Gregory wrote: Maybe you didn't see my post on the previous page, but when there are conflicting reports in the thread, it's often not reliable to just take one person's word as a given. Again, I've noticed multiple Asterix books in the children's section of a lot of public libraries. I'm not sure if juvenile readers would be considered "comics connoisseurs," but if these books didn't get checked out, in most cases they would be withdrawn.
I simply don't think the posts above are accurate that say that there is nothing in print in the US or that publishers' attempts to make it catch on in the 1980s and 90s failed. Checking Amazon.com right now I see that recently published books are available for every Asterix title I'm familiar with, and then some. Every single one of the ones I scanned through had been reviewed by multiple people. Also, there are between 50 and 75 used copies for sale of each title from Amazon sellers. There normally are not that many used copies around of books that are really obscure. If there is a glut of books that didn't sell, the price on Amazon is usually very low, whereas most of these used Asterix books are priced at about half of cover price (plus shipping).
I'm not arguing that Asterix is as well known here as in Europe, or anything like that. The point of this discussion, as far as I see it, is whether or not Asterix is so obscure in the US that the subtitler for La Haine was justified in substituting Snoopy. I've already stated my position, and have suggested that people who would sit down and watch a film like La Haine are generally part of a more cultured minority who either would already be familiar with these references or wouldn't mind having to look them up if they were interested enough to do so. I know a lot of people who probably would not be at all familiar with Asterix or Le Pen, but many of these same people would not be interested in watching La Haine, or even any film with subtitles. ("If I'm watching a movie, I want to just watch it, not sit there reading the whole time" is something I've heard from numerous people.)
Completely agree and your point is entirely valid. As suspected, Asterix is 'somewhat' known in the States then, even if in the minority. Although as you say and as I suggested in my post also, this really is irrelevant when looking at the suggested demographic that will buy or watch
La Haine - as even small unknown references will be understood in overall context or looked up / researched afterwards.
The point someone made about Japanese cinema is also a good one. As if anyone understood in full the cultural references in Kurosawa, Ozu, Mizoguchi, Kobayashi, or even the more recent
The Twilight Samurai, the first time they were watching.
As for Asterix and Obelix films, the animated releases are one thing, but let's not forget the two recent live action films starring Gérard Depardieu amongst others. They are perhaps bigger budgeted and larger marketed films than
La Haine itself! Surely an audience watching or purchasing
La Haine, as stated an English subtitled French film, would have at least heard of them? As I said, perhaps not when
La Haine was initially made but certainly now upon the release of the Criterion DVD. Again I must insist the idea that Asterix and Obelix are so culturally oblique is absurd.