4. What issues do his albums raise in terms of representation of ‘race’, and particularly ethnic and cultural stereotyping?
Tintin is an adventure, a traveler and a hero. Interestingly his stories often overlap with foreign cultures and are set on foreign lands. Most of these lands have been colonized by European nations who are in the process of civilizing the natives.
In studying the series of Tintin adventures there are numerous depictions of either an oversimplification of race or a blatant reinforcement of the cultural stereotypes already in existence. Moreover, Tintin’s adventures are from a Euro-centric point of view and leave him in the position of the white saviour with each heroic victory. Some of his depictions of the ‘other’ seem almost are unaware of the stereotypes Hergé is reinforcing, while other Tintin serials represent race in a blatantly racist way.
The most famous early works to cause racial offence is Hergé (1930-31) Tintin in the Congo. In this serial he depicts the indigenous population as being childlike, unintelligent, with features that closely resemble Gorillas.
Other problematic depictions are of Arab people, Indians, Chinese and Japanese. Each ethnicity or culture is usually depicted as either underestimated or as needing their European Colonizers or Allies to survive. Curiously the depiction of Japanese in “The Crab with Golden Claw” is one of mutual respect for a Japanese policeman who helps Tintin unveil an international drug smuggling ring. Whereas, the depiction of Japanese in The Golden Lotus, show Japanese people as evil, manipulative and invaders of the Chinese. This is shown with the caricature of the Japanese appearance with large oversized teeth, extremely slanted eyes and an almost pig like nose.
This change in the physical appearance of race could signal a change in Herge’s political affiliations, his new found friendship with a Chinese student, or it could be used in the popular way that villains are depicted in fairy tales. These evil doers are often portrayed with ugly, oversized features. It is worth considering this as an option in this book. Although Chang’s warning, “be careful, they are not Chinese,” may point in the direction of racism.
His later works, The Black Island (1938), his villains are of German ethnicity. They are portrayed as calculating homicidal criminals. They are drawn with thin moustaches and pursued mouths. This serial coincides with a time in history leading into World War Two when anti-German sentiment is high amongst Belguim, France and other Allies such as the British. Tintin travels through these countries on his hunt for the German Dr Mueiller. He finally tracks him down in Scotland. While in Scotland Herge again reinforces the stereotypes of the Scottish with Tintin taking on the traditional Scottish costume, wearing a kilt. Inherently, the other Scottish people are not wearing kilts in the story.
The question I’m left with; Is Hergé racist, naive or does he create art based on the political climate of the times?
References:
Dunnett, O. (2009). Identity and geopolitics in Hergé’s adventures of Tintin. Social and Cultural Geography, 10(5), 583–598. https://doi-org.ezproxy.aut.ac.nz/10.1080/14649360902974449
Frey, H. (2004). Contagious colonial diseases in Hergé’s The adventures of Tintin. Modern & Contemporary France, 12(2), 177–188. https://doi-org.ezproxy.aut.ac.nz/10.1080/09639480410001693043
Hergé (1930-31) Tintin in the Congo
Hergé, (1931) The Blue Lotus
Hergé (1938) The Adventures of Tintin – The Black Island
Hergé (1941) The Adventures of Tintin -The Crab with Golden Claw
Mukherjee, D. (2016). Domesticating the “Other”: An Analysis of the Appropriation of Non-Humans by Humanistic Discourse in Herge’s The Adventures of Tintin. Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 8(1), 214.
Racism in Children’s Books: Tintin in the Congo. (2007). The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 56, 14.
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