Hello readers,

In Safe Area Goražde, Joe Sacco portrays the media and journalists in both a positive and a negative light. These journalists essentially symbolize the modern, privileged and the globalized world. Sacco highlights that the negative side of journalists is the fact that many of them are only in Goražde to cover a story and then leave, and the “Red Carpet” chapter perfectly summarizes this notion and accentuates this idea of simply getting in and getting out. The images on page 8 and 9 of Joe drinking excessively with civilians could be seen as an example of the superficial relationship that many of the journalists share with the civilians. In these panels, they are not discussing the hardships of the war, but they are merely consuming a plethora of alcohol and dancing the night away. This chapter can also be an example of the fact that if journalists do not wish to, they do not need to be apart of the war. They can visit a war torn country or city for a week or two, drink themselves to oblivion, and shortly return to their homes in the free country that they live in.
In addition, the chapter “Go Away” is an example of how many news stations and journalists want to leave Goražde as soon as possible once they obtain eye catching photographs and captivating interviews. An example of this hesitancy to accept the truth of the war is shown when Sacco notes, “‘I wish Goražde would go away,’ I heard one American correspondent say…” (Page 4) This idea of wishing the war away symbolizes the war of erasure, and the ideology that ethnic cleansing will solve all of Bosnia’s problems. This idea is that the act of forgetting history will essentially erase all pain and suffering.
To contrast this, most of the isolated townspeople do not want people from the outside world to “go away.” However, they want them to stay and keep them company, and save them from their traumatic and broken lives. Examples of this yearning for the globalized world can be identified when many girls in Goražde ask Joe to bring them back jeans, and even go as far as to ask him if they can run away with him to America. Riki is also a symbol for this, as he is constantly singing American songs, and discussing his utter love and longing for America. The concept of having contact with a symbol of mobility and globalization such as Joe Sacco instills hope and promise in the townspeople.
This lack of regard for human life from journalists in Goražde is analogous to the paparazzi taking photographs of celebrities in today’s world. Most of these photographers do not have any concern for how taking these photographs will impact the people that they are photographing, and they do not truly acknowledge these celebrities as people, but merely as a source of entertainment and income. The title “Angelina Jolie With No Makeup On,” can be sprawled across the cover of a magazine followed by a photo of her makeup free , because the media does not care or take into account how she might feel about this. The soul motivator of the media industry is making profits, whether that be photographing a war torn country, or publishing photos of celebrities who have “gained excess weight,” for example.
Although many of the reporters are portrayed as merely self-interested and only travelling in this war torn country for self-fulfilling reasons, Sacco himself also sets an example as to how seeing war in real life can make it more accessible, and real, and therefore allowing for people to feel true empathy. Joe becomes friends with many of the people that he was originally just intending on interviewing in Goražde. For example, Eden becomes Joe’s official tour guide of Goražde, and they also become life long friends. Although Joe was originally like most journalists, out of touch of the reality and humanness of the war, by learning the story of the war through individuals that he personally meets along the way, he grows attached to the people that make up Goražde, and to the concept of Goražde itself.
Towards the end of Safe Area Goražde, Joe hopes to himself that Riki will be able to flee Goražde, but he also hopes that one day when he returns to Goražde again, he finds Riki still there. This is an example of the unrealistic and often selfish and detached nature of the reporter and the privileged person coming through in Sacco. Joe has the luxury of returning home to America, but he almost doesn’t wish that luxury for his friends in Goražde, because he idealizes the idea of his friends remaining where he found them, in the place that he grew to love.
Safe Area Goražde highlights the positive attributes of learning a story through the person actually experiencing it, as opposed to formulating one’s opinions about the story by merely reading something that was published in a magazine by a reporter or a journalist.

Until next time,

Alexandra