There have been quite a few cartoons on Greece and the European debt crisis over the last weeks. I felt a bit indifferent about the whole thing until I recognized how people, especially Greeks and Germans, get pulled into amazingly stupid and nationalist patterns of thought. German media, among them influential magazine Der Stern have published polemic articles about how we Germans have stuffed money into that society of corrupt and, above all, ungrateful crooks. So much for our idiots. Their idiots in turn called for a boycott on German products and pointed to the fact that Nazis should think twice before calling somebody else a crook.
While toonpool.com’s artists fortunately avoided the “society of crooks” and “Nazi” stereotypes there are some cartoons that are uncomfortably aggressive toward Greece (1, 2). There are none explicitly putting the blame on Germany, there is at least one that fiercely attacks the EU (1). Since cartoons generally rely on stereotypes in order make their jokes understandable quickly, looking at them is a good opportunity to find out about stereotypes held about a particular country. In this case, Greece can clearly be summarized as antiquity (1,2,3)+ food and tourism (1,2,3) + Greek Riverdance (1). And there are two cartoons that make use of the century-old “Greeks suck at winter sports” cliché (1,2).
I guess that the two cartoons about greek vase paintings (1,2) fall into the antiquity category, but please note how they refer to different painting techniques. While Slovakian artist Tinotoons is citing the older Black-figure pottery, Christo Komarnitski from Bulgaria, preferred the subsequent Red-figure pottery to make his statement. I am sure that their individual reasons will fit into national stereotypes about Slovaks and Bulgarians respectively.
Introducing…
Toni Malakian is from Jakarta. He has a way with watercolors, which is quite refreshing in this world of digital art. For reasons unknown to me, he also seems to have a thing for great Romanian personalities. I especially liked his portraits of poet Nichita Stănescu, philosopher Petre Ţuţea and playwright Eugène Ionescu. While I think that watercolors are more interesting, Toni also knows how to use a pen: check out these caricatures of Iranian cartoonist Hadi Heidari, China’s Hu Jintao, and Indonesian comedian Pepeng Soebardi.
Cartoons of Interest
This cartoon by German artist Polo made me laugh out loud (“LOL”). It is called “Stevie Wonder Dials the Wrong Number”. Now imagine Stevie. Here’s the official music video . I had totally forgotten just how annoying that song was. .. and if anyone can explain the point of the video effects, please do so.
I would also like to point out this stunning caricature of the new coach of Turkey’s national football team. He sure looks like an evil dwarf. And his skin looks as if he really likes red wine or booze in general.
Finally, here’s a new take on what must be the most frequently cartoonized painting ever. While you are at it check out all the other versions as well.
Paul Hellmich with some assistance by Earldonsax
© toonpool.comTags: Germany, Greece, last week, letzte woche
