I’ll admit that before
reading The Adventures of Tintin: Volume
1 written and illustrated by Hergé, I knew very little about the famed
Belgian comic. From what I could tell from the trailer of Spielberg’s 2011 film
adaption that I stumbled across a few years back, I predicted an innocent story
of a young boy and his loyal dog as they traveled around the world. I predicted
a simple tale meant to be read by children.With its bright colors,
fine lines, and cartoonish characters, at first glance Tintin does seem to fit my expectation of children’s entertainment,
but as I read I began to notice subtle comments on social issues. The one
example that comes to mind occurs on page 31 of “Tintin in America.” Oil is
discovered on a Native American reservation and in just four panels (spanning
from “An hour later…” to “The next morning …”) the reservation transforms into
a bustling city.
I doubt a grade-school
reader would catch this joke on American exploitation and expansion, showing
the adventures of Tintin are not just merely for sharing charming stories. The
comic has a broader agenda. It seems Hergé wanted to share some social
commentary with his readers on changes happening in the world during the time
of the comic’s publication.
Although many parts of The Adventures of Tintin made me cringe
because of its racists or degrading stereotypes (such as the broken language of
the Native American tribe featured in “Tintin in America” and the depiction of
bucktoothed Japanese in “The Blue Lotus”) I believe these depictions are due to
Hergé’s lack of knowledge of other cultures, not because he wished to influence
stereotypes onto his readers. In fact, the example of the oil discovery in
“Tintin in America” shows Hergé’s efforts to bring awareness to some poor
decisions Americans have made in their past, mistakes that should not be
repeated. By highlighting these issues through ironic humor, Hergé forces the
reader to take notice and maybe even spark conversation beyond the pages of the
comic.
I agree that the depiction of American culture as well as Native Americans were due to Hergé's own pre-conceptions and socially learned stereotypes. At the same time, I also think he did a fantastic job of bringing awareness to the mistreatment against Native Americans.
ReplyDeleteI'm not excusing the author for his depiction of the Japanese villain, but I think that this character was purposely drawn in an ugly fashion so that he would be easily recognizable as the bad guy. "The Blue Lotus" was loosely inspired by Japanese occupation of parts of China as well as the blowing-up of the South Manchuria railway. In a way the Japanese imperialists around this time period were doing to Asia-Pacific what the Nazi's in Germany were doing to Europe - conquering other countries and committing awful crimes against humans. So one can see a parallel of this visual depiction of the Japanese villain to the visual depiction of the Nazi's in early American comics.
Also if you take notice of the illustrations of the Chinese people in the comics, Hergé took his time to make them distinct individuals because he wanted the audience to empathize with them.