Oldal 292 [292]
OCR
From Allies to Enemies: The Two Balkan Wars (1912-1913) in Caricatures Summing up the findings of the paper, we can conclude that despite the different political attitudes, some long-standing symbols appeared in a number of satirical magazines: the Balkan nations as children, the angel of peace, the skeleton, animals, “the sick man of Europe,” and the great powers. The symbols of territorial losses were depicted most directly in the Serbian satirical magazine; while the losing or gaining of territories was depicted in the Serbian and Hungarian magazines (however, in the pictures of Borsszem Janké reprinted from western European magazines, one cannot find these motifs). The maps and the motif of cutting off body parts are missing from the western European papers, but the European powers and the allegory of Europe appear more often in their caricatures. To return to the questions asked in the introduction, independently of the changes of enemies, the symbols of territory loss and those of the enemy were similar, although one can find one motif, the image of cutting body parts from the king, which was typically used in reference to Bulgaria in Vrac Pogadac. As is visible in his portraits as well as in caricatures, King Ferdinand had a long nose, which offered a natural target for mocking. The change of the enemy did not mean a change in its visual representation, and the political orientation of the satirical papers did not have an effect on the use of emblems either, only the targets of their irony and mockery were different. In order to create an understandable caricature that the reader could decode quickly, caricaturists employed well-known symbols to the topic of the Balkan wars too, but the emphases were, naturally, different. While the Balkan magazines depicted the struggles for independence and territories, the Hungarian and western European magazines focused on their contempt toward the Balkan states and their goals. The Hungarian fears about Serbian goals also played a part in making fun of the Other, but this was not the only way of Othering. The juxtaposing of animals and humans expressed Otherness in a stinging way, thus, all of the satirical papers used it. One’s own group appeared as human, while the others, as the animals with negative associations (pigs, toads, rats, or monkeys, etc.). Similar juxtapositions are the sick, dying enemy with grave injuries versus the very much alive own group, or the killing of the enemy versus the peacefully observing European powers. An expressive way of Othering in the caricatures of western European and Hungarian satirical papers was the depiction of one’s group as adults versus the Balkan nations as children. Finally, another means of depicting the enemy differently from one’s group was the representation of its supposed negative characteristics: physical appearance (for example, a gaunt Turk or Austrian versus a strong Serb in Vrac Pogadac; the mean-faced and barbaric Nikita versus the strong and civilized Ferdinand in Borsszem Janké) or other negative characteristics (the poverty and barbarism of the Montenegrins in Der Floh or in Borsszem Jankó). 289
