Category: Week 2 Questions – Tintin

Week 2

Week .2 – Popular Genres : What is the alleged connection between Hergé’s early comics and propaganda? 

Herge’s series of Tintin comics are widely popular all over the world, and have been childhood favourites for many generations of the 20th century. The Adventures of Tintin pioneered the rise and popularity of graphic novels, and will always be appreciated as  a classic, however there are quite a few issues which must be discussed in a contemporary light.  

When choosing to focus on Herge’s politics, it becomes apparent that he didn’t shy away from expressing his views through his artwork, and there are quite a lot of notions which prove to be problematic. Tintin’s adventures lead him to foreign lands, which served as an opportunity for Herge to imbue his right wing and often racist beliefs. This is more relevant in his earlier comics, especially throughout the 1930’s, a time when fascism and propaganda were at their peak, and the world hung suspended between the first and second world war. The Blue Lotus was the first time Herge chose to close up the gap between othering and shares views which are against imperialism. While this is very interesting in the context of what is problematic and what is not, it is important to focus on the chore of his views and beliefs which lie in his earlier comics.  

Tintin in The Land of the Soviets is one of the most propagandistic accounts of Herge’s fascism, as there are many anti Bolshevik insinuations, including negative commentary on communism. Though Herge didn’t publicly speak  out about fascism or the Nazi occupation of Belgium, the connotations in his comics speak for themselves. Tintin being portrayed as a hero and overt nationalist definitely point towards fascist and Nazi values. The notion of heroism is associated with leadership which connects to the idea of the ‘fuhrer’. Tintin often visited foreign lands where he acted as superior and took on the role of being heroic, while preaching unmistakably nationalist views.  

Tintin in the Congo portrays some of Herge’s most racist and colonialist views, so much so that  even he himself believed it to be a mistake of his youth. Though his commentary when asked about the issue is more apologetic about the outcry it caused, rather than the problematic portrayal of African people. His response still held a sense of colonialism as he believed he took on a ‘paternal’ role when depicting the Africans, and that it fits into the social setting of the time. The comic itself is graphically offensive, as much as it is textually, featuring stereotypical and caricaturised drawings of African people. In the story, Tintin looks down upon the tribe he encounters and acts as the great white saviour, who can help the uncivilized population. Congo having been a Belgian colony, Tintin feels the need to educate the Congolese people about their country Belgium, which proves the extent of Herge’s nationalist tendencies.  The racist portrayal of ethnic groups is something that Walt Disney was also guilty of ; the connection between animation, cartoons, comics and racism being rather fascinating. Walt Disney was known to be affiliated with the Nazi party, so it isn’t difficult to connect Herge  

References: Mountfort, P. (2016). Tintin as Spectacle: The Backstory of a Popular Franchise and Late Capital.

Week 2 Question: What is the alleged connection between Hergé’s early comics and propaganda?

2. What is the alleged connection between Hergé’s early comics and propaganda?

The early works of Hergé have come under fire for many different reasons all of which regarding the controversial content in Tintin like Hergé’s depiction of race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and the alleged connection between those comics and propaganda. For years critics have discussed and debated the connection between Hergé’s early comics and propaganda and whether it is emblematic of his politics. The newspaper where Hergé worked was the Le Petit Vingtième, a French publication that continued to publish under the Nazi occupation at the time when many other publications did not. As a result, Hergé’s early works are littered with Nazi propaganda, in Paul Mountfort’s Tintin as Spectacle: The Backstory of a Popular Franchise and Late Capital (Mountfort, 2016) he explicitly states that “The first two Tintin albums are pure right-wing propaganda. Soviets was doctrinaire anti-Bolshevism, Tintin au Congo/Tintin in the Congo (1930–31) a sustained valorization of the appalling Belgian colonial enterprise.” (Mountfort, 2016).

Hergé’s comic art propaganda would continue to infect later Tintin albums up until L’Étoile mystérieuse/The Shooting Star (1941–42). Tintin’s very inception was designed as a way to sell comics and the rapid gain in popularity that Tintin had, shows that it was successful in this regard, Mountfort points out that the comics were “from the outset part of a commercial enterprise designed to sell copy as well as ideology” (Mountfort, 2016). One reason as to how Tintin was able to gain such massive popularity fast was that it was published as a full novel-length album which, as Mountfort states, pushed Tintin “into a sphere quasi-independent from its parent magazine where it could be read in more novelistic terms than a “mere” strip cartoon” (Mountfort, 2016). The connection between Hergé’s early comics and propaganda is blatantly clear and since then an apologetic but quite defensive Hergé would tone down certain aspects of the comics but shrugged off the alleged connection to anti-Semitism. Hergé’s main excuse being that was the style back then. The bigger issue with the connection to propaganda in these earlier comics was the fact that Hergé was publishing at all during this time when many other publications shut down during the war rather than collaborate with Nazi propagandists. It puts Hergé in a position where it is very difficult to not see him as a Nazi collaborator. Thus, the connection between these early comics from Hergé and the alleged propaganda that is featured within them is all but apparent when their origin is understood.

References

Mountfort, P. (2016). Tintin as Spectacle: The Backstory of a Popular Franchise and Late Capital.

Remi, G. (1942). The Shooting Star. Casterman.