“We are in 50 BC. All of Gaul is occupied by the Romans… All of it? No ! A village populated by die-hard Gau…” Well, we’re not going to recite the whole intro, because in 2023 AD, everyone knows Asterix and Obelix by heart… By heart? No ! A whole irreducible part of the adventures still resists the attention of readers: the economix.
And yet, it is omnipresent in the albums of our two favorite mustachioed people, in a more or less subtle way. Impact of globalization in many albums, criticism of bureaucracy in ancient factories, representation of slave unions, Roman empire representing the market economy against the self-managed Gallic village with only two truly established workers (Ordralfabetix the fishmonger and Cétotaumatix the blacksmith), who also spend their time arguing and getting on each other.
“Asterix and Obelix is no more an economics course than a history course”
A theme that is more present than one might think and which La Cité de l’Économie in Paris wanted to highlight in a dedicated temporary exhibition, starting this Saturday, October 21. As with the humor of the comic strip, where the child laughs at the Romans who flutter under Obelix’s blows while the adult laughs at the hidden word games and the parallels with modern society, there are again several levels reading. For kids, interactive games, the search for the trace of Dogmatix and the most basic notions of economics, for adults, more detailed explanatory sheets on how the times worked.
Be careful, however, not to attribute to the boards, which are sufficiently brilliant as they are, virtues that they do not have. “Asterix and Obelix is no more an economics course than a history course,” warns Didier Pasamonik, comic strip historian and one of the exhibition supervisors. But a parody. » It is therefore not by rereading the albums – nor by visiting this exhibition – that you will understand the invisible hand of Adam Smiththat you will relive the ideological battle of the century between John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek or that you will know how to differentiate deflation and disinflation.
The economy, central theme of three albums
Just some nice witticisms at the heart of the comic strip, laughs Didier Pasamonik. For example, those most Jean-Michel-Relou-Realism-Historical will note that Ordralfabétix sells fresh fish in sesterces, an anachrony since Roman currency will not be universalized in Gaul until two centuries after the adventures of Asterix. But what matters above all is “that he tries to sell ”fresh” fish from Lutèce because it sounds more chic coming from the capital while he lives a few kilometers from the Breton sea. It seems like he didn’t yet know about short circuits. » Little subtleties like that, the albums contain plenty of them: “In Obelix and company, Rome financed the purchase of Gallic menhirs, creating a speculative bubble which eventually exploded and devalued the price of their currency. »
The most astute fans know that three albums make the economy an almost central theme of the storyline. Obelix and company therefore, where Caius Saugrenus tries to corrupt the Gauls by buying their menhirs to create divisions in the village. But also Asterix and the Cauldron, when the hero is tasked with guarding – then repaying – a cauldron full of money to pay off a debt. And finally, one of the best known, Asterix and the Domain of the Godswhere Rome built a modern city on the edge of the village to annex it culturally.
Down with the big capitalix?
You will notice that each time, the market economy is represented by the Romans, and used as a weapon to defeat the Gauls and bring down the village of diehards. Asterix and Obelix would it be an anticapitalix work? “I don’t think that the comic strip has such a clear-cut opinion on the question,” says Christian Chavagneux, economist referent for the exhibition. Uderzo and Goscinny have an ironic and critical look at their contemporary society, therefore in the 1960s and 1970s, which means that the albums are naturally critical of the capitalism in place at the time. »
If the expert recognizes that the authors are certainly quite critical of progress, “and are not fans of the Trente Glorieuses”, he quickly qualifies. “For example in Asterix and the Cauldron, money not only constitutes a debt, but also creates social bonds, even bonds of honor and represents an institution… It’s rare to see a comic book tackle the question of money so subtly. Just as state interventionism is sometimes praised in certain albums, and criticized in others. »
This is the whole magic potion of Asterix’s success: several levels of reading, and several points of view with it. “The aim of this exhibition is not to give a monolithic vision,” maintains Christian Chavagneux. If visitors leave saying that for each economic subject, Asterix and society offer several points of view, it is a successful exhibition. »