EMBRACING COMICS: IMAGES OF PASTORAL ACTIVITIES IN FRENCH CHILDRENS’ MAGAZINES PUBLISHED BY FLEURUS

Abstract

In the early 1960s, new forms of media were developing and dynamic mainstream press outlets were challenging the position of Catholic titles that had been developed with support from activists and wealthy patrons. Most of these Catholic publications had already found themselves becoming less attractive with the arrival of modern media offerings that had emerged in the 1950s. In parallel, the emergence of the younger generation as an independent age group and the accelerating secularisation of French society further served to undermine the model of the illustrated magazine with a religious influence.
The creation of J2 Jeunes and J2 Magazine in 1963 was an attempt to propose weekly illustrated news magazines for young people that were adapted to the specific needs of a pastoral press. Despite their short lifespan, these two titles serve as lenses through which to interpret the tensions that were associated with the renewal of media formats in the Catholic press during the 1960s. This analysis can help us address the question of how the press in question attempted to attract young readers in a cultural landscape that was in the throes of profound transformation. An analysis of the archives of the Éditions Fleurus documentation centre highlights how J2 Jeunes and J2 Magazine proposed an updated version of pastoral activities in an attempt to reconcile their specificities with the format of illustrated publications that addressed modern life and news. The dynamics of this type of illustrated press during this period can thus be used as a means to explore the tensions generated by the growth of modern media in secularised societies.