The French Review

Abstract:

Through her comic strips, Claire Bretécher narrated French sociocultural changes from the 1960s to the 1980s. In particular, she focused on the role of women, overturning the traditional portraits of marriage and maternity that women's magazines perpetuated. Bretécher's approach mirrors that of Roland Barthes in Mythologies, since they both aim to unveil the fictitiousness of consumer society, starting from its linguistic component. Her humor is grounded in language. Bretécher creates a distinctive style that borrows the idiolects of feminist, Marxist, and leftist movements. In doing so, she invites her reader to reflect, while laughing, on the "mythological" essence of contemporary society.