Chapter 8
Underwater Landscapes in Comic Books
Laurence Le Dû-Blayo
Abstract The perception of landscapes is expressed through practices and uses,
as well as through social and cultural representations. In the case of underwater
landscapes, this perception has a very specific history associated with the technical
developments of deep-sea diving and the exploration of the sea bed. This exploration,
which dates mainly from the 20th century, is a recent development in the history of
humanity, relayed in contemporary media, in particular the cinema and the comic
book. We discuss here the interplay between underwater landscapes and the comic
book, to put a new slant on the way our contemporaries view landscapes.
Keywords Comic book · Bande Dessinée · Cultural representations · Underwater
landscapes · Exploration
8.1 Introduction: Landscape and Representation
The debate on the concept of underwater landscape inevitably involves the representation of underwater landscapes because, for some authors, the existence of these
representations is a major argument for validating the perception of an environment as a landscape. This is the theory developed in particular by Augustin Berque,
who gradually drew up a list of criteria proving that feeling for landscape
1 really
does exist. According to the author, the first role of these criteria is to differentiate
societies according to their awareness or not of the landscape. Consequently they also
1 “In increasing order of discrimination: 1 literature (oral or written) celebrating the beauty of places;
which includes toponymy (e.g. French place names such as: Bellevue, Mirabeau, Beloeil etc.); 2
ornamental gardens, 3 architecture arranged to make the most of a beautiful view; 4 paintings
representing the environment, 5 one or more words to say “landscape”, 6 an explicit thought about
the landscape” Augustin Berque, 2013, an introductory conference to the international seminar
“landscape and imagination”, Paris, 2 May 2013.
L. Le Dû-Blayo ()
UMR CNRS ESO 6590, University Rennes 2,
place H. Le Moal, CS 24307, 35043 Rennes Cedex, France
e-mail: laurence.ledu@univ-rennes2.fr
O. Musard et al. (eds.), Underwater Seascapes, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-03440-9_8,
119
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
Underwater Landscapes in Comic Books
Laurence Le Dû-Blayo
Abstract The perception of landscapes is expressed through practices and uses,
as well as through social and cultural representations. In the case of underwater
landscapes, this perception has a very specific history associated with the technical
developments of deep-sea diving and the exploration of the sea bed. This exploration,
which dates mainly from the 20th century, is a recent development in the history of
humanity, relayed in contemporary media, in particular the cinema and the comic
book. We discuss here the interplay between underwater landscapes and the comic
book, to put a new slant on the way our contemporaries view landscapes.
Keywords Comic book · Bande Dessinée · Cultural representations · Underwater
landscapes · Exploration
8.1 Introduction: Landscape and Representation
The debate on the concept of underwater landscape inevitably involves the representation of underwater landscapes because, for some authors, the existence of these
representations is a major argument for validating the perception of an environment as a landscape. This is the theory developed in particular by Augustin Berque,
who gradually drew up a list of criteria proving that feeling for landscape
1 really
does exist. According to the author, the first role of these criteria is to differentiate
societies according to their awareness or not of the landscape. Consequently they also
1 “In increasing order of discrimination: 1 literature (oral or written) celebrating the beauty of places;
which includes toponymy (e.g. French place names such as: Bellevue, Mirabeau, Beloeil etc.); 2
ornamental gardens, 3 architecture arranged to make the most of a beautiful view; 4 paintings
representing the environment, 5 one or more words to say “landscape”, 6 an explicit thought about
the landscape” Augustin Berque, 2013, an introductory conference to the international seminar
“landscape and imagination”, Paris, 2 May 2013.
L. Le Dû-Blayo ()
UMR CNRS ESO 6590, University Rennes 2,
place H. Le Moal, CS 24307, 35043 Rennes Cedex, France
e-mail: laurence.ledu@univ-rennes2.fr
O. Musard et al. (eds.), Underwater Seascapes, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-03440-9_8,
119
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014