Fred in Wonderland: Carrollian Nonsense Effects in Philémon
- Submitting institution
-
Manchester Metropolitan University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 120007
- Type
- D - Journal article
- DOI
-
10.1111/jpcu.12225
- Title of journal
- The Journal of Popular Culture
- Article number
- -
- First page
- 898
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 5
- ISSN
- 0022-3840
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- March
- Year of publication
- 2015
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
0
- Research group(s)
-
E - Media
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This article introduces anglophones to a French artist who draws under the pseudonym Fred and who is best known for the series Philémon. The article was selected for publication in Early View by the American Journal of Popular Culture. Fred is a household name in France and numerous francophone critics (e.g. Fresnault-Deruelle) have commented on the similarities between Fred and Lewis Carroll. However, such critics deal exclusively with the verbal aspects of the cartoon strip. This article breaks new ground by examining connections between Fred and Lewis Carroll more closely than has been attempted hitherto, examining a device peculiar to comic strips – sequenced panels. The analysis, drawing on scholarly works about Carroll and on comics, establishes that Fred’s images, like Carroll’s characters’ nonsensical arguments, are carefully constructed. However, as with Carroll, this article argues that excessive literalism subverts the form, thereby making whatever is proposed appear ludicrous. The analysis presented proves that Fred achieves such nonsense effects visually. For example, characters step outside panels rather than being held within frames, reminding us that they are literally only drawings wherever they may appear on the page. Moreover scenes do not stop at panel edges, they extend into adjacent pictures, as though they literally existed with reality not being divided into panels. Yet paradoxically Fred, like Carroll, ultimately upholds the rule of law, by drawing attention to the rules he flouts. With both creators, the chapter argues that the myriad infringements are brazen but ephemeral. The article ends with a discussion of how Fred’s innovations with nonsense has influenced later artists.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -