Before any further discussion can commence, I would be out of line not to mention the fact that Herge himself was against this interpretation of Tintin (Mountfort,2020). This however has not stopped the reader of the Tintin text from view Tintin in such a light and so we must ask the question of how Tintin’s gender and sexuality have been questioned. A clear example of how the analysis of Tintins closest relationships within the comics would be. Herge relegates the female characters to the role of seen but not heard as Herge believed “Women have nothing to do in a world like Tintin’s. I like women far too much to caricature them. And, besides, pretty or not, young or not, women are rarely comic characters,” (Mountfort, 2020), in Tintin in America we see women as carers with one being a member of Americans association of animal admirers, we see a woman taking action only because her beloved dog was placed in danger and we see a woman seemingly rocking a crying child (Herge,1973) in all these depictions women are providing care, care for animals care for children they do not stand alone but stand in relation to that which they care about. these are Herge depictions of women even Tintin’s closest female companion Castafiore, though development with a voice and opinions however there are barriers between her and Tintin firstly she is frequently depicted as a nuisance bursting into the Tintin comics often uninvited (Mountfort, 2020) secondly she is the love interest of captain haddock () these barriers mean the strongest and only fleshed out relationship between Tintin and a female character is one that will not progress further than friendship. Leaving the primary relationships in Tintin to be between other male characters and himself. We see this clearly through Tintins relationships with captain haddock, unlike Castafiore captain haddock’s friendship is framed outside of his relationship with Castafiore rather it was built upon the many adventures they partake in throughout the comics (Mountfort, 2020). We never see such a relationship being built between Tintin and female characters and as such Tintin is isolated from any possibility of a relationship with a woman. Thus, allowing space in which Tintins sexuality and gender can be analysed and thus questioned.
The why of the question, how and why Herge character Tintin’s gender and sexuality have been questioned, can be seen throughout the character of Tintin himself. I say this because despite being a comic without many fleshed-out roles the traditional depiction of the female and her attributes can still be seen throughout these comics. The character Tintin carries the traditionally depicted female role as Paul Mountfort states “envisaging Tintin as a girl or young woman would make little material difference to his depiction in the series, other than perhaps to raise eyebrows at his living arrangements” (Mountfort, 2020). It is kind of true, Tintin carries within his character traits traditionally given to female characters and we can see this in The crab with the golden claw when Tintin consoles a drunk haddock after he discovers his crew is diamond smugglers(Herge, 1951).
So overall despite Herge himself being against the reading of Tintin as a possibly queer character one can’t deny that the how and why Tintins gender and sexuality are questioned has a high possibility of stemming from Herge’s decisions when creating the Tintin comic series.
REFERENCES
Herge (auth). (1973). Tintin in America, London, England: Methuen
Herge (auth). (1958). Tintin and the crab with the golden claw, London, England: Methuen
Mountfort, P. (2020). Tintin, gender and desire[powerpoint]. Retrieved from https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_96250_1&content_id=_5273101_1&mode=reset
Mountfort, P. (2020). Tintin and gender part 2[powerpoint]. Retrieved from https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_96250_1&content_id=_5273101_1&mode=reset
Pop Genres 2020 