Week 1/2 Tintin: Children vs. Adults

Personally I have a great distaste for Tintin in general. This is more likely because a.) it is a comic and b.) it was created largely for a young male target audience. However, I can appreciate the detail, elements and themes that Herge portrayed within it.

I suppose my first point to be argued is that while Tintin was originally created for children and published in a Christian newspaper, it can now be evaluated and assessed as something more in depth. As a children’s genre, one can evaluate the appeal of Tintin’s adventures and the character himself.

Tintin is a young boy (envisioned by Herge to be about 14 years old) whose appeal is largely in the universality of his character and the plainness of his face allowing for the audience to identify with him. His characteristics include heroism, loyalty, naivety and acceptance of everyone – along with a never-ending curiosity and sense of adventure – so what young boy (or girl) would dislike Tintin? This storyline coupled with Herge’s artistic ability make for a classic mix which transcends time and era – as Varnum (2001) points out: ‘Images seem more direct, more attractive, and more seductive than written texts’, especially where (in general) most young boys would rather be out seeking adventure than reading. Herge creates the perfect mix of language, adventure, image and story which portrays a reality to the reader that may be interpreted or mediated through his/her own experience of the world (p. x. Varnum, R. 2001).

On the flipside, as interpreted to a more mature audience, Tintin may be appreciated for his political satire, adult themes and artistic attention to detail and accuracy which Farr (p. 8. 1991) states has a ‘rock solid foundation in reality’ because his stories are based on fact with Herge using is reporting abilities to anticipate world events making for subjects and adventures that do not date as they are historically sound.

As mentioned before, Tintin can be appreciated for Herge’s attention to detail in representation locations and culture relationships at the time. One also needs to consider Orintalism, propaganda and racial attitudes of the time but I will discuss this in another post. But mostly I would like to point out what Barry states – in Varnum’s (2001) introduction – that it is images, not words, that communicate most deeply’. I feel this is so because as time goes on, words adapt and meanings change however a picture is static and cannot change. It reflects the exact attitudes and intentions from when and where it was created – much like a photograph (sans photoshop manipulation) does.

To sum up, Tintin is appreciated by children for its exotic locations, adventure and character, whereas adults will understand and interpret the politics, adult themes, comments and satires.