Week 3 Tintin

WEEK 3 Popular Genre 

1.   How and why have Tintin’s gender and sexuality been question? 

Herge stated in an interview that Tintin was not gay nevertheless Tintin shows no romantic interest in dating the opposite sex, getting married or having children one day which leaves his sexuality open to interpretation. It appears Herge intended to leave Tintin’ personal life out of his adventures like family, favorite food and clothes, sexual preferences etc. These stories were written with children in mind, understandably, it would be too traumatizing in 1929 when Tintin was created to deviate from the norms of the time. 

Tintin is a teenager aged somewhere between 15 –18 and as such be going through puberty. In boys this starts as early as 10 years of age when fluctuations in the sex hormone testosterone stimulates libido and growth and ends at around the age of 16. Daily erections and wet dreams are common and a normal part of puberty that happens to all boys. Why Herge didn’t give this matter any thought is baffling considering the use of more adult themes of drugs, crime, violence, political propaganda, religion, racism, sexism and so on.  

On the rare occasion woman are included they are not the cliché damsels in distress that need saving by our hero. Women take a back seat and are depicted as irritants at best and at worst nags (Mountfort, 2020). In no way is this confirmation Tintin is gay due to lack of evidence or him running around with a campy toy dog breed terrier, or frequent compulsion of getting dressed up in disguise, or Dorian Gray-esque of staying young as most fans would be more inclined to see Tintin as asexual. 

There however seems to be more substance than meets the eye between Tintin and Captain Haddock friendship which has homoerotic overtures. When they first meet on board Captain Haddocks cargo ship ‘Karaboudjan’ in The Crab with the Golden Claws, Haddock is drunk and is consoled by Tintin when he finds out his mutinous crew are diamond smugglers. Tintin shows his feminine side of caring for Haddock when he comforts him by tenderly holding both his shoulders from behind then Tintin saves Haddock life by helping him jump overboard and escape in a rowboat. Tintin then saves Haddock from an airplane crash and a group of men in this Golden Claw episode and each time Haddock calls out for Tintin to save him. Sexual tension is symbolized when Haddock dehydrated in the Sahara Desert and imagines Tintin is a bottle of champagne and jumps on top off him.  

Their actions towards each other suggest a kind of intimacy and devotion, spending a considerable amount of time together and sacrificing their lives for each other and I believe Tintin is gay. 

REFERENCES.  

Paul Mountfort (2020): ‘Tintin, gender and desire’, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, DOI: 10.1080/21504857.2020.1729829