“French Inventions and the Future of Comics”
The French have sometimes surprised—and, in many ways, protected—the world.
That is how I see it.
More precisely, France has created inventions that both preserve the world and help build new ones.
For example, modern democracy.
Around the 19th century, France added an artistic sensibility and interpretive depth to gastronomy, and applied scientific language and methodology to systematize taste and cuisine.
In doing so, it “invented” gastronomy.
Humanity’s exploration of cooking and taste became something entirely different, transforming global food culture.
In the 1970s, this evolved further into La Nouvelle Cuisine, bringing another revolution to food culture and contributing to the global status of Japanese cuisine today.
In that sense, French culinary movements played a major role in advancing world food culture.
And through this, France demonstrated a deeper truth: the greatest achievement of culture is to elevate culture itself.
In the 1950s, Cahiers du Cinéma “invented” the concept of auteur theory(politique des auteurs)
in cinema—defining the true author of a film not as the studio, but as the director.
It also established the idea that cinema should embody the director’s spirit and vision.
This extraordinary theory transformed film as an art form and helped cinema become one of humanity’s great artistic legacies.
And what is even more remarkable begins now—and perhaps I am the only one who has realized this so far.
This may be a historic moment that others will come to understand.
The 1950s declaration by Cahiers du Cinéma—that “the studio is not the owner of art; the artist is”—destroyed the Hollywood studio system.
However, the American comics industry did not adopt this idea and still maintained its studio-like system.
In other words, it did not fully embrace auteur theory.
As a result, comic artists in North America had to seek auteur-driven expression through the graphic novels.
Meanwhile, in Asia, one country undergoing a major transformation in its comic industry embraced auteur theory.
The idea that the comic artist is the true author of the work—and should be treated accordingly in terms of respect, copyright, and royalties—was accepted.
As a result, that country’s comics industry flourished and evolved into one of the strongest and most artistically significant in the world: THE JAPANESE MANGA INDUSDTRY.
In contrast, the Korean manhwa industry was trapped within a system of comic book rental shops, a factory-style comic productions, and monopolistic publishers.
This structure persisted until the mid-1980s, when, starting in 1988, it began to adopt an auteur-based system.
In general terms, Korean manhwa history refers to this as the “Japanese-style magazine system,” which is essentially an auteur theory system.
It was in that environment that I debuted as a manga artist in 1993.
France’s influence on the manga and comics industry—and on my own life—does not end there.
France’s great inventions affected East Asian comics in two major ways.
One is the auteur theory I have already mentioned.
And the other is France’s unique system of state support for artists—the idea that government should protect and sustain artistic creation.
In the 1990s, two streams of French influence reached South Korea.
First, Korean cinephiles who had studied film at French cultural institutes became the core of film criticism, education, and journalism.
In 1994, they answered the Korean government’s question—“What should we do?”—with a simple response: “Support like France.”
Second, Korean comic professionals who had studied in Europe introduced French ideas about comics as an art form and systems for supporting comic artists.
Even during the period when Korea began supporting film through government policy, manhwa continued to face suppression.
For most of its history, Korean manhwa were not supported but rather restricted.
Even in the late 1990s, when France-inspired support systems began to appear, suppression still continued. In March 2001, early digital comics services were heavily restricted, and later webtoon initiatives also faced opposition.
Nevertheless, France’s approach to supporting artists and treating comics as an art form had a significant impact on Korea.
Many Korean cultural support systems are fundamentally rooted in the French model.
Korea later developed these systems further and has now become a reference model for government-supported comics industries in Japan and around the world.
This is why I said that French inventions sometimes protect the world.
Recently, I have been developing a concept I call “Auteur Theory 2.0.”
It is an attempt to slightly transform France’s great invention in order to preserve not only comics, but artistic creation across humanity.
This vision goes beyond the global growth of the comics industry.
It is a far larger goal.
The idea is to use the comics industry itself as a basecamp for preserving artistic expression in human civilization.
I have even named this plan:
“The Foundation Project.”
It is, in essence, a proposal to once again use France’s invention—this time to help protect the world.
David Alegría Palacios luego de mandarle una carta notarial a @ocram amenazándolo para que retire un video que él no subió y del que ya nadie se acordaba.
@otaku2780@DC14peru@RonaldCrossPeru Es más complejo que solo limpieza de cauces y tener maquinaria parqueada. De hecho que la idea era lo que se iba a hacer por Reconstrucción con cambios, pero no se puso a las personas adecuadas ni se hizo a mediano plazo la infraestructura resiliente que necesitamos
El mejor resultado posible: los europeos ya están traduciendo las frases de Alfaro, van a pensar que es Voltaire y lo van a llevar de DT. En dos meses lo tenés dirigiendo al Chelsea.
🚨 Lionel Scaloni:
"Now, the real business starts...
"On Cape Verde, I’m not surprised they qualified. They made things very difficult for every opponent they faced. They are a tough team and they’ll make life difficult for us. They frustrated Spain, one of the tournament favorites. Uruguay couldn’t beat them, and neither could Saudi Arabia. Based on everything we’ve seen at this World Cup, we have to be very careful. They play good football, they have quality, they’re fast, and they’ll make things difficult for us.”
“I feel exactly the same as I did on my first day. Before every game, whether it’s a friendly or a World Cup final, you always feel something in your stomach. The coaching staff always says there are no easy matches. The day we stop feeling that will be a problem.”
"We can’t get carried away. We have to keep playing the same way and always give our maximum. This shirt demands that. It means performing, trying to play our best football, and always trying to win. That’s the mentality this team has. As long as I’m the coach, that’s how it’ll be. Argentine players have always respected this shirt, and all I ask is that they keep showing that on the pitch.”
España es hija única, no entiende que los hermanos Sudamericanos nos tratamos justamente como hermanos, peleamos entre nosotros pero contra los de afuera nos bancamos
Bravo Paraguay. Sin plan 2092 y con solo 2/11 titulares en Europa. Les chupo un huevo tener a Alemania enfrente. A puro fútbol y garra. 0 respeto.
Japón tiene mucho que aprender. No hay excusas. Con discursos conformistas no se llega a la gloria.