Anthropological Approach to Vulnerability and Major Hazards - Vulnerability of Coastal Ecosystems and Adaptation - page 287

This calls the obvious to mind: catastrophes are not only
catastrophic. For some, the disaster constitutes an opportunity, a real
windfall. It opens an immense site for reconstruction, which promises
work for many years.
7.4.4. Tears and laughter
In Edo, in 1855, mediatization occurred in the form of images
commentated and diffused through the means of a form of itinerant
theater ( kamishibai , 紙芝居 ). As today, when newspapers report
major events, this press experienced a dazzling success. From the 13th
November, the prints were diffused and sold in large numbers all
around the devastated town and its surrounding area. After a few
weeks, more than 400 different prints were competing on the market.
More than 10,000 copies of some exemplars were printed. As today,
the diffusion of information was directly linked to a commercial and
promotional cost. The prints formed part of a strong economic logic.
Some productions were positively advertisements.
There are therefore broad similarities between the media treatment
of the catastrophe in historic Edo and its treatment today in the mass
media . However, an important difference in dramatization, that is in
creating a narrative of what has happened, distinguishes them.
Contrary to current media, they do not handle the event in a merely
tragic tone, nor center on the catastrophic. Very much to the contrary
- as all those who have studied the body of prints have pointed out -
they do not lack humorous features.
The overall spirit in which the disaster is treated is humorous. The
prints draw attention to the strange or freaky aspects of the event. “All
depict one or several catfish quite commically”, summarize Butel and
Griolet [BUT 99]. They do not tend to reinforce the disastrous side to
what has happened but, much to the contrary, they emphasize
anecdotes that are amusing, and aspects that might provoke laughter.
Far from consisting of a series of varied facts, each more depressing
than the next, the printed sheets were created in a mood of pleasure
and entertainment, more precisely, in a tone of irony and sarcasm,
satire and derision.