Commentary
Following the protests of May 1968, Goscinny started introducing more "adult" themes such as the opening "orgy" scene which parodies Federico Fellini's debauched Roman film, Satyricon. The painted faces, feeling of ennui, mechanical gorging of elaborate food and sado-masochistic punishments are nicely counterbalanced by the annoying (to the Romans) fastidiousness of the Swiss servants who keep cleaning up messes, washing whips, etc.
This volume is a rare dark episode in the Asterix series in that the plot involves the heroes' efforts to save an innocent from being murdered. Quaestor Vexatius Sinusitus' potential death offered a jarring but refreshing sense of drama to the otherwise frivolous comedy strip. Stories featuring similar moments of deadly menace include Asterix and Son, where the village is decimated, and the impending threat of Orinjade's execution in Asterix and the Magic Carpet.
Read more about this topic: Asterix In Switzerland
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“Lonely people keep up a ceaseless flow of commentary on themselves.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)