Herge created Tintin to be enjoyed by all readers of all ages he famously described the reading age for his comics to be between “seven to seventy-seven ” (Far, 1991) Tintins popularity suggests that he is successful in achieving his goal.
Farr (1991) suggests that Tin Tins popularity with adults is due to its “many levels at which it can be appreciated”. Tintin while simply written to easily be understood by children contains political arguments, puns and other underlying themes which would only be understood by older readers.
Tin Tins popularity with adults could also be contributed to
Herge’s use of actual events and technology. Farr (1991) states that Tintin is “an
imaginary hero in a real world”. Herge would put Tintin in real world situations
which he would research thoroughly for his adventures to be believable. Also
all technologies used in Tintin are copied from their real life equivalents for
example cars in the comic would be exact replicas of the cars used in that
place and time.
I think the combination of the different levels in which it was written in and the use of real life events are both contributing factors to Tintins popularity with adults.
References
Farr, Michael. (1991). Tintin the Complete Companion.
London: John Murray
Good points, Alex. My problem is that Herge's China is no accurate to the time that the reader might think that the Japanese really do look like pigs or animals. In other words the accuracy you praise makes the propaganda even more effective...
ReplyDeleteJapanese people were describes as evil. children wouldn't understand political situation at that time. thus young readers would think that al Japanese are evil and ugly.
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