Beauty and the Beast comic book cancelled in France's ‘worst ever censorship case'

Telegraph

20-03-2025

France's top comic strip artist has accused the government of the 'worst censorship in publishing history' after it cancelled a 900,000 issue order of his modern-day take on Beauty and the Beast.
Jul, whose real name is Julien Berjeaut, accused the education ministry in a Right-wing dominated government of taking umbrage at him depicting Belle, the story's protagonist, as a swarthy Mediterranean with curly hair.
The comic book order was cancelled at the last minute on grounds it was 'inappropriate' for 10-year-olds.
The education ministry had tasked Jul, a household name in France for his Stone Age-set Silex and the City series, to come up with a contemporary version of the beloved 1740 French fairy tale by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, with the best-known written version published by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont in 1756.
It has been turned into various cartoons and feature films, including a 1991 Disney animation and its 2017 live-action version, as well as a 1994 Broadway stage show and pantomimes in the UK.
The order was part of a government drive called 'A book for the holidays' in which children were encouraged to read a classic work of French literature in the summer before they start secondary school.
In Jul's illustrated modern version, Belle's merchant father arrives from Algeria, the protagonist has long black hair and the Beast is a shaggy ball of hair with big teeth who resembles Barbouille, the son of the pink shape-changing children's character Barbapapa.
However, on the eve of a massive print run, the education ministry pulled the plug on the order after officials deemed it wrong for pupils to read the comic on their own because it touches on 'alcohol, social networks and complex social realities'.
This week, Caroline Pascal, France's director-general of education and number two in the education ministry, said: 'The product cannot be read independently, at home, by families and without the guidance of teachers, by pupils aged 10 to 11.
'The illustrations in the book deal with themes that would be suitable for older pupils,' she went on, suggesting it was more appropriate for those in their mid-teens.
Asked to react, Jul told Le Monde: 'I'm flabbergasted. It's a mad and very, very worrying turn of events.
'Cancelling the printing of 900,000 copies of an illustrated children's classic the day before is unprecedented. Technically, it may even be the biggest case of censorship ever seen in French publishing.'
Dismissing the ministry's arguments as 'fallacious', Jul said: 'For me, the only explanation lies in (their) disgust at my portrayal of princes and princesses who look a bit more like modern-day schoolchildren and can dress up in tracksuits between scenes with princess dresses and harpsichords.'
'Or has the presence of curly-haired, swarthy-skinned characters rather than blonde fairy-tale princesses become unbearable for the national education system?
'Frankly, this smacks of (Donald) Trump and his administration when they attacked books and education, or banned Anne Frank's Diary and [Art] Spiegelman's Maus from schools.'
One page depicts Belle's tipsy father with a bottle and a glass of red wine in the chateau.
'All I'm doing is illustrating the 18th-century text, which has the princess's father drinking too much wine,' said Jul.
The book's publisher, the French national museums' publisher Grand Palais-RMN Editions, said it was shocked at the about-turn and would publish the book regardless.
It was supposed to contain a preface written by Elisabeth Borne, the current education minister.
However, on Thursday, she said her preface would not figure in the work.
'Jul is very talented, he uses irony and humour. But without educational support, I don't think it's appropriate,' she told Europe 1.
'It's a modern rewrite. We have a father who arrives from Algeria, who has to commit fraud, who is checked by the police,' she told CNews.
'Perhaps in a setting with teachers, we can explain this irony. But it's a book that's meant to be read on holiday, with the family.'
She said she wanted to reassure viewers that 'the money has not been spent' and that 'the books have not been printed'.
'I would ask people who may have access to this work one day to look at the book and judge for themselves,' said Jul.