Weeks 1 & 2 The Blue Lotus
Questions. Chose one or two questions to answer rather than all of them. Some questions might be combined in your answer. Remember to respond to other bloggers. Please answer in the comment section - do not create a new blog!
1) Are comics just a children's medium. What does Blue Lotus show us?
2) How does Farr (1991) justify Tintin's appeal to adults?
3) How does The Blue Lotus relate to what Said (1997) terms 'Orientalism' ?
4) Is The Blue lotus a racist text? Give your reasons.
5) Herge used the expression 'the wind and bone' to refer to his art work. What do you think he meant.
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ReplyDelete1) Are comics just a children's medium. What does Blue Lotus show us?
ReplyDelete2) How does Farr (1991) justify Tintin's appeal to adults?
Comics are definitely not only a children’s medium and I don’t think they have been for some time now. I realize that I have often held the common misconception that comics are meant for children personally for a long time, yet it has been proven otherwise for decades! For instance there are the superhero comics such as the X-Men series by Marvel and comics by DC comic rather dark themes and graphic depictions of violence. What is different about Herge’s Blue Lotus however, is that we follow a smart young reporter who is in many ways just an ordinary boy who goes on these extraordinary adventures around the world and placed in some of the major political and global events of the author’s time. An “imaginary hero” (Farr, 1991) without the aid of super powers in the midst of real-time events. Though Tintin deals with serious adult themes like drug use and smuggling, attempted murders, racism and other serious themes in Blue Lotus - Herge provides plenty of comedic relief that takes away from the tension of such themes that would be found funny to both children and adults for different reasons. We see this in the effects of the poison of madness, the Thompson twins’ ridiculous attempt in blending in with the Chinese locals and cunning plans of Tintin. I think that Farr (1991) perfectly sums the appeal of Tintin to varied ages in saying that children would enjoy the character of Tintin series for his great adventures and the exotic and foreign aspects even though they might not get the political undertones; while appealing to adult readers who could appreciate the parody and underlying messages evoked.
I was intrigued to find out that the character Chang was inspired by a true Chinese art student who had been a close friend to Herge and supervised the authenticity of Chinese details depicted in the comic. Having initially read the Blue Lotus before learning of his influence and gradual love for the Chinese culture I remember thinking that the first exchange between Tintin and Chang was alarming for its time in the way they simply addressed the stereotypical and racist outlook their cultures had of each other. It’s understandable that Farr (1991) would declare the Blue Lotus as a turning point in Herge’s work because it was it not only broke the mold of his cliché portrayals of different races Tintin came across in prior adventures but because it was he had better informed opinion to make and I think this came through strongly in the friendship between Tintin and Chang.
Farr, Michael. (1991). Introduction. In Tintin: the
complete companion (pp.8-9, 50-59). London: John Murray.
A thoughtful answer. But note that those dark Marvel comics were read by children in the 195os and 1960s.Only later were these comics discovered by adult film makers.
DeleteHello, Lolo. After reading your post, I found that we have some kinds of same thinking and opinions about the Blue Lotus. We are all agree that comics are not only for children, and my consideration is even comics is easy to read and understand, it looks more like suitable for children, but comics also could tell readers many senses of life.
DeleteHi Mike, just to clarify - I meant that I had once held the idea that comics were only meant for children. I assumed that the very graphic content of the Marvel and DC comics were being read by adults also when they first came out and should should of done more research into that.
DeleteGood point Jordan, comics are simply encourages children to read more and learn something on the way.
thanks Lolo!
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ReplyDelete1)Are comics just a children's medium. What does Blue Lotus show us?
ReplyDeleteComics is not a medium only for children, the content of comics is not only colourful pictures, funny and easy understood story , short and simple words. There are many comics able to tell reader the history, humanity, emotion, environment, social problems and other different aspects that readers may resonate. For example, “the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon”, one of the most famous comics in Japan, created by Naoko Takeuchi. She is a cartoonist who have the courage to preserve female right and the Girls Power, the main characters of her works mostly female and they are pretty, brave, independent, clever and kind. It is no doubt that, “Sailor Moon” also express these types of female power message to reader, trying to tell readers especially female readers to be strong, be brave, be confident, to challenge the world and achieve their dream. So that this is the reason why I don’t think comics only for children, adult reading comics also could gain many perspectives of the surrounding world. Back to Blue Lotus, Hergé is showing a true history background for readers and he use the main character Tintin to tell the whole story of Blue Lotus. The background of the Blue Lotus is Japanese invasion of China, Hergé had written the life of chinese people in Shanghai, the international settlements. Tintin, as a hero to help Wang Chen-Yee flight the Japanese spy Mitsuhirato. This kind of content attract amount of adult readers. In addition, Blue Lotus show dark side of war, colonisation, invasion, racism and drug. Even though, the comics is not violence and dark , Hergé add his sense of humour for example the Thompson twins and make the story suitable for children as well.
4) Is The Blue lotus a racist text? Give your reasons.
The series comics of the Adventure of Tintin are judged racism, for instance “Tintin in the Congo” has been criticised discriminate Congo people because the comics character appearance and Tintin came to Congo as a colonialist. This situation make Tintin always been said as a racist character. However, after I finish read The Blue Lotus, I get some ideas about this judgment. For personally, I don’t think The Blue Lotus is racist. The Blue Lotus include many Chinese culture and arts, Hergé is really pay attention to these and use many photography of Shanghai to create this story, he is trying to reduce the mistake and misunderstand of the other culture. As a Chinese student, I really impress that the Blue Lotus is truly show our country culture and social situation to the readers. In addition, the content of the Blue Lotus is nothing misrepresent Chinese people's behaviour and their accent. Also the conversation between Tintin and Chang Chong-Chen is give me a deep impression, a European man and a Chinese man talking about the misunderstand to their each other culture, then they helping each other to stop Mitsuhirato, show us the friendship between two completely different culture. So that, I don’t think The Blue Lotus is a racist text.
Hi Jordan, I like that you brought up comics with strong empowering female characters and messages. The Blue Lotus obviously has no title female characters aside from the wife of the secret society’s leader and even then she only has small speaking roles. There were little to no female characters at all in Tintin’s Adventures. Herge even commented on this saying that “for me, women have nothing to do in a world like Tintin’s, which is the realm of male friendship,” I found from a blog of writer and commentator, Margot Magowan (2011). I had been so focused on questioning the issue of racism in his work that I didn’t realise the sexism. I learnt that Herge apparently thought that in the instance of a male character slipping on a banana peel would not be as comedic as it would be should it happen to a female one (Magowan, 2011). Just when I thought that his total ignorance and lack of faith in female characterisation could be due to his strong influence of Boy Scout ethics, I realise that such a comment made by Herge is purely misogynistic in thinking that females could not be as funny or as intriguing in a title role. People have argued on Margot’s blog that Herge’s outlook on females in his work was a “product of his time” as women in Belgium didn’t even have the right to vote yet (Magowan, 2011). I’m not entirely convinced otherwise that this is a good enough reason because he also stated that Tintin was meant for all “children aged 7 to 70” (Farr, 1991). He took that responsibility upon himself to cater to these groups of people yet he makes no attempt to consider good portion of his readers who were probably female as he did for Chinese readers in the Blue Lotus.
DeleteReference
Magowan, M. 2011. Creator of Tintin’s Disturbing Thoughts on Women. Retrieved July 26, 2017, fromhttp://reelgirl.com/2011/12/creator-of-tintins-disturbing-thoughts-on-women/
Farr, M. (1991). Introduction. In Tintin: the
complete companion (pp.8-9, 50-59). London: John Murray.
Good points made, but did Herge 'de-Asianise' the Chinese and 'hyper-Asianise' the Japanese? Tintin and Chang look very similar, almost like brothers.
DeleteJordan, also note that Herge's realism and portrayal of the complex political situation at the time does not make this story more easy for children or more children friendly.
DeleteThank you Mike. Actually, after your notice I feel like Herge did make the Chang more like a white man. However, I do not think he hyper- asianise the Japanese character also, because the behaviour of Japanese characters are exaggerated.
DeleteThank you Lolo, sharing these much research informations for me and I have many income with it.
Question 1:
ReplyDeleteTintin and the Blue Lotus does contain mature content, making this comic not only readable for children. As well as this is still appealing to children, this comic does hold a certain topic that would not excite children as much.
The blue lotus contains a more higher reaching language compared to some other of Herge’s other works. If this was intended for just children to read, the language would be more simple. An example is:
“I see an enemy!... You think him dead, but he plans revenge…” These sorts of riddles and the very content is also not very suitable for children.
Herge included racial stereotypes and representations of the time. This racial inclusion is more something that adults would understand compared to that of children. Politics of the time are also consciously included, he represents them also stereotypically, as well as factually. This is what makes its content more mature.
The historical aspect within the political adds another adult-like element. Some history usually bores kids, whereas adults can then gain information from a seemingly “trash” piece of propaganda. Such historical facts are the Japanese invasion of China and some events around that. The blowing up of the South Manchuria railway by the Japanese is included. These events were in the lead up to World War 1. As can be realised, these comics have been around for an existential amount of time.
The maturity is even in the title, as the reader is soon to find out that the blue lotus is an opium den where Tintin, the child friendly character has to enter. This detail is not aimed at children, as many would have no knowledge of what an opium den is, let alone opium the drug. China was a distributor and exporter of the drug, that spread across parts of the United states such as San Francisco and New York, when immigrants were moving from China and parts of Asia. It was the Europeans though who initially exported opium into China.
Question 4:
The blue lotus does contain racism. From the very beginning a racist act happens. Tintin witnesses a middle aged, wealthy white man verbally abusing a local man, who also happens to be pulling Tintin along in a rickshaw. Tintin stands up for the Chinese man by going against what the European man is saying and makes him retreat. After this act of racism, it makes Tintin look like a hero and shows that he is against it. Throughout most of the comic the main protagonist is standing up for the Chinese, and is trying to make up for people like him. For example when Tintin becomes friends with Chang, a Chinese orphan, he explains that the western world is wrong about the Chinese and that the stereotypes are negative. Herge was depicting the oppression the Chinese encountered. It was the western interpretation and response of orientalism. Some words from the comic are:
“But Chang, all white men aren’t wicked. You see, different peoples don’t know enough about each other. Lots of Europeans still believe that all Chinese are cunning and cruel and wear pigtails, are always inventing tortures, and eating rotten eggs and swallows’ nests.”
Swallows’ nests are actually a delicacy in Chinese cuisine, so Herge included this as a reminder that the paths can be crossed between what the Europeans believe.
Whether or whether not Tintin the character is against racism, this comic’s content does contain it. The reason was mainly because of the time this comic was published, and the racism around at the time. Tintin was a comic that talked of the time; it was colonial propaganda, and this is what it is portraying.
You need to refer to secondary sources in your work.
DeleteIn your answer to question 4 it sounds like you are confusing the book's depiction of racism with it being a racist text. is it the europeans that look "evil" in the example you use.
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ReplyDelete2)How does Farr (1991) justify Tintin's appeal to adults?
ReplyDelete4) Is The Blue lotus a racist text? Give your reasons.
I definitely think that Herge’s The Adventures of Tintin’s appeal goes far beyond children, and some might conclude with analysis, it is directed more towards adults. Farr (1991) notes that Herge “aspired to be a dashing foreign correspondent when he started on Le XXe Siecle . . . as a general dog’s body.” So from the get-go, we can see that Herge is not your typical children's book author. In fact, Herge said he targeted Tintin at “ all young people aged from seven to seventy-seven” (Farr,1991). Herge was clearly politically active in his mindset. Historically he has been regarded as right-wing because of his insensitive, stereotypical depictions of characters from foreign lands. A famous example of this was in the comic ‘Tintin the Congo’ which features Africans with pitch black faces, large lips and emphasizes the idea that they are inferior. It’s clear that a decisive moment in Herges mentality was when he met Chang Chong-chen and began writing the Blue Lotus. Chang was a bright, young, Chinese sculpture when he met Herge and heavily influenced his depictions of Asian characters in the Blue Lotus, painting Chinese in a positive light and Japanese in a negative. I think that for adults of the time this representation of the situation in Asia would have been compelling because it contradicted popular belief. According to Farr (1991) “ In Europe, Imperial Japan . . . was viewed favorably and her belligerent behavior in Asia was largely ignored.” I think that Herges portrayal of the ‘Japanese government’ was fair and accurate as he depicted historical events such as the Mukden incident, where Japanese staged an attack as a pretext for the invasion of northeastern China. His depiction of Japanese as a people, on the other hand, was typical of his early work and in my opinion racist. The Japanese are represented “as bullying, superior, selfish, and cleverly malicious”(Tara Jacob, 2005). It seemed that every Japanese character in the comic was evil by personality and made to look evil visually. It looks like with the Japanese Hegre tried to exaggerate stereotypical Asian features and distort them to make the characters look evil. A great example would be Mishirato, one of the main antagonist who has extremely slanted eyes and large, buck teeth. On the other hand, you have Chang, a Chinese protagonist who has his Asian features minimized. The implication here is that if you look Asian, you look evil which is an incredibly racist message.
4) Is The Blue lotus a racist text? Give your reasons.
Ultimately though I don’t think the underlying, political message behind the Blue Lotus was racist because the negative portrayal of the Japanese government was justified. In saying that Herge should have emphasized the distinction between the Japanese ‘people’ and their government as well as leaving out stereotypes.
2)How does Farr (1991) justify Tintin's appeal to adults?
Farr (1991) tries to justify Tintin's appeal to adults by highlighting their political message, and the fact that the Blue Lotus features all this political and racial content is enough to get me to agree with him.
Farr, Michael. (1991). Introduction. In Tintin: the complete companion (pp.8-9).
Farr, Michael. (1991). The Blue Lotus. In Tintin: the complete companion (pp.50-59). London: John Murray.
Tara Jacob (2005). Great Snakes! The Adventures of Tintin: The Blue Lotus - An Analytical Reading.
good answer
DeleteBut, Answer just one question break your answer in to paragraphs and have a conclusion and an introduction
Part One
ReplyDeleteQ: Is The Blue Lotus a racist text? Give your reasons.
A: The Blue Lotus by Hergé contains significant evidence towards being a racist text, which stems from the artists background as a right-wing propagandist, as he often did art for right-wing periodicals. Because of Hergés political beliefs, his Tintin comics showcase right-wing ideologies of the time, such as anti-communism and pro-colonialism, with highly racist depictions of African natives present in the comic Tintin au Congo.
According to Laser-Robison (n.d.), it was the influence of a fellow artist studying at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels that influenced him to write The Blue Lotus. Chang Chong-Jen was introduced to Hergé by a priest who after reading Tintin au Congo, hoped the two meeting would “open Hergé’s eyes to the reality of race and cultural misconceptions” (Laser-Robinson, n.d.). The two became fast friends and this lead to Hergé becoming captivated by Chinese culture. Before Chang left for China, Hergé began work on The Blue Lotus, which was influenced by what was taking place in China at the time. During the 1930s, China was under rule by Japanese and Western colonial powers and as a result Shanghai suffered heavily with a city run rampant with corruption and poverty. Hergé was deeply moved by the situation and wrote The Blue Lotus to “inform the European public about the oppression suffered by the Chinese under colonial rule, while attempting to convey deep messages about the error of cultural stereotypes”.
While his attempt to convey such message was in good nature, Hergé still failed to erase racism from the Tintin comic all together, in fact he almost made it worse. By comparing the characters of different political and racial groupings in the comic we see that Hergé is still manipulating the images he produces to portray his own attitudes towards them and trying to influence his reader attitudes.
An example of this is the deasianisation of the Chinese people and hyperasianisation and villainisation of the Japanese people in the comic. By comparison to the horrendously drawn Japanese characters “the Chinese are drawn relatively neutral, and in certain cases, can almost pass for Westerners” (Laser-Robinson, n.d.). It is very clear that Hergé is trying to portray and strong distinction between Chinese and Japanese people. He does this through the way he draws the different nationalities.
For the most part any Chinese character who is more central to the plot and is considered ‘heroic’ is portrayed with similar features and clothing to that of Tintin or other European characters.
good answer but a clear conclusion would be nice.
Deleteon balance, in your opinion is TBL a racist text or not?
Part Two
ReplyDeleteFor example the representative from the Shanghai secret society wears very westernised clothing and the only distinction that places him as Chinese is the slight squint in his eye and his dark hair. Similar is the character of Chang who lacks any features that would allow him to be identified as Chinese as he has the same watermelon seed eyes, face shape and clothing style as Tintin. By drawing these characters in such as way that is identifiable as being a Westerner, Hergé has almost entirely erased the characters cultural identities from their person, separating these heroic characters from their Chinese heritage and making them more ‘appealing’ to the audience.
On the other hand, Hergé makes use of crude stereotypes when portraying the Japanese people in his comic. As Laser-Robison (n.d.) states, “The Japanese Tintin encounters look more like living breathing propaganda posters than real people”. Characters like Mr. Mitsuhirato are drawn with a constant buck toothed sneer, with a protruding pig snout, and a thorny mustache, very similar to the anti-Japanese war propaganda of the time. This portrayal serves to dehumanize them by portraying them as monstrous and animalistic. It is important to note of course that not just the villainous Japanese colonialists were portrayed this way and that no Japanese character, whether good or bad, escaped such a portrayal, which clarifies for us that Hergé was indeed aiming to reinforce beliefs that all Japanese were evil by nature.
While it did seem like Hergé had good intentions when it came to portraying the Chinese in his comic The Blue Lotus, because of his genuine relationship with Chang Chong-Jen, the comic is still riddled with racist portrayals of the Chinese and Japanese people, which are hard to overlook. While his intentions were good, the messages Hergé tries to portray in the comic still hold very narrow-minded views of different cultures, showing that he was still more of a propagandist than a social commentator at this stage.
References:
Laser-Robinson, A. S. (n.d.). An analysis of Hergé’s portrayal of various racial groups in The adventures of Tintin: The blue lotus. Retrieved from http://www.tintinologist.org/articles/analysis-bluelotus.pdf
Ah, didn't see the second part. Nice conclusion good work.
Deletetry and use more than one reference. three is ideal.
2) How does Farr (1991) justify TinTin's appeal to adults?
ReplyDeleteTo start off, Farr (1991) wrote at the beginning of his essay “there is something about TinTin that defies time, language and culture” (Farr, 1991). I believe that this is in a single phrase the most convincing argument for TinTin’s appeal for adults.
In saying this there are several other convincing arguments which Farr also makes, one of which is of the commitment to adventure – TinTin is seen to let his curiosity run wild with him in a way which indulges the spirit of men and boys alike. So as an extension of this, adults are able to have some “light relief” as an armchair traveller and explore new continents and new cultures, this was important given that this was an era where travel was expensive, it was not accessible to travel to different cultures and there was no internet. Reading seemed to be one of the only ways that the ordinary person could gain exposure to adventure. In fact Herge himself was not someone who travelled until his later years, most of his material to write TinTin was from research, travel magazines and books (Farr, 1991). In addition to this, Farr also argues that the popularity of TinTin amongst adults is also down to how “topical” of the subjects that he writes, Herge used TinTin to give a story to the relevant issues of the time and often used puns and political satire as well as slapstick to communicate this. In this sense there is also an element of nostalgia to TinTin, adults would enjoy passing the adventures of TinTin through to their own children because it is so translatable through the generations as well. Farr states that “everyone can find their own understanding in TinTin – it appeals to everyone from seven to seventy seven. (Farr, 1991). This seems to be an appropriate summary for why TinTin appeals to adults.
good answer, break into paragraphs, work on writing clear introduction and conclusion
ReplyDelete4) Is The Blue lotus a racist text? Give your reasons.
ReplyDeleteThe Blue Lotus is without a doubt a racist text. Right from the second page, the character of Fakir Ramacharma is a hugely racist stereotype, as he gives a performance involving impaling himself with knives and balancing on sharp metal spikes. Afterwards, he says that a cushion is too soft and instead sits on a bed of nails. This ties into damaging stereotypes that have been held of South Asian people even to this day, deeming them as bizarre street performers.
Although The Blue Lotus was Hergé’s attempt at an apology for his past racism, it is still littered with anti-Japanese sentiments as well as a severe white washing of Chinese characters. Already in may South Asian countries, Westernised appearances are idealised and sought after. This results in the editing of photos to give models paler skin, a huge cosmetic surgery industry in South Korea, and the promotion of skin whitening products. What Hergé does to the Chinese characters in his comic perpetuates the colourism already present in South Asian countries, as he establishes that he believes Chinese people are okay but they’re not “really Asian”.
This attitude is scene in many places and across many ethnicities. In America, when Louis Armstrong was rising to fame, he was widely accepted into white spaces and treated as an honorary white person. He was allowed to perform in white only venues and eat at white only restaurants. In American media, many famous black people are able to pass the paper bag test. The paper bag test comes from slavery, when slave owners would compare their slaves’ skin to the colour of a brown paper bag. If they were lighter than the bag, they would be allowed to work in the house, whereas those with darker skin were made to work outside.
These colourist attitudes are extremely damaging, and Hergé expresses them very strongly in The Blue Lotus. The white washing of Chinese characters not only perpetuates colourism, but also says to Japanese people; “You’re too Asian”. The Japanese characters in the comic all have large teeth and small eyes, and are hugely antagonised throughout the story. They are portrayed as being inherently evil people, with racist caricatures to show that they are the “bad Asians”. It also plays into the attitudes towards Japanese at the time, as in America post-WWII there were camps for Japanese immigrants. Propaganda posters at the time labelled Japanese as “Japs” and “rats” that were infesting Westernised society; attitudes which were strongly foreshadowed in The Blue Lotus.
In conclusion, despite Hergé’s best efforts, The Blue Lotus is still a racist text. It perpetuates hugely damaging and racist stereotypes, as well as exhibiting strong colourism. On top of this, it normalises these views to children, who are very impressionable and who may not know any better than to think that things shown in the comic is okay.