IIRC one of the English-translation Tintin books explicitly gives Marlinspike’s address as “England.”
Care to explain or expand on this? Who is “whining”? What can never be changed? What course of action do you recommend to the OP?
I am interpreting your comment as “people need to quit pointing out racial bias and just pretend it doesn’t exist.” If that isn’t what you meant, please clarify. If that is what you meant, I’d say that attitude is a big part of the reason things don’t change.
Yes…but thelurkinghorror said “Americans,” and I think they’re much more like British policemen than any American stereotype.
(If Belgian police actually dressed like that…was it in imitation of British police? Who did it first?)
And…you did say “most.” There are so many wonderful international characters: Castafiore, Da Figueira, Alcazar, the Maharaja of Gaipajama… Most of them are treated with respect for their nationality. Castafiore is lampooned severely, but she is never shown as a cartoonish or stereotypical Italian. (Okay, Alcazar, some.)
This, perhaps, is the best part of Tintin’s lasting relevance: the depiction of good-spirited internationalism and world travel. He goes to far-off lands and makes friends. Once Hergé really hit his stride, Tintin becomes one of the best role-models kids could want in clever visual fiction.
True…but is that only in the translation, or was it in the original?
I know a guy who translates European Disney comics for the U.S. market. Donald Duck is often seen hopping into his unique red jalopy and driving…to Paris! My friend has to stick in silly explanatory tags. “After a short trans-Atlantic flight…”
To the Dutch writers, it seems perfectly reasonable that one might just drive over to Paris!
I said Ugly Americans, which is a specific term withit it’s own Wikipedia page and everything. I wasn’t suggesting that Tintin is portrayed ad American. Ugly Briton is not a specific term, even if some British tourists fit the same role.
Wikipedia says, bolding and ellipses mine:
“Marlinspike Hall is located in Belgium. The original English language translators of the Tintin books caused some confusion to English speaking readers by giving the address of Marlinspike Hall as “Marlinshire, England” in The Secret of the Unicorn. However details such as traffic travelling on the right hand side of the road and the appearance of the Marlinspike police (who wear the black and red uniforms of the Belgian Gendarmerie) confirm that Hergé’s intention was to locate the Hall in his native Belgium.”
also an interesting tidbit:
“In the Golden Press editions, the name is Americanized to Hudson Manor, suggesting a location along the Hudson River in the state of New York.”
This
My mother’s favorite movie is Gone With the Wind. That doesn’t mean she’s blind to th issues that modern viewers might raise. When I was eleven or so, and saw it with her in the theater(a retro theater) I heard people laugh when Pork, Gerald’s valet and butler, told Scarlett he and the remaining slaves couldn’t milk the cow. “We’s house servants Miss Scarlett!” Later Mom told me how sad it was that a person’s thinking could be warped like that, by the social, cultural, and mental repression they had suffered.
Vague memory. Weren’t house slaves of a higher rank/more trusted/educated/something else than field slaves?
It varied. Higher rank, yes, in the pecking order among slaves; more trusted, probably (field hands wouldn’t have access to the master’s valuables); better educated, not necessarily.
Once upon a time, I was a kid. At age 9 I discovered TinTin at a neighbor’s. I was 9, fifty-some years ago. The prime demographic. It was tedious, embarrassingly racist, AND IT WAS1963 IN VIRGINIA. A vote against. It was of a time, which has passed.
Amen and seriously.
If Tintin is good enough for Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson to create and release a critically acclaimed motion picture in 2011, it is more than good enough for kids who want to read it to do so and those adult enough to understand that yes, perceptions, mindsets, and what were considered acceptable portrayals were indeed different back then.
Who are you people talking to? There’s not a single person in this thread who has said people shouldn’t read Tintin.
ETA: Sorry, except for dropzone. But that was thirty posts into the thread. Other than him, this thread has been overwhelmingly positive.
lurkinghorror said “Belgians.”
I don’t think Thompson and Thomson are wearing police uniforms. They’re plainclothes detectives - those are just dark suits, in the fashion of the time… Compare this with another famous Belgian detective from the same era.
You better note that. I mean, c’mon!
He said [strikeout]Americans[/strikout] Belgians.
But it’s a British fashion. Is it also a Belgian or continental fashion? Who had it first?
In the translations, they sometimes are from Interpol.
Are my posts going into some void instead of actually appearing here? The operative term is “Ugly” and does not necessarily apply to any particular nationality.
The fact I have zero problem with pro-Imperialist viewpoints is probably a matter of public knowledge here by now, but generally I don’t think there’s anything in the Tintin comics which an intelligent child would be warped by, especially if there’s an engaged parent saying “Obviously we know black people aren’t like the ones in this book, but they had some different ideas about things back when it was written and times have changed.”
Also, in the versions of the comics I recall reading, I’m pretty sure Thompson & Thomson were indeed described as Interpol agents.
And I’d love to know how Tintin kept his job as a journalist so long, since he almost never seemed to actually file stories on anything.
The bowler/derby hat they wear is definitely of British origin, but by the time the detectives are introduced, I’m pretty sure it was universalized (see: Chaplin, Chaz.) However, they are clearly intended to be Belgian (or, “to be precise”, Francophone), given that their names are “Dupond et Dupont” in the original.
The only thing I can see about Thomson and Thompson that might seem British is their bowler hats, but they were as common in Belgium at the time as they were in Britain or America.