alone, the more the US and
Europe need bridges. We need to understand how they
think and they need the same exchange.”
What Next?
Chappatte wants to go on providing this conduit and
explains that his cartoons are a cure both for his
audience and himself. “It’s therapy. It
does you an enormous amount of good to be able to
translate into a cartoon all these emotions you
take in through the TV or other media.”
As Serge Schmemann, the editor of the IHT’s
editorial pages writes in the foreword to ‘Another
World’, “Chappatte’s goal isn’t
always to make you slap your knee, he may even make
you sad sometimes but he can help you move on and
leave you a little wiser – after all the
healing power of laughter is legendary.”
‘ Another World’ is published by Globe Cartoon, Geneva.
It costs 14.95 and is available through the website
of the International Herald Tribune,
www.globecartoon.com/shop.
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