From resistance to reconciliation and back again
A semiotic analysis of the Charlie Hebdo cover following the January 2015 events
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10739722 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ran Keren (0000-0001-9326-3552, Northeastern University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 2018 |
| Issue | 225 |
| Pages | 269-292 |
| Publication date | 2018-11-06 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Semiotica (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0037-1998 • E-ISSN: 1613-3692 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/sem-2015-0128 |
| OpenAlex | W2893109214 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 8 |
The Charlie Hebdo magazine’s 1178 edition was published following the deadly attack against the magazine’s cartoonists on 7 January 2015. The cover portrays the prophet Muhammad holding a sign with the phrase Je Suis Charlie (“I am Charlie”), titled with the phrase tout est pardonne (“all is forgiven”). This paper utilizes two levels of semiotic analyses. The first applies a direct, first level, semiotic reading while the second applies Roland Barthes’ idea of “Myth.” The analyses identify the tension between resistance and reconciliation as a key dialectical axis that drives the interpretive process. Tensions between East-West, religious-secular, natives-immigrants, and Islam-Christianity are all invoked by this cover, generating an extraordinary example of the complexity that cartoons are able to carry out as a form of intertwining semiotic systems. The first level of analysis finds an appropriation of Muhammad’s image in order to deliver messages of reconciliation and solidarity. The second level of analysis – a reading of the cover through Barth’s “Myth” – finds instead a Christian martyr, a Jesus image, replacing Muhammad and functioning as a divisive force that feeds the discourse of cultural clash
Art · Linguistics · Literature · Media studies · Mythology · Politics · Resistance (ecology) · Semiotics · Sensibility · Sociology · Solidarity · Comics and Graphic Narratives · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · History · Law · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |