"The native americans were not that intelligent..."
"Mobs...? The old west...?"
"Uses a boomerang, and then suddenly pulls out a gun..."
I, myself, was also very amused and concerned when I was reading the stories. Tintin's ability to communicate with the elephants in the rain forest, being mind controlled by "the Eyes", and escaping death time after time when people tried to murder him was alarmingly concerning considering the way that he made Middle Eastern Asian and America sound. Having this in mind, Blue Lotus was not what I expected.
Coming from a Chinese American background, and having stayed in China for eight years, I found the historical background to be surprisingly accurate. Looking into the details, the Chinese characters that appear on the flags, posters, sighs, and even walls, are correct in that historical background. In contrast to how he drew America and India, Hergé depicted a more three-dimensional/three-perspective image of the country: through the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Europeans. He showed us how the Japanese conspired against the Chinese, how the Europeans mistreated them, and how the Chinese tried to fight back and survive. Not only did he break the stereotypical idea of how the Chinese are like, he also confronted it in the comic himself. On page 173 through Tintin's mouth, he pointed out how the idea of a "cunning and cruel" and "pigtail-wearing" Chinese that are always "inventing tortures, eating rotten eggs, and swallowing nests" was just as ridiculous of how Europeans were all "white wicked devils."
I was interested enough to go explore the background of this comic even more. The story took place around 1931, around 13 years after the end of the first world war. The Japanese had invaded and issued several colonies and government facilities in major cities in China. According to the official Tintin website (http://en.tintin.com/albums/show/id/29/page/0/0/the-blue-lotus), while Hergé intended to create a story of Tintin in China, he had little knowledge about China. That was when he was introduced to a twenty-seven year old sculpture student at the Brussels Académie des Beaux-Art in Belgium. From there he had a more realistic understanding of how the country actually was.
If not in light of the history and purely looking at the story itself, Hergé's story was more "mature" than his previous two comics: the plot twist (after Mitsuhirato sent Tintin on the ship back to India). This plot twist not only gave the audience a big surprise and keep them of their toes, but also provided the characters in the comics with a "fuller" personality. Instead of making his bad guys bad from the start, he gave them "depth": they are not just simply evil, they are despicable, conspiratorial, and hypocritical, and luring even more empathy with the heroes.
With all that said, Hergé might have actually only been trying to keep his job while he was working at the conservative newspaper. He might have not been that racist after all.
I was also impressed when reading The Blue Lotus. Not only was it very aesthetic, but accurate, and it did make me feel better that there were so many elements from the Chinese language and culture, compared to the two previous comics in Tin Tin. It's clear that Hergé made an effort, and however much of that was for the job, or to assuage the readers, I don't know. But I definitely appreciate it. I also agree with the more complicated plot twists and character depth-- there were clear personalities behind the antagonists, instead of stereotyped mob bosses and secret cults. However, I do want to point out that the races and ethnicities were still stereotyped- only Tintin was allowed to be different than the rest of his countrymen. The Caucasians were loud and rude-- even Thomson and Thompson wore over-stereotyped Chinese costumes "in order to blend in". The Japanese were all evil, conspiring enemies, all the Chinese were oppressed, thankful when Tintin helped them and trying to fight for themselves. The Indians were well meaning but useless overall.
ReplyDeleteI would say that Tin Tin was still a stereotyped narrative: a researched one, a fairly historical accurate one, and one that I appreciated- but still stereotyped nevertheless. I also don't expect Hergé to get it right 100% and during that time period- I thoroughly enjoyed Tin Tin. But perhaps, as a journalist, commentary kind of comic, there was a lot of potential that was limited by Hergé and the conservative publishing company that created Tin Tin. I wonder what a new radical journalist comic might look if it were created in modern times? Would it be any less conservative?