Author: Tanya Parker

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

The Adventures have been criticised for not only the notable absence of women but the lack of positive or liberating representation of the female figures that do appear throughout the albums. Even where there are some exceptions, such as Bianca Castafiore and Peggy Alcazar, the overarching this-is-a-man’s-world mindset still prevails passively in their depiction.

Hergé’s claim to “like women far too much to caricature them” can also be read as not liking women enough to support their liberation. Women shown throughout the Adventures are consistently depicted as silent and domicile, and exclusively assigned roles in the domestic and maternal sphere: mother, maid, homemakers, caregivers – “[they] are visually and narratively backgrounded…mere figures in the crowd” (Mountfort, 2020). It is also blatant that there are no female speaking characters in Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, and in Tintin in the Congo where a few women did have dialogue, they were only brief expressions of anger or annoyance, further instilling the image of women as irritants (Mountfort, 2020). Although some may regard Tintin as a product of prominent ideologies of the time – as this is how he justified his crude representations of Congolese in Tintin in the Congo – it remains problematic because he ignored challenges to women’s subordination despite the waves of feminism that occurred throughout his life (Mountfort, 2020). The resistance of female liberation does not completely if at all excuse this, especially in considering the many ‘barrier breakers’ that emerged during this period – female aviators, intellectuals, writers and artists to name some (Mountfort, 2020). It is also ironic in understanding that the second wave of feminism focused on issues of equality and discrimination, with an emphasis on dismantling the role of women in the family and home (Burkett & Brunell, 2020). The issue here is not the expectation that Hergé should have feminist leanings, but with an awareness of the second wave of feminism being well underway in the 60s and 70s, we can see this prevailing, reductive depiction of women as Hergé “passively reinscribing gender dominants” (Mountfort, 2020).

There are a handful of female characters who appear to be deviations from these representations, which may signify Hergé finally waking up to women’s liberation. Hergé’s acknowledgement however is expressed in a parodied way (Mountfort, 2020). For example, Peggy Alcazar is depicted as the bossy woman of the house, often depicted barking orders, with curlers in her hair (ibid., 2020). We also have Castafiore who surpasses the female servitude motif but although she is the most developed female in the albums for extending beyond the maternal, domestic sphere, it is problematic that her she is portrayed as a nuisance. It is worth noting that the feature of the medium Madame Yamilah and other female roles we see that are outside of the realm of the home and family such as flight attendants and nurses, are problematic because they are nameless for the most part, and these are commonly hypersexualized and hyperfeminized “fantasy fixtures of the male gaze” – Madame Yamilah represents the mystical oriental trope, and roles such as the flight attendant and nurse are still constricted to the idea of servitude.

References

Burkett, E., & Brunell, L. (2020). Feminism. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/feminism

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

How decisively did Hergé address this issue from The Blue Lotus on, and in what ways did it remain problematic?

The Blue Lotus (1935) is regarded as the most ethnographically, historically and politically rooted of all the Tintin adventures, however, ongoing analysis of his works have in turn raised some questions and confusion around genuineness and intention. Hergés wavering position historically can be contested on a number of contradicting elements throughout the albums especially in regards to ethnic stereotyping.

Hergés introduction to and the subsequent friendship with student Chang Chong-chen resulted in a shift in Hergés portrayal of othered peoples and places. He strived to achieve a greater degree of realism and displayed an awareness of the political and economic situation of the time, under the guidance of Chang (Mountfort 2012). This was in great contrast to previous albums such as Tintin in the Land of the Soviets and Tintin in the Congo where racist caricatures were used to illustrate African people. The Blue Lotus is thus “a turning point in Herge’s evocation of the Other” and challenges sinophobic stereotypes by advocating a Chinese view of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria (Mountfort 2012).

Even with the sympathetic position Hergé takes in The Blue Lotus, it is contested that the series is still unable to completely rid of an Orientalist gaze (Mountfort 2012). It can also be questioned as to whether Hergés new approach may have actually caused more misunderstanding in that he has attempted to “make the Other more palatable to a European audience by stripping it of elements that are too powerfully Other” (Mountfort, 2012). For example, part of the sympathetic portrayal of the Chinese is that they are depicted by using neutral, European features to make them look less ‘alien’ and therefore less confronting – in juxtaposition, reductive and racist iconography is used to depict the Japanese, such as slit eyes, a ‘pig-snouted’ nose and other exaggeratedly Asian features – Hergé has attempted to humanize one by dehumanizing another (Mountfort 2012). Whether or not Hergé was conscious of the influence this would have globally, the deasianization of Chinese and the hyperasianization of Japanese in The Blue Lotus were problematic in large due to the very nature of the media form itself. These images were seen worldwide, thus simultaneously contributing to the process of further othering Japanese while also reducing Chinese to an oriental ally. It is also important to note that The Adventures were propagandistic to begin with, designed to sell ideologies rapidly (Mountfort, 2016).

Hergé raises more questions in albums published after The Blue Lotus, such as Tintin in Tibet, where he maintains a much more apolitical stance despite the wildly underway Tibetan uprising. The series is based on the rescue of Chang by Tintin, who had a dream that Chang was stranded in the Himalayan mountains. This can be understood as Hergé reinscribing the white paternalistic hero motif (Mountfort, 2012), insinuating in the same scope that non-white Europeans need to be saved, and that white Europeans will save you out of the goodness of their hearts. Hergé also does not give the same level of criticism as he did with the Japanese in The Blue Lotus – he seems to abandon what appeared to be a growing understanding of Asia in The Blue Lotus, in favour of depicting the white hero motif in an exotic land.

References

Hergé, 1935. Tintin: The Blue Lotus.

Mountfort, P. (2016). Tintin as Spectacle: The Backstory of a Popular Franchise and Late Capital. Journal of Asia-Pacific Pop Culture, 1(1), 37-56.

Mountfort, P. (2012). ‘Yellow skin, black hair… Careful, Tintin’: Hergé and Orientalism. Australasian Journal of Popular Culture, 1(1), 33-49.