Tin Tin

After only a few minutes of the film, and a few pages of the original comic, I could tell that Tin Tin is an adult-directed piece of literature. When reading the content, opium was quickly mentioned, something a child would (hopefully) not understand. People of a younger age would enjoy the idea of a normal boy with superhero characteristics

• his bravery
• his relatability through minimal facial features and faults such as him being gullible and naive
• stereotypical sidekick, even better so a dog which allows him to be portrayed as an animal-lover

 Despite these child-friendly aspects and the exciting action that little boys love, the themes (as briefly mentioned before) are known more as a media propaganda, targeting adults to read the underlying message. The racism we read into the comic, with historic facts combined with the fictional character over-exaggerate the stereotypes that were known in that time.

"Comics are a way of creating a universe and populating it with characters using a secret code that works in the simplest and most direct way possible to enter the 'reader's' brain." (James Kochalka, as found in the Weelky Reader week 2, page 8)
This quote shows me that the propaganda placed into Tin Tin is done so strategically to infiltrate society's (of that time) mind. The way this is done is not only by the language and subject matter used in the comics, but also by the place the characters end up in. Herge is known to have taken special care to make certain that the images are realistic enough to be recognised, such as The Red Sea Sharks or The Black Island. They would sketch and photograph everything they could prior to creating the imagery for the comics, thus placing Tin Tin in a relatable world that could be recognized, as opposed to the secondary-world that fantasy is meant to live in. Although, this world is still considered secondary despite the background it takes place in. It is made to be more controlled than the real world would be.

Therefore, the adult topics that are discussed in Tin Tin are emphasized by the realistic qualities in the landscapes and their relatable aspects.



References:
A Critical Reader: Week 2 Comics as Graphic Novels II


            Bernasconi, S. (Director). (1991). The Blue Lotus from The Adventures of Tintin. Canada: Nelvana.



             Horricks, D. (2004). The Perfect Planet: Comics, Games and World-Building. In Williams, M. (Ed.), Writing at the Edge of the Universe. Christchurch: U of Canterbury Press.