« Astérix: Le Domaine des dieux » or “Asterix and the Mansions of the Gods” is the seventh graphic novel of the famous Asterix series commenced by Rene Goscinny. Its movie adaptation was produced in 2014 by Louis Clichy and Alexandre Astier. Asterix fans throughout the world could enjoy the adventures of the Gallic heroes and the imminent defeat of Caesar‘s schemes to subdue the little Gallic village and be the master of the Gaulle. However, this time Caesar's plan is more tactful and strategic matching the description of a Machiavellian type of statesman with the aggressiveness of the lion and the tactfulness of a fox. The Asterix fans are used to the fighting than the flying of the roman soldiers. This time, Caesar plots to subdue the Romans with the use of soft power which is the cultural appeal despite the military might which had constantly failed to obtain any success. Even though the wise Asterix (Soora Pappa) and Getafix (Veda pappa) could comprehend the plan of Caesar to subdue them with the cultural dazzle, would the others support them? Would they be able to win over Caesar? The audience is faced with a lot of doubts this time!!!!

It is necessary to understand the term soft power and cultural diplomacy before analysing the movie and its deep message which goes beyond mere satire of Roman colonizers. Soft power is a theory of the political theorist Joseph Nye. According to him, power is diverse, there is hard power which means the way of achieving what one wants with coercion or threat. When considering the states/ countries hard power means military might or the threat of imposing sanctions/ embargo. Hard power is not the only way to achieve one’s goal, the soft power in that sense means winning what you want with persuasion or attraction. The Hollywood, K-pop Industry, and the Ideological attraction towards Marxism as a liberating way of living and governance at the end of the 20th century could be considered as the elements of soft power of the USA, South Korea, and the USSR respectively, which forms the favourable public opinion and gathers more and more crowds in their sides and camps. However, in this case, the movie Asterix and the Mansions of the Gods becomes an elaborative explanation of the works of soft power in statecraft.

The Roman and Greek colonizers are worthy to be examined as the shrewd ways of increasing their influence over the world. The Greeks were far more concerned about Hellenism, Alexander the Great is the only worthy paragon of cultural diplomacy who brought the Greek culture as far as India with his cultural tolerance. However, the Greek and Roman practices are still at the heights of the high culture, as they are known for luxury and liberal thinking. In the movie, the key to Caesar subduing the Gallic village is not philosophy, art, drama, or liberal thinking. It’s the colonization of the vicinity of the small gallic village with Roman Luxury apartments. The Romans in the city are motivated to move to these apartments in the countryside of Gaulle. The migration of the Romans to the village brings more opportunities for trade and cultural exposure of the Romans. The opportunity to sell their goods in higher prizes to the Romans and later the special opportunity given to the citizens of the village to reside in the luxury apartments highly attracts them. The plan of Caesar is obvious in these terms. When the Gauls mingle with the Romans slowly in their commercial and then social and then marital relations with time, the Gallic village would become one with the Roman people. The fights, and grudges would vanish away as they recognize themselves as related people due to cultural and commercial ties. Thereby Caesar seems to work his scheme on the concept of “if you can’t beat them, Join them”!

Despite the interesting political theorizing of Caesar’s actions based on soft power. Interesting insights are drawn towards slavery during the age of the roman empire. The first stratagem of the wise Asterix and Getafix is to set the slave population against the Roman commanders who manages the housing-scheme project. They try to achieve that by giving the magic potion to them. The Gauls thought that the slaves would revolt for freedom by using the power of the magic potion. However, they go around the initial plan by bargaining for better living arrangements and salary for their work which would be done in a supernatural speed with the power of the magic potion. Thus, setting the slaves against the Romans and initiating a revolt did not work out as an effective plan to stop the project. Even though the concepts of Roman slavery are famous in the modern context for brutality and violation of human rights, it could be observed that “consent” also played a major role in the enslavement due to their total dependency on Romans for work, living and food. 

Even though the effort of Caesar fails to the great pleasure of most, the Roman culture: which is the soft power of Rome still exists in the roots of the civilization of the modern world.  The theorizing was done later mostly with the institutionalization of international relations as an academic discipline, bringing these schemes came to light. However, these schemes of skilled statesmen still dominate the world in terms of culture, opinion ideology and even in terms of trends. The reading of soft power via an animation movie is an eye opener which lies in the undercurrents of the movie hand in hand with irony and humour.

K.K.K Nayanathara De Silva

Second Year

Department of Modern Languages

Faculty of Humanities

« Astérix: Le Domaine des dieux » or “Asterix and the Mansions of the Gods” is the seventh graphic novel of the famous Asterix series commenced by Rene Goscinny. Its movie adaptation was produced in 2014 by Louis Clichy and Alexandre Astier. Asterix fans throughout the world could enjoy the adventures of the Gallic heroes and the imminent defeat of Caesar‘s schemes to subdue the little Gallic village and be the master of the Gaulle. However, this time Caesar's plan is more tactful and strategic matching the description of a Machiavellian type of statesman with the aggressiveness of the lion and the tactfulness of a fox. The Asterix fans are used to the fighting than the flying of the roman soldiers. This time, Caesar plots to subdue the Romans with the use of soft power which is the cultural appeal despite the military might which had constantly failed to obtain any success. Even though the wise Asterix (Soora Pappa) and Getafix (Veda pappa) could comprehend the plan of Caesar to subdue them with the cultural dazzle, would the others support them? Would they be able to win over Caesar? The audience is faced with a lot of doubts this time!!!! It is necessary to understand the term soft power and cultural diplomacy before analysing the movie and its deep message which goes beyond mere satire of Roman colonizers. Soft power is a theory of the political theorist Joseph Nye. According to him, power is diverse, there is hard power which means the way of achieving what one wants with coercion or threat. When considering the states/ countries hard power means military might or the threat of imposing sanctions/ embargo. Hard power is not the only way to achieve one’s goal, the soft power in that sense means winning what you want with persuasion or attraction. The Hollywood, K-pop Industry, and the Ideological attraction towards Marxism as a liberating way of living and governance at the end of the 20 th century could be considered as the elements of soft power of the USA, South Korea, and the USSR respectively, which forms the favourable public opinion and gathers more and more crowds in their sides and camps. However, in this case, the movie Asterix and the Mansions of the Gods becomes an elaborative explanation of the works of soft power in statecraft. The Roman and Greek colonizers are worthy to be examined as the shrewd ways of increasing their influence over the world. The Greeks were far more concerned about Hellenism, Alexander the Great is the only worthy paragon of cultural diplomacy who brought the Greek culture as far as India with his cultural tolerance. However, the Greek and Roman practices are still at the heights of the high culture, as they are known for luxury and liberal thinking. In the movie, the key to Caesar subduing the Gallic village is not philosophy, art, drama, or liberal thinking. It’s the colonization of the vicinity of the small gallic village with Roman Luxury apartments. The Romans in the city are motivated to move to these apartments in the countryside of Gaulle. The migration of the Romans to the village brings more opportunities for trade and cultural exposure of the Romans. The opportunity to sell their goods in higher prizes to the Romans and later the special opportunity given to the citizens of the village to reside in the luxury apartments highly attracts them. The plan of Caesar is obvious in these terms. When the Gauls mingle with the Romans slowly in their commercial and then social and then marital relations with time, the Gallic village would become one with the Roman people. The fights, and grudges would vanish away as they recognize themselves as related people due to cultural and commercial ties. Thereby Caesar seems to work his scheme on the concept of “if you can’t beat them, Join them”! Despite the interesting political theorizing of Caesar’s actions based on soft power. Interesting insights are drawn towards slavery during the age of the roman empire. The first stratagem of the wise Asterix and Getafix is to set the slave population against the Roman commanders who manages the housing-scheme project. They try to achieve that by giving the magic potion to them. The Gauls thought that the slaves would revolt for freedom by using the power of the magic potion. However, they go around the initial plan by bargaining for better living arrangements and salary for their work which would be done in a supernatural speed with the power of the magic potion. Thus, setting the slaves against the Romans and initiating a revolt did not work out as an effective plan to stop the project. Even though the concepts of Roman slavery are famous in the modern context for brutality and violation of human rights, it could be observed that “consent” also played a major role in the enslavement due to their total dependency on Romans for work, living and food.    Even though the effort of Caesar fails to the great pleasure of most, the Roman culture: which is the soft power of Rome still exists in the roots of the civilization of the modern world.  The theorizing was done later mostly with the institutionalization of international relations as an academic discipline, bringing these schemes came to light. However, these schemes of skilled statesmen still dominate the world in terms of culture, opinion ideology and even in terms of trends. The reading of soft power via an animation movie is an eye opener which lies in the undercurrents of the movie hand in hand with irony and humour. K.K.K Nayanathara De Silva Second Year Department of Modern Languages Faculty of Humanities