Tintin, politics and human rights: reflections of a fan

I find it impossible to be objective on this issue. I did not read Tintin in the Congo until I was an adult, as its translation into English was delayed until 1991 due to its controversial nature. I do remember being very annoyed as a kid that I could not access this last, final book, and even borrowed a French language version from a library to get the general gist of the story. I certainly disliked the censorship. But, then again, my ethnicity was not offensively targeted by the book. In conclusion on this point, I note that, ironically, Tintin in the Congo is reportedly the most popular Tintin book in the Congo itself.

While Tintin in the Congo may be seen as a creature of its time, the same excuse is not so easily applied to The Red Sea Sharks, first published in 1958. One main plotline involves Tintin commandeering a ship engaged in the slave trade, with villains having tricked African Muslims into boarding with a promise to transport them to Mecca. While the book seems to have good intentions, reinforcing that slavery is evil and still affects African lives, the Africans are still portrayed as extremely naïve, subservient and in need of the help of white men. Having said that, every Tintin book ultimately portrays its white hero as smarter and more resourceful than everybody else, many of whom are very stupid indeed, such as the Thomson twins.

Tintin and Women

Women are almost absent in Tintin's world. Alcazar's wife in Tintin and the Picaros is a bullying harridan, a classic misogynistic stereotype. The only major female character is Bianca Castafiore, a domineering opera star, who drives Captain Haddock mad with her demanding self centred nature and irritating affections. Yet she is also brave, resourceful and loyal, as seen in The Calculus Affair and Tintin and the Picaros.

Tintin's world of men is not unique. Men dominate twentieth century adventure cartoons, including for example the earlier Asterix books.

Conclusion

So, decades on from my compulsive collection of Tintin books until there were no more to collect, I have sadly learnt that neither the messages in the books nor its author were entirely savoury. Furthermore, Herge's legacy is preserved by a foundation which plays an unnecessarily heavy hand on copyright, such as to even threaten the cartoon portrayal of Kevin Rudd as Tintin when he was Opposition Leader. Its ferocity helps to explain why I have not included pictures in this blog. But it seems that little can taint my continued enjoyment of the Tintin books even if I have grown up to become a human rights lawyer: they are buried too deeply into my childhood joy.

Tintin spanned six decades from the late 1920s (though he will never die, and will presumably gain a new lease of life after the movie). He is unapologetically a creature of the Western world of the twentieth century, even when some apology is needed. After all, the books addressed colonialism, the rise of the USSR, organized crime, capitalism, the drug trade, the prelude to World War II (though the war itself is somewhat absent), alcoholism, racism, coups d' etat, multinational corporations, the Cold War, the arms race, the space race, the modern slave trade, the arms trade, the fight for control of oil, the growth of commercial air travel, and even the rapacious media obsession with celebrity. In that regard, the Tintin books are a masterpiece chronicle of the last century.