I was 12 when I was introduced to my first Asterix comic book. I was quarantined in an infirmary at a run-down summer sleep-away camp called Camp Wayne in Pennsylvania. I think I had the flu.
If you’re not familiar with the comics, here's a quick primer. Asterix is a French comic book series made by Bandes dessinées, the same people who made Tin Tin and The Smurfs. Asterix comics began in 1959, and were written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo. As of now, there are 40 issues, the first half of which were done by the original duo.
Asterix Conquers America was directed by Gerhard Hahn, and is but one of many movies and TV shows made from the printed series. There have even been several live-action movies, some of them starring Gérard Depardieu as Asterix’s comic sidekick Obelix. I tried to sit through one, but couldn’t.
Every Asterix comic, and possibly every movie, begins with the same introduction, “The year is 50 BC. Gaul is entirely occupied by the Romans. Well, not entirely... One small village of indomitable Gauls still holds out against the invaders. And life is not easy for the Roman legionaries who garrison the fortified camps of Totorum, Aquarium, Laudanum, and Compendium..”
The humor used in Asterix comics is kinda nerdy, if what you mean by "nerdy" is a person who knows a bit about ancient history and is somewhat familiar with ancient Latin. I still remember one of my favorite jokes in the series was when a drunk Roman centurion stumbled off into the night conjugating the Latin word for “this”, which happens to be onomatopoetic, “Hic! Haec! Huius!” I hardly remember any of the Latin I learned in junior high, but I remember how to conjugate “this” because of René Goscinny.
The 1994 movie Asterix Conquers America is based on the original 1977 comic Asterix and the Great Crossing. The film was made in Germany and marketed all over Europe. Asterix has always been an international affair. The books have been translated into more than 100 languages, including Latin.
I was all set for a nostalgic trip down comic book lane, but holy shit, I had forgotten about all the racism. Even for 1994, Asterix comics are pretty shocking when it comes to the depiction of non-whites. Below is a still from when Asterix, and his best buddy Obelix, run into a bunch of pirates. It’s a running gag. Throughout the series, our boys keep running across a motley crew of big, tough pirates who try to rob them, but Asterix and Obelix always pulverize them all with their potion-infused fists.
You’ll note the big, red “sambo” lips which grace not only this particular black pirate, but all the black characters in the series. Next to him is a squinty-eyed, bucktoothed man from China. In other frames, you can see his cue. It’s bad, but it’s nothing compared to when they get to America and meet the “Indians". Let's start with some stills.
Asterix and Obelix are thrown off course and end up in the world where they meet (brace yourself) The Mucky Foot Indians, who speak in nonsensical streams of Indian words, like in this quote from the chief: “Oskaloosa, Chattanooga, Winnipego, Pensacola, Niagara, Manitoba!” Every now and then, they throw in a few other words like, “Enchilada", "Hashish", and "Mea Culpa". The “squaws” (yes, they used that term) all have big, round boobs and wasp waists. The one who falls in love with Obelix is named Minihooha.
There was, at least, a tiny effort made to offset the egregious stereotypes. The Indians come to accept Asterix and Obelix once the duo shows that they can beat up the biggest, strongest Indian in the tribe. As a result, they all dance around the campfire singing, “Ayayooo oolayah, we are one people, and we like you, we are one tribe.” It is one of three musical numbers we must suffer through in the film.
Asterix Conquers America is heavily influenced by Disney. The tropes are similar. There’s a funny, fat Indian and sexy female Indian, and an evil Indian with a big hook nose, all Disney standards. At least, like Disney, the animation is good. Not quite up to Disney standards, but somewhere close. Disney now owns the film. They inherited it when they bought Twentieth Century Fox, who bought the film from Jugendfilm, or something like that.
While I was watching, I recognized Asterix’s voice, but I couldn’t place it. It was so familiar and I just couldn’t remember where I had heard it. He had a thick Liverpudlian accent, and then it finally clicked. It was none other than Craig Charlesstar of the hit British sitcom Red Dwarf. After this realization, it was hard to get the image of David Lister from eclipsing little Asterix.
The appeal of the Asterix series, at least for me, is the characters. After reading a few issues, you get to know all the Gauls in the village, and just as in any genre film, you come to expect certain things to happen. “Oh no! Fulliautomatix the blacksmith has insulted the freshness of Unhygienix’s fish again, there’s gonna be a fight!”
The racist stereotyping is in almost all their journeys. When they go to Corsica, everyone has greasy hair, knives, and is concerned about people looking at their sister. There is no excuse for any of it, but when I was 12, it was a funny and familiar place where I could escape the grim misery of summer camp quarantine.
