My Blog List

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Drawing upon humor for a change

This speech is about a cartoonist named Liza Donnelly who thinks that humor is a good way to change things, and she says that women are the ones who can make the society evolved because they can bring “a different voice to the table”, thanks to their knowledge of traditions. So she started drawing to think about society, and then she realized that she could try to make other people thinking about all the rules without sense that we’re following. In this perspective, she decided to work with women from a lot of different countries who also draw, to get their voices heard.
Consequently, the central idea of this speech is the power of the association between women and humor, in order to change some injustices or stupid rules.


I think Liza Donnelly is right, humor does change things. I think it’s easier to pass an idea with a funny cartoon than telling that directly. It can make people think about an injustice that they didn’t know while they’re simply reading a comic strip, and so the message they receive is softer than information given by a journalist who speak with difficult and very specific words. In many countries, we can see cartoons or caricatures in the news papers which catch our intention more than a long article and resume some situations in a funny way.  For example, since many years, Charb is drawing some satiric and teasing cartoons to illustrate the “Charlie Hebdo” news paper, who contribute to the success of this one.

Charb's illustration

Plus, the fact that women express theirself with this type of illustration is very important because they have a different look on what happens in today’s society. So, with their point of view, they can touch people  in a other way than men’s.


Finally, I agree with her about the idea that humor depend on one’s culture. Actually, humor is sometimes based on events that happened on a country. For example some French peoples may laugh at the Charb’s cartoon I put in my post because they understand the meaning of this, which is that some of us are waiting for 2012’s elections in order to change of government, but a foreign people may not understand the purpose if he doesn’t know that. That’s why I think that humor depend on the culture when it refers to a particular point.
On the other hand, humor is kinda universal. For example, Liza Donnelly’s cartoon makes me laughing, even if I’m not an American woman, and I think that even a guy could laugh. So, everybody can laugh at some jokes if they’re not referring to an un-universal reference. 

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Places to hang out in Grenoble

Cinema "La Nef"

I'm in Grenoble since the beginning of the school year, so I don’t know very well the city. But I can propose you at least one or two places where I like to go.

First, if you want to do shopping, you can go to the mall at Grand Place. This is next to Echirolles, and if you don’t have a car, you’ll have to take the tram A in direction of “Echirolles, Denis Papin” and get off at the tram stop called “Grand Place”. In this place, there are many clothing store, and also some places where you can eat, like Mac Donald or a little restaurant in the mall’s center. Plus, there is a library, called Kateb Yacine, where you can borrow books, DVDs, CDs, and also art paintings.

Then, if you want to have a drink with some friends, I advise you to go to the “London pub”, which is my favorite bar in Grenoble. I really like this place because there is a friendly atmosphere, waiters are nice, there are many foreigners students who come in this pub so you can hear many language, which is kinda funny, it’s well decorated and they play good music (in my opinion…). Or, if you like beer, there is a pub called “Les frères Berthom”, in the city center, where you can try many different kinds of beer. This pub is really cool, the decoration is great (there is a tree inside!), and the music is super too.

Finally, if you want to see a movie, you can go at "La nef", a great cinema close to Victor Hugo's parc, where movies are in original version with subtitles. This cinema is easy to recognize, it's the one with Woody Allen, Charlie Chaplin or Alfred Hitchcock drawn on the front.

I hope I helped you, and I’m sorry if it’s not really original…! Have a nice time in Grenoble !