The Pencil as Weapon: The Graphic Humour response to the Charlie Hebdo Terrorist Attack

Abstract

This paper analyses the graphic humour response to the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack on January 7, 2015. The paper carries out a semiotic analysis of a series of pieces related to this event collected via the internet. The visual and verbo-visual texts analysed demonstrate condemnation of the terrorist attack and defence of freedom of expression, mostly represented by the image of the pencil as a weapon against terrorism and a symbol of democratic values.