What issues do Herge’s albums raise in terms of representation of ‘race’, and particularly ethnic and cultural stereotyping?
Herge’s albums present several issues of ethnic and cultural stereotyping, particularly in his portrayal of Congolese people in Tintin in the Congo, and of Japanese people in The Blue Lotus. These portrayals serve to reinforce harmful colonial beliefs in the former, and as anti-Japanese propaganda in the latter.
Several negative stereotypes of Africans are used in Tintin in the Congo. In addition to the visual codes such as the ‘juju-lips’ that are often used to caricature Africans, there is also the use of pidgin that is utilised to portray the Congolese as servile, unintelligent and childlike (Mountfort, 2012). For example, when Tintin settles an argument with a pair of Africans by cutting the hat they are arguing about in two, they say to him: ‘White master very fair! Him give half-hat top each one.’ (Hergé, 1931). This serves to infantilise the two Africans by implying that only a European would be able to solve their problems, and that they would be pleased with Tintin’s not particularly useful solution (Mountfort, 2012). The use of pidgin also reinforces a childlike and unintelligent stereotype that is often employed with non-white cultures.
Continuing with this theme, Hergé’s portrayal of Congolese people is through a very white, imperial lens. This can be seen when Tintin is in a classroom filled with African schoolchildren, and points to a map saying, ‘Today I’m going to talk to you about your country: Belgium!’ (Hergé, 1931). Belgium’s occupation and colonisation of the Congo saw the Congolese population halve from twenty million to ten million – a genocide carried out through torturing and executing civilians (Mountfort, 2012). The fact that Tintin wants to teach Congolese schoolchildren about a country that has systematically murdered their own countrymen, and then claim that it is now their country, is indicative of the white saviorism and ownership that colonists hold towards countries they have invaded. Mountfort (2016) describes Tintin in the Congo as a, “sustained valorisation of the appalling Belgian colonial enterprise,” (p. 42). Even Hergé himself justified his portrayal of the Congolese as being through the eyes of the paternalism that existed in Belgium, meaning they viewed their colonisation as an act of saviorism rather than invasion (Farr, 2001, as cited in Mountfort, 2012).
While colonial superiority is the theme of Tintin in the Congo, the ethnic and cultural stereotypes used in The Blue Lotus tell a different story. The Blue Lotus is often attributed to being a turning point in Hergé’s work, largely because he collaborated with Chinese art student Chang Chong-chen and so employed a more sympathetic and understanding portrayal of China during the Japanese invasion of Manchuria (Mountfort, 2012). However, this has come at the expense of the Japanese, who are portrayed in a much more negative light. In addition to being the villains in the story, reductive iconography is used in the drawings of all the Japanese characters, giving them ‘slit’ eyes and other exaggerated and stereotypical Asian features (Mountfort, 2012). This becomes particularly problematic when the Chinese characters are given more ‘neutral’ features so that they look more European, and therefore less foreign and intimidating to Western audiences (Mountfort, 2012). Royal (2007) describes the practice of reductive iconography as stripping away a person’s unique identity and dehumanising them until they are ‘the Other’. This is perhaps why it was employed for the Japanese characters, as the villains of the story, and not for the Chinese, who audiences are meant to sympathise with.
Negative cultural stereotypes are often used in Hergé’s albums, particularly for non-European ethnicities, and this could reflect Hergé’s own beliefs around these cultures. In Tintin in the Congo, it reflects the colonial superiority Belgium held over the Congo and its people, while in The Blue Lotus, it reflects the anti-Japanese sentiment felt by the Chinese, who Hergé was sympathising with.
References
Farr, M. (2001). Tintin: The Complete Companion. John Murray.
Hergé (1931). Tintin in the Congo. Le Petit Vingtième.
Mountfort, P. (2012). ‘Yellow skin, black hair… Careful, Tintin’: Hergé and Orientalism. Australasian Journal of Popular Culture, 1(1), 33-49. https://doi.org/10.1386/ajpc.1.1.33_1
Mountfort, P. (2016). Tintin as Spectacle: The Backstory of a Popular Franchise and Late Capital. Journal of Asia-Pacific Pop Culture, 1(1), 37-56. https://doi.org/10.5325/jasiapacipopcult.1.1.0037
Royal, D. P. (2007). Coloring America: Multi-Ethnic Engagements with Graphic Narrative. MELUS, 32(3), 7-22.
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