My first comics were "Calvin and Hobbes" and "The Far Side." Like many of us enrolled in this course, I ate that stuff up. I owned every single compilation of Larson and Watterson's work; a collection that I'd created for myself over the course of every birthday and Christmas between the ages of eight and twelve. As a kid, I was obsessed with the colors of Watterson's splash panels and pages- those depicting buddy walks in the woods and Spaceman Spiff's exploits on faraway planets- and the total absurdity of Larson's talking cows and bucked-toothed anthropologists. I loved the adventures. In reading TinTin, I've realized that I could've been reading something a lot more violent than a casual game of Calvinball at that age.
TinTin's adventures gets violent real quick in each of the stories we've read so far. Gun-running, flapjacking, poisoning, and drug dealing are just a few of the common elements found within the boy reporter's world. Actively engaging with and against these activities in a constant stream of mayhem, TinTin is often depicted carrying and using weapons to combat his foes. I think Herge includes this element of violence because he is, in some ways, still pandering to a 10-year-old male audience (despite the talk of capitalist critique and racial intents), At that age, I loved to play "war" with my cousins and the other children on my street. We'd pretend sticks were guns and carry them everywhere, "shooting" at bad guys around every corner. I'd wager many of us did the same, and that these comics remind them of that age as well.
I agree, especially with TinTin literally being thrust into a real life game of "Cowboys and Indians" in the Tintin in America. Many young boys played cowboys and indians growing up, and I myself had a set of those small plastic figurines that depicted war between weapon wielding cowboys and indians. Herge is playing into the glorification of violence towards young men that seems common across many western cultures.
ReplyDeleteI was also really surprised by the amount of violence there was in Tintin. Reflecting on how young Tintin appears and how the comic was aimed at young boys, I believe Tintin's ability to miraculously come out of every situation almost unscathed (with the exception of the time a bullet grazed his arm) was meant to reassure the younger readers that no matter how bad it gets things will work out and good will conquer evil. Also, how Tintin carries a gun and beats up criminals many times his size could serve the purpose of empowering the young readers. Tintin's strength shows them that they do have some control in a world that often feels like it operates by unfair rules.
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