Tough Love: Caricature Amidst a Troubled Friendship between Hungary and North Korea circa 1956

• In Event: Make Laughter, Not War: Caricature, Emotion, and Politics in the Soviet and Post-Soviet Era

Abstract

This paper explores how both North Korean and Hungarian artists used the graphic language of caricature to respond to the 1956 anti-Soviet revolts in Hungary, which tested an alliance established through humanitarian assistance in the Korean War. It shows how caricature exceeded entrenched affirmative socialist values to reckon with feelings of heartbreak, loss, and longing that were seldom acknowledged in the language of socialist friendship.

Authors

• Douglas Gabriel, U of Florida

• Adrienn Kácsor, Bauhaus U, Weimar (Germany)