Week 3

Question week 3

What is Castafiore’s role in the Adventures?

Bianca Castafiore, La Castafiore, the Melanese Nightingale or “Blanche Chaster Fleur” – the holy white flower is one of the most important characters in The Adventure of Tintin she is a distraction, helping hand and loyal friend. She is also a strong, female character, which the Tintin comics definitely need. Her first appearance in the series was in Le Sceptre d’Ottokar (King Ottokar’s Sceptre) in 1938 and her importance and presence in the comics increased over the years (Newark, 2013).
Castafiore is an Italian diva, based on the famous opera singer Maria Callas, but also Hergé’s aunt Ninie. Hergé’s aunt would visit his family as a child and entertained them with her loud, shrill singing (Apostolidès, 2010). Castafiore is a strong character with an overpowering personality, she tries to live her life as if her reality is a grand opera where she of course is the start (Apostolidès, 2010). She has a powerful physique and a matching voice, and although one could think she’d have an aggressive personality the only thing who ticks her off is poorly cooked pasta (Newark, 2013).
She is classy and dresses in very elegant, fashionable clothes, and does in fact become more attractive as the series progresses. Her most important and strongest traits however is her loyalty and her courage (Apostolidès, 2010).
As I mentioned earlier Castafiore is a reoccurring character and she seems to pop up in the most unlikely places and often serves as a distraction and helping hand. Some of the elements in the Tintin universe seems to be trapped in time, this is not the case with Castafiore, she is not stuck in just one moment and she keeps evolving. Newark (2013) says that Castafiore represents a threat to Tintin and the Captain’s blissfully unchanging pre-sexual existence and that the three of them are caught in a never-ending game of cat and mouse.  

Although Castafiore is a soprano she only ever preforms one song: The Jewel Song from Charles Gounod’s opera Faust. Apostolidès (2010) writes that the song perfectly reflects Castafiore’s narcissism and that she uses the song as a personal hymn. “She totally identifies with Marguerite’s story” and claims to be “utterly divine (Apostolidès, 2010). Hergé was not a big fan of opera and Newark (2013) writes that her never changing performance is a metaphor for the petrification of the opera repertory, “for it’s homogeneity as a cultural object around the world”. 
Castafiore might be a famous soprano but her voice is describing as anything but pleasant and it does not represent anything positive. Her voice is described by Newark (2013) as “a sound to be avoided at all cost”.
Although her voice is described as something dreadful it only seems to be bad for Tintin and Haddock. In Cok en Stock Haddock would rather get back on a raft with no water then to be on the same boat as Castafiore. Newark (2013) says that the reason for the dramatic effect her voice has on the heroes is simply because they belong to another world and not the world of opera.
Castafiore is also a representation of sexuality throughout the series. She tries to supress it, but it keeps popping up and is reflected in things such as her jewels. Her jewels repeatedly being stolen is an allegory for sexual exchange (Apostolidès, 2010).
Castafiore is the only female character in the series with a personality and real meaning and to me it seems like Hergé took everything he hated about opera and (accidently?) turned it into a strong woman who worshipped her own sexuality.

Sources:

Apostolidès, Lean-Marie. (2010). The metaphors of Tintin or Tintin for Adults. Stanford University Press. https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=8TizX-868GgC&printsec=frontcover&hl=no&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=Castafiore&f=false

Tintin.com. (n.d.). Bianca Castafiore.
http://en.tintin.com/personnages/show/id/18/page/0/0/bianca-castafiore

Newark, Cormac. (2013). Faust, Nested Reception and La Castafiore. Cambridge University Press. https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.aut.ac.nz/stable/pdf/24252367.pdf