Cheyenne Thomas

Week 11 Questions

1. How real is reality TV?

According to Hill (2005), reality TV is categorized as popular factual programming and includes various themes, styles and techniques such as “non-professional actors, unscripted dialogue, surveillance footage, hand-held cameras [and] seeing events unfold as they are happening in front of the camera” (Hill, A., 2005). Kilborn (1994) states that one of the founding principles and objectives of reality TV, or RTV, is to provide their viewers with an “unmediated view of reality”.

So, how real is reality TV? Kilborn (1994) argues that viewers of RTV have grown to understand the inner workings of RTV and are aware that what they are watching on screen is in fact a “constructed reality” and that not everything presented to the audience is what it might seem. The primary objective of RTV is to entertain, in order to do so RTV producers make use of “necessary manipulation” through the use of various production techniques. Allen and Mendick (2013) discuss the representations of authenticity within RTV through three common themes: identification, such as beautiful people vs. people like me, situation, common goals vs. uncommon surroundings, and production, the unscripted vs. necessary manipulation.

Beautiful people can be classified as guests that fit societies views of the ideal person, while people like me introduces guests that are considered “ordinary”, this allows RTV to relate to their audiences while providing ideal aesthetics (Allen, K., & Mendick, H., 2013). While situations focus primarily upon cooperative psychology and location and setting, whereas unscripted are interactions, situations or consequences which arise from unknown or unpredictable variables and necessary manipulation are actions of the host or production to dramatize and exaggerate interactions between guests, alternatively for shows like Survivor, where guests are placed within highly competitive situations that challenge their physical skills as well as their intellectual and mental abilities (Kilborn, R., 1994).

In conclusion, Reality TV is both reality and unreality. While it includes aspects of reality with genuine reactions to certain themes and elements of reality, it is also largely manipulated by staging, editing, and ingenuine motivation from outer influences.

References

Allen, K., & Mendick, H. (2013). Keeping it real? Social class, young people and ‘Authenticity’ in reality TV. Sociology, 47(3), 460-476.

Grindstaff, L. (2012). Reality TV and the production of ‘Ordinary celebrity’: Notes from the field. Berkeley Journal of Sociology.

Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, reality TV: Audiences and popular factual television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.

Kilborn, R. (1994). How real can you get?: Recent developments in ‘reality’ television. European Journal of Communication 1994 9: 421 DOI: 10.1177/0267323194009004003

Week 10 Questions

2. What distinctions are there between alternate history, postmodern alternate history and uchronie genres?

As we know, science fiction is a genre of fiction that typically includes themes of futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extra-terrestrial life. Within science fiction there are various literary subgenres, including alternate history, postmodern alternate history and uchronie. According to Wegner (2013) alternate histories focus on crucial historical points of our existing universe which have radically different results thus creating an “alternate history” different from our own, with examples such as: the Nazis winning World War II, the American Revolution failing to occur, the South winning the Civil War or Hitler escaping into postwar hiding, and many others (Rosenfeld, G., 2002).

Alternate history is the first distinct subgenre of science fiction which I will be discussing. Alternate history is built upon the idea of the “what if” scenario rather than the inclusion of science or parallel universe and time travel. Thus, the reader experiences a creative text of an alternate reality in which past events have radically different outcomes. First and foremost an alternate history possesses the same historical background of the real world, secondly, a crucial moment in history is altered by a major degree and the story addresses the shifts of the world in response to that dramatic difference (Winthrop-Young, G., 2009) but still follows the natural order of a linear, or ‘diachronic’ view of time (Mountfort, P., 2016).

According to Mountfort (2018) postmodern alternate history, while still exploring an alternate historical event and its consequences and influences on the world’s wider timeline, enters a synchronic view of time. Postmodern alternate history applies themes of postmodern relativism in which the casual line is discarded in favour of multiple coexistences of factors or facts (Mountfort, P., 2018), and placing at the foreground a highly chaotic historical event or moment.

Unlike the two previous genres, uchronie, a French term used to describe alternative history genres, focused primarily upon the coexistence of alternative worlds, universes or timelines in conjunction with one another, or parallel universes and histories (Mountfort, P., 2018). Rather than an individual historical event radically changing the outcome of the universes timeline, uchronie explores individual events, sometimes one or many, which exist side-by-side (Mountfort, P., 2018).

References

Mountfort, P. (2016). The I Ching and Philip K. Dick’s the man in the high castle. Science Fiction Studies.

Mountfort, P. (2018). Science fictional doubles: Technologization of the doppelganger and sinister science in serial science fiction TV. Journal of Science & Popular Culture.

Rosenfeld, G. (2002). Reflections on the function of alternate history. Wiley for Wesleyan University.

Wegner, P. E., (2013). Detonating new shockwaves of possibility: Alternate histories and the geopolitical aesthetics of Ken MacLeod and Iain M. Banks. Michigan State University Press.

Winthrop-Young, G. (2009). Fallacies and Thresholds: Notes on the Early Evolution of Alternate History. Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung, 34(2 (128)), 99-117.

Week 9 Questions

1. What are the three main genres of cosphotography, and how did they historically develop?

According to Mountfort et al. (2018), cosphotography is a subgenre of photography which focuses on the capture and promotion of Cosers or Cosplay artists through visual mediums. Firstly, photographic practices are a major part of Cosplay culture. It allows for both public and private visual documentation of a cosers hard work by provided photos and videos of the finished product, the Cosplayer’s “final look”, but is also used to document the process of creating the costumes, often by hand, as well as the use of prosthetics, the application of make-up and the time of perfecting the Cosers “act” through poses and other motion captures and gestures (Mountfort et el., 2018). These photos and videos are also used promotionally and have become an avenue for financial gain, allowing for Cosers to receive capital for the work that they do as the images and clips are advertised across websites, social media platforms and other online and offline businesses (Mountfort et el., 2018). In this post I will be discussing the origins and the impacts of three genres of cosphotography, fashion shoot or runway cosphotography, studio portraiture, and hallway snapshots.

According to Mountfort (2018) in 1939, Forrest J. Ackerman, financer of Ray Bradbury’s Future Fantasia zine, and Myrtle R. Jones, also known as Morojo, appeared in matching costumes for Worldcon. Together they wore “futuristic costumes” based on the feature film H.G. Wells’ Things to Come (1936). From that point onwards Worldcon began showcasing costumes with staged competitions, “originat[ing] in an annual Masquerade” (Mountfort et el., 2018). These Masquerades fashioned the first of the cosphotography genres, Fashion shoots or Fashion runways where costumers “posed for photographs”. In relation to Mountfort et el, Lamerichs (2018) mentions that these fashion shoots and runways have become organized as not only mainstream fashion culture, but also as professionally organized catwalks. These fashion shows are often combined with a narrative which the Coser’s costume or character is based, and the Coser is given either a stage platform or a literal runway to showcase their character and their accompanying costume (Lamerichs, N., 2018).

Second are the studio portraits or portraitures, introduced with the commercialization of cameras from 1925 and the release of the Kodak Retina I in 1934 which allowed for cameras to reach the wider mass population as well as the production and introduction of the Argus A in 1936 and the Argus C3 in 1939 (Mountfort et el., 2018). By the 1970s, studio portraiture became prominent, staging shots of fans modelling their costumes for both professional and amateur photographers. The studio portraits paved the way for today’s photography sessions, sometimes held during or after a fashion show, in which the Coser’s costumes become the highlight of the session. Photography sessions have become not only central to Cosers, but also to the photographers themselves, as a means of honing their photography skills and building photography portfolios (Lamerichs, N., 2018).

Lastly is the hallway snapshots, that unlike the above genres which are often well organized, orchestrated and formal, are considered informal and casual. While often initiated in conjunction with fashion shows hallway snapshots which during the Worldcon Masquerades were taken in less staged shoots such as from the sidelines of the competitions (Mountfort et el., 2018). Now in the modern age where almost every person owns a smartphone with a camera, hallway snapshots are classified as those photographs taken of Cosers by fans of the Coser or the character that the Coser plays. These photographs are often taken as something to be expected, and even as compliments (Lamerichs, N., 2018).

References

Lamerichs, N. (2018). Productive fandom: Intermediality and affective reception in fan cultures. Amsterdam University Press.

Mountfort, P., Peirson-Smith, A., & Geczy, A. (2018). Planet cosplay: Costume play, identity and global fandom. Blackboard. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/

Week 8 Questions

3. To what extent can narratology, translation and adaptation studies aid us in understanding cosplay ?

According to Onega and Landa (2014), narratology is the science of narrative. Formerly restricted to the structure and analysis of narrative, it now encompasses gender studies, psychoanalysis, reader-response criticism and ideological critique. Narratology is a multi-disciplinary study of narrative which compromises and integrates the creative text of many discourses and critiques that involve narrative forms of representation that are both literary and non-literary such as advertisement, merchandises, lyrical poems, films, history and dramas (Onega, S., & Landa, J., 2014). In relation to cosplay, according to Mountfort et al. (2018) cosplay is the “dressing up and performing as characters from popular media” translating and adapting their costumes into our world and thus creating a new narrative text.

Using narratology in relation to cosplay, “Fan cultures […] contain many material practices that use the text as a starting point for new forms of play and productivity” (Lamerichs, N., 2018), meaning that both material and text used by Cosers is often used in conjunction to understanding and interpreting their popular media texts. From this combination of creative text and material, the Cosers are crafting their own stories or fabula, and opening discourse among the wider communities through Costume and Role play, broadening the narrative texts of their individual medias and even combining them with other fandoms of their choosing as their Cosplay characters meet and interact both with other Cosplay characters as well as “real world” fans of their creative texts.

Through understanding Cosplay through narratology, translation and adaption, Cosers are able to take their creations to new realms, adapting popular characters, concepts or models from one fandom and into another as “creative reinterpretation[‘s]” (Mountfort et el., 2018) via producing “Hello Kitty Darth Vaders, steampunk Bobba Fetts, and zombie Jedi” (Mountfort et el., 2018).

References

Lamerichs, N. (2018). Productive fandom: Intermediality and affective reception in fan cultures. Amsterdam University Press.

Mountfort, P., Peirson-Smith, A., & Geczy, A. (2018). Planet cosplay: Costume play, identity and global fandom. Blackboard. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/

Onega, S., & Landa, J. (2014). Narratology: An introduction. Routledge.

Week 7 Questions

3. Carroll (2003) and King (2010) discuss how the “monster” is really a defining feature of a horror story. Using references, explain in your own words how a monster in horror differentiates from monsters in other popular genres.

Monsters as a defining feature of horror is something that can also be said for several other genres and subgenres outside of horror, such as science fiction, fairy tales, myths and odysseys (Carroll, N., 2003). However, both Carroll and King agree on the way in which the monsters in horror stand out and display three distinct themes: the terror, the horror and the disgust (King, S., 1982). Where the monsters in science fiction are often described and portrayed as species whose origins are placed in far away galaxies, undersea societies or communities deep within the earth, the monsters of horror are distinct in the way in which they are both familiar and unfamiliar (Carroll, N., 1990).

Carroll mentions that monsters seen in horror are often portrayed as abnormalities, a mutation or a “disturbance of the natural order” (Carroll, N., 2003). The monster is identified as being an extraordinary creature in a mediocre and ordinary world and this is shown through the means of which that the human characters of the story behave and react in the face of the discovery of such a creature. The human creatures will experience the initial terror and fear of the monster they are witness to, a primal reaction to an impossible threat (King, S., 1982) which is shortly followed by the horror at the realization that such a thing could exist at all in ordinary society to only then to finally experience the last of the trademark reactions to a monster from horror, which is the disgust (Carroll, N., 2003). The revulsion and the nausea that the characters experience, and the inevitable recoil from the monster’s physical contact with the characters. There are numerous examples of this revulsion, but we see it in Harker from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, in which Harker shudders when he is touched by the Count.

As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank, but a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which do what I would, I could not conceal.

Carroll argues that monsters within horror are “impure” (Carroll, N., 2003), that they are not so removed from reality that audiences cannot find something familiar in them, but see it as perverted or twisted by the monstrosity of it. Hanscomb provides examples within his study Existentialism and art-horror: living and dead (vampires, zombies, Frankenstein’s monster), human and beast (werewolves, the Fly), human and supernatural entity (demons, omens), the innocence and corruption/insanity (child possessions and poltergeists), and others (Hanscomb, S., 2010).

King goes further, arguing that what makes a horror monster is the reactions that it elicits from its audiences, the readers or the viewers of the horror tale. The emotions and reactions of the human characters within the creative text of horror must reflect the emotions and reactions of the audience, when a character withdraws into themselves as the monster approaches, the audience must also withdraw. When a character experiences the nausea and the revulsion at the sight of the creature coming towards them, the audience must also experience the same feelings of disgust and discontent (King, S., 1982).

References

Carroll, N. (1990). The philosophy of horror: Or, paradoxes of the heart. Routledge.

Carroll, N. (2003). The nature of horror. Blackwell Publishing.

Goss, T. (2012). What the freak and monster tell us. Conjunctions.

Hanscomb, S. (2010). Existentialism and art-horror. Berghahn Books.

King, S. (1982). Danse Macabre. Everest House.

Sauchelli, A. (2014). Horror and mood. North American Philosophical Publications.

Week 6 Questions

3. According to Joshi (2007), a tale from the Cthulhu Mythos has several defining features that occur regularly throughout Lovecraft’s work. What are these features and how are they used in The Shadow Over Innsmouth? Furthermore, can you see any of these features being used in The Colour out of Space?

Joshi mentions that there are several defining features that can be seen explicitly within Lovecraft’s Mythos. The imaginary New England topography used throughout Lovecraft’s works, the study of occult books, both old and new, by academic researchers, the mention or the explicit interactions between humanity and the “gods” and the perception of the cosmic fear (Joshi, S. T., 2007). These themes can be identified within Lovecraft’s works of The Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Colour out of Space.

Innsmouth was described by Lovecraft as a depopulated seaport in which the neighbours believed it to be “an exaggerated case of civic degeneration.” (Lovecraft, H. P., 1936). Lovecraft goes on with the ticket agent who spends a lengthy amount of time recounting Innsmouth’s history, landscape and geology, focusing upon the Devil Reef where the elderly of the neighbouring Newburyport told stories about devils which could be seen beneath the water “darting in and out” (Lovecraft, H. P., 1936) of the reef tunnels and caves. Furthermore, within The Colour out of Space, Lovecraft describes Arkham and its surrounding terrain in vivid detail, from the rising and wild hills, the valleys of deep woods and the narrow glens where the trees slope fantastically. Lovecraft uses the descriptions of roads overgrown and replaced and the way in which the old had been replaced by the new (Lovecraft, H. P., 1927). By doing this, Lovecraft has used the extensive descriptions of imagined New England to establish feelings of otherness and isolation, creating a framework in which the small and narrow world of his topography becomes a character and an antagonist within itself without personifying it completely.

In The Shadow Over Innsmouth, the protagonist is a studious man on a journey to explore New England as his coming of age, we follow him as he spends an entire evening pulling up as much information on Innsmouth as he can at the Newburyport Public Library as well as attempting to interview locals at stores, open garages and even the fire station in the hopes of discovering more about the mysterious seaport town but is met with cold shoulders and “obscure suspicion” (Lovecraft, H. P., 1936.) throughout his quest of discovery, demonstrating the second theme seen within Lovecraft’s works of the use of both ancient and modern occult books or study and the way in which the protagonist is demonstrated as having an inquisitive and rational mind. Meanwhile, the protagonist of The Colour Out of Space is a surveyor sent to study the new reservoir of Arkham where the locals told him stories about the legends of witches and evil that plagued the area (Lovecraft, H. P., 1927). This protagonist is once more described as a level-headed and rational man, who’s interest in the area stems from an academic or scholarly perception.

Furthermore, throughout Lovecraft’s Mythos is the perception of “cosmic fear” (Sederholm, C., & Weinstock, J. A., 2015) which is used often to negate the idea of human exceptionalism in the face of the immensity and power of the unknown. In Lovecraft’s essay Supernatural Horror in Literature, he says “the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” (Lovecraft, Supernatural Horror 12). This is demonstrated within The Shadow Over Innsmouth with the introduction of the undersea hybrid creatures known as The Deep Ones which acts as the sense of otherness, difference and alien unknowing that is prevalent within the Cthulhu Mythos. Now, while The Colour Out of Space does not cite creatures from the deep sea, it does exhibit the crashing of a meteorite which lands on a farmers property in which a mysterious entity or entities begin to manipulate and change the landscape and those whom reside upon it eventually leading to the mental instability and final death of the humans that had come into contact with it (Mastropierro, L., 2009). The sense of the otherness corrupting that which was once normal and right into something maddening and otherworldly is another demonstration of one of Lovecraft’s trademarks within his Mythos.

References

Joshi, S. T. (2007). Icons of horror and the supernatural: An encyclopedia of our worst nightmares. Greenwood.

Lovecraft, H. P. (1927). The color out of space. Amazing stories.

Lovecraft, H. P. (1936). The shadow over innsmouth. Visionary Publishing Company.

Lowell, M. (2004). Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos, The Explicator, 63:1, 47-50, DOI: 10.1080/00144940409597257

Mastropierro, L. (2009). The theme of distance in the tales of H. P. Lovecraft. Hippocampus Press.

Norris, D. (2018). The void. Hippocampus Press.

Sederholm, C., & Weinstock, J. A. (2015). Introduction: Lovecraft now. International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts.

Week 5 Questions

6. What is the ‘shōjo’ and how does it often function in anime?

According to Yukari (2012), Shōjo, which literally translates into “young woman” in English, falls under a category of Manga and Anime films that are primarily targeted towards a young female audience, with Tokyopop and VizMedia claiming that the demographic for shōjo manga ranged from girls aged 12 to 17 years old (Takeuchi, K., 2010). Shōjo is often characterized presently by passive personal narratives, the pursuit of romantic relationships and the internalized musings of and about human relationships.

However, Shōjo goes further than this oversimplified classification. Truly beginning in the 1960s, a group of female shōjo manga authors led the “radical diversification” (Aoyama et al., 2010) of the genre through a series of subgenres within manga which included family stories, school stories, science fiction, fantasy, and comedy as a way of studying the many layers of the human psyche. By saturating the works of shōjo manga with human psychology, these authors established patterns of the shōjo genre that would continue to be utilized onward (Yukari & Thorn, 2012).

Within anime, shōjo stories have been quoted to bring readers “a sense of liberation from social norms and restrictions” through the telling of stories which focused upon the personal and interpersonal identity (Takeuchi, K., 2010). Shōjo was able to both address and transcend the conventional and traditional views and ideas of modern society as far as gender identity, representation, sexuality and sense of personal narrative, belonging and empowerment were regarded (2010).

Furthermore, shōjo is a demonstrative genre which explores themes of philosophy, while questions about identity are prevelant within shōjo, so too are core stories about human nature and existence, the struggles of connectivity among the wider communities and how often within shōjo stories which explore the magical girl trope, address the means of saving the world through understanding and compassion (Coates, J., 2018).

References

Aoyama, T., Dollase, H., & Kan, S. (2010). Shōjo manga: Past, present, and future. University of Hawai’i Press.

Coates, J. (2018). Mediating memory: Shōjo and war memory in classical narrative Japanese cinema. The Hakubi Project, Kyoto University.

Takeuchi, K. (2010). The genealogy of Japanese “shōjo manga” studies. University of Hawai’i Press.

Yukari, F., & Thorn, M. (2012). Takahashi Macoto: The origin of shōjo manga style. Mechademia, 7, 24-55. Retrieved October 11, 2020

Week 4 Questions

What features make Akira cyberpunk, and how does it reference the wider subgenre?

According to Jorgensen (2020), Cyberpunk refers to a sub-genre of science fiction and features highly advanced technological societies, cities and landscapes, heightened scientific research platforms and displays urban, dystopian futures with a film noir aesthetic. Cyberpunk contains various characteristics that have become trademarks of the genre such as dystopian futuristic settings, combinations of low-life and high tech, massive class divides between the grossly rich and the poverty and addiction ravaged lower class societies, vast technological advancement to the point of the total destruction and extinction of natural and organic resources as well as the corruption of governments or the systematic oppression by major mega-corporations (Cavallaro, D., 2000).

Akira contains several of these trademark characteristics of cyberpunk such as a dystopian earth. A world based on a near-future earth where technology has become deeply enmeshed in everyday human existence (Nicholls, P., 1999.) as seen with the highly modified street racer motorcycles that are seen prevalently among the youth biker gangs as well as the advanced military technology such as the compression laser weapons used by the Japanese army and military factions as well as the satellite weapon used to injure Akira’s leading antagonist Tetsuo.

One of the other trademark features portrayed within the film is the high tech, low life archetype. Following the destruction of Tokyo, the generational youth have grown up within an advanced technological world which both supports and controls them (Iglesia, M., 2018). We see this with the high presence of law enforcement and military personnel seen interfering with the working-class protests as well as with the youth groups violent criminal rebellion against rival biker gangs. The police and law enforcement presence in Akira is violent, oppressive and utilize advanced machinery such as high surveillance and jet bikes which utilize highly lethal miniguns as a form of intimidation and execution (Otomo, K., 1988).

Akira also uses several tropes from old noir movies, many of the characters represented within Akira are cynical, bitter and disillusioned by the violence and oppression of their every day lives. Kaneda is portrayed as a violent delinquent and malcontent whose only interest is in his biker gang and chasing the skirts of other lead character Kei but is later portrayed as the reluctant hero only after Tetsuo murders their close friend and ally Yamagata with his driving force behind this decision being that “If anybody should be killing him [Tetsuo] it should be us!” (Otomo, K., 1988).

One final feature demonstrated within the film is the existence of a higher authoritarian organization, while in most cyberpunk this power is often demonstrated through mega-corporations which control the earths planetary resources, services and industries, with a largely powerless government, or vice versa, Akira demonstrates this controlling organization as the military, led by Colonel Shikishima, who overthrows the existing government by staging a coup and turns the remaining military to his control by using the fear and uncertainty created by Tetsuo’s supernatural and psychic abilities as well as the prophesized threat of Akira (Otomo, K., 1988).

References

Cavallaro, D. (2000). Cyberpunk and cyberculture: Science fiction and the work of William Gibson. The Athlone Press.

Iglesia, M. (2018). Has Akira always been a cyberpunk comic?. Institute of European Art History.

Jorgensen, D. (2020). 2019: The year of our cyberpunk future. Artlink.

Nicholls, P. (1999). Cyberpunk. In the Encyclopaedia of science fiction. London: Orbit.

Otomo, K. (Director), (1988). Akira [Film]. Tokyo Movie Shinsha.

Week 3 Questions

What gaps are there in Hergé’s representation of women?

Hergé’s representations of women are not mocking, sexualized or offensive by any means, they are simply not there at all. In an article by Europe Comics, studies highlighted how women were notably pushed to the background, discarded or side-lined in favour for male dominated representation in Tintin wherein between the years 1946 and 1963, 134 women made an appearance, comparative to 998 men (“Women in Belgian comics” 2020).

Women are almost completely absent in Tintin’s world (Joseph, S., 2013) portraying most in his earlier volumes with single panel dialogues, if they had dialogue at all, wailing inconsolably fainting or presented as faces in a crowd (Mountford, P., 2020). The only two notable and recurring female characters with any agency at all consist of poorly demonstrative annoyances and “irritants” (Mountford, P., 2020). Bianca Castafiore, a domineering, jewel-obsessed opera star who drives Captain Haddock mad with her demanding self-centered nature and irritating affections. Alcazar’s wife, Peggy, was apparently inspired by a Ku Klux Klanswoman that Hergé saw on television (Marion, J., & Syrotinski, M., 2017) in which Peggy is a bullying gold-digger while any other minor female characters are domestic workers, caretakers and housewives (Mountford, P., 2020).

Hergé has a history of defending his poor representation of minorities, or his lack thereof, as being a “product of the time” (Benoît-Jeannin, M., 2001), but while in later additions he attempted to rectify the offensive caricatures of his racist stereotypes, he made no such efforts to address or correct his representations of women. Rather, Hergé continued to portray women as invisible, subservient, domestic caretakers when they were visible, and when they weren’t, as desexed silhouettes, faceless in a crowd. Hergé himself denied being a misogynist, saying that “for me, women have nothing to do in a world like Tintin’s, which is the realm of male friendship”. Something reiterated in a conversation between Hergé and Roger Leloup following the success of Yoko Tsuno, an unlikely female protagonist and Japanese adventurer in The Curious Trio, to which Hergé said “Women don’t belong in comics!” (“Women in Belgian comics” 2020).

Something which Hergé has reiterated throughout his life whenever the representation of women in his comics is addressed by either colleagues, friends or interviewers.

Curtly, the “gaps” in Hergé’s representation of women, is that there is none.

References

Benoît-Jeannin, M., 2001. Tintin and the World of Hergé. Little Brown & Co.

Joseph, Sarah, A Human Rights Reading of Tintin (August 6, 2013).

Marion, J., & Syrotinski, M. (2017). Terrifying, Wondrous Tintin. Yale French Studies.

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

Women in Belgian comics P1: Invisibility to objectification. (2020). Europe Comics. http://www.europecomics.com/women-belgian-comics-invisibility-objectification-pt1/

Week 2 Questions

3. How would you characterise Hergé’s politics, and how did they apparently change over time?

Georges Remi, known by his pen name Hergé, shifts and changes in political views can be evidenced throughout the volumes of the Adventures of Tintin. While working for the conservative Catholic newspaper Le Vingtiéme Siécle he was mentored by one of the newspapers editors, Abbé Wallez, a Belgian priest and journalist. Wallez possessed a strict and firmly held ultraconservative ideology and was a great admirer of Mussolini (P, Assouline., 1996.). It is believed that Abbé Wallez was crucial in Hergé’s decision in the first three destinations of Tintin, Soviet Russia, Belgian Congo and the United States (P, Assouline., 1996.). As such, Hergé’s earlier ideologies and political views and beliefs were highly influenced by his mentor and demonstrated through Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, Tintin in the Congo and Tintin in America, which were designed as conservative and anti-socialist propaganda with a sympathetic and endorsed perspective on colonial sentiment (Frey, H., 2004.). Later, with Tintin in America however, it was notably his first chance to explore scenarios of his choice which pressed ideologies of anti-capitalism and anti-consumerism while maintaining a clear ultraconservative ideology (Peeters, B., 2002.).

Hergé maintains these political ideologies throughout until the German occupation of Belgian in which his views on neutralism (Peeters, B., 2002.) becomes evidenced not only through his work with the Adventures of Tintin but also through several letters addressed to his long-time friend Charles Lesne and his subsequent arrest and trial following the end of the Second World War. Hergé notes his support of Leopold III’s surrender to the German military (Peeters, B., 2002.) and later is one of the few cartoonists and journalists to continue publishing their work while Brussels was under Nazi occupation (Benoît-Jeannin, M., 2001.). He worked for Le Soir, a newspaper that was under strict surveillance of the Propaganda Abteilung, where his works depicted the American portrayals as being severely underhanded while the portrayal of Blumenstein was an extreme caricature of a Jewish man that drew on popular stereotypes of Anti-Semitism (Peeters, B., 2002.).

While Hergé allowed himself an open mind in certain cultural and racial representations, as most notably seen with The Blue Lotus, his political views remain for the most part unchanged by his life experiences. That is to say, his political views remain as a conservative, neutralist with strong anti-capitalist, anti-consumerist and anti-communist ideals and beliefs.

References

Assouline, P. (1996) Hergé, Paris: Editions Plon.

Benoît Peeters (2002) A never ending trial: Hergé and the Second World War, Rethinking History, 6:3, 261-271, DOI: 10.1080/13642520210164490

Benoît-Jeannin, M. (2001) Le Mythe Hergé, Villeurbane: Editions Golias.

Hugo Frey (2004) Contagious colonial diseases in Hergé’s The adventures of Tintin , Modern & Contemporary France, 12:2, 177-188, DOI: 10.1080/09639480410001693043