Tout le monde il est beau tout le monde il est gentil

The first post in a special program on French title design 1950’s -1980’s, co-curated by Hervé Tissot and Laure Chapalain. Graphic designer/cartoonist cum celebrated crime novelist Tito Topin‘s end credit sequence for Everybody He Is Nice, Everybody He Is Beautiful is a provocative piece of vintage 1970’s pop art. Topin combines socio-political criticism with his signature-style cartoon sense of humor. French Fridays is updated every… you know when.

Born in Casablanca, Morocco, Tito Topin is a graphic designer, scriptwriter and author, who started as a designer in advertising in Brazil, before moving to Paris, where he worked as an illustrator, a graphic designer, poster artist and cartoonist.

The end credit sequence for Everybody He Is Nice, Everybody He Is Beautiful (English title) – Tito Topin‘s very first contribution to the movie industry – is a true piece of pop art and a pure production of the 70’s. At that time, the hippie movement was being taken over by Christian propaganda, as could be seen in Jesus Christ Superstar for example. The graphic theme of Tito’s title sequence is undoubtedly a satirical allusion to the hit Broadway rock opera, since one of the movie’s topics is contemporary “merchants of the temple”. As the animated film credits unravel, scenes of horror appear at the bottom of the screen, reminding us that the Vietnam war and the ongoing Israelo-Palestinian conflict were not over yet. The enormous icon of Jesus seems insensitive to the shouts of the crowd.

Tito had already used this style in the two previous cartoons made with director and long time collaborator Jean Yanne, La Langouste Ne Passera Pas and Voyage au Centre de la C… ulture. 1968 was just around the corner when French youth had driven out the old symbols of the political power, and a wind of creativity allowed them to believe that it was “forbidden to forbid.” Provocation was de rigueur,  and rare were those who dared to feel offended by it. Jean Yanne and Tito were on the same wavelength.

Comics by Jean Yanne and Tito Topin

Tout le Monde il est Beau Tout le Monde il est Gentil is mostly inspired by Yanne’s experience as a radio speaker. The deliberately cynical point of view of the film showed that freedom of expression was fragile and that we should not underestimate the power of money, particularly regarding cultural and religious matters.

Tito told us that the idea behind the animated credit title was to have fun. The title song quickly became a hit in the French charts. Following that, Tito created another credit sequence for a Pierre Tchernia’s film called Les Gaspards, a French nickname for “the rats”. He also wrote some remarkable scripts for short animated movies, one with Claire Brétécher, a most celebrated French cartoonist. He stopped his promising career in the cartoon industry to become the scriptwriter of Navarro, one of the most popular French TV series. He also turned into an acclaimed author of detective novels in addition to taking up a teaching career in scriptwriting at a movie school.

Text: Hervé Tissot, © SubmarineChannel 2011