CSotD: Bring me my vuvuzela
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The farther apartheid fades into the past, the harder it can be to follow the sharp social satire of "Madame & Eve," a groundbreaking cartoon from South Africa. Born in 1992 along with the "new" South Africa, this story of a middleclass white woman and her black maid (or, in this particular strip, the little girl next door and Madam's perennially irritable mother) is highly popular in that country and has even been turned into a TV sitcom. Overseas followers, however, can find its intensely local satire hard to follow, though the effort is worth it. (There's a reason for Google News, and this is it.)
Comes now the World Cup, which starts in South Africa June 11, and the vuvuzela. If anyone didn't know about this irritating device on June 10, they will know about it by July 11 when the final match has been played. The vuvuzela is somewhat like "the wave," something for people who have no idea what is happening on the field to do to enjoy themselves and feel that they are a part of the game. However, unlike the wave, this cheap plastic horn doesn't come and go but is constant throughout the game and, unlike the wave, is aural rather than visual. If the cameras don't show it, you may not notice the wave. But unless broadcasters cut off the stadium sound entirely, you won't miss the vuvuzela — it is all you will be able to hear.
To my mind, I suspect a lot of viewers will switch off the World Cup, because watching a game being played while idiots in the stands blow vuvuzelas is like trying to watch a game while an alarm clock goes off in the next room. This steady, annoying, pointless drone makes it impossible to hear the actual football fans in the stadium, drowning out the gasps, cheers or boos that help you follow the pace and tension of the game. For viewers, the alternative will be to kill the sound entirely, or hit mute and hope the closed-captioners can keep up with the live commentary.
Many organizers from other countries wanted the stupid things banned entirely from the World Cup, but South Africans praised the vuvuzela as part of their cultural heritage. Although this claim appears to be historically nonsensical, the emotional force it carries has prevailed with FIFA. There remains a slight chance that it will only be permitted for games in which South Africa is actually playing, but that seems a faint hope.
And if I had to explain all that, maybe Madam & Eve remains a bit esoteric for the average American cartoon reader. But, if you're a soccer fan, the next few months will give you a chance to get oriented to this unique strip as it deals with things you may actually know something about.
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