Rohini LakshanéMar 22

I picked up this copy of a Tintin comic in a waiting room. My first time reading Tintin as an adult. These comics are racist as f**k. The coloniser gaze is everywhere. As a child, I felt it but could never articulate it.

Edit: I found this Wikipedia page about it. This is indeed one of the most racist of the Tintin comic albums. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tintin_in_the_Congo

Show threadRohini Lakshané
I remember one Tintin comic calling gypsies (the Roma in Europe) thieves and other names.
Mar 22 at 12:22pmWeb
Show threadbenjamin melançonMar 22
@rohini yikes. That book is unacceptable in any era, but really should not be put out as browsing material in a waiting room today!
Show threadRohini LakshanéMar 22
@mlncn well, most of the material in that waiting room was present-day Hindu supremacist stuff. So, the choice of Tintin kinda makes sense.
Show threadbenjamin melançonMar 22
@rohini woooooof. Supremacists recognize supremacists.
Show threadDizzyMar 22
@rohini Sherlock Holmes calls street urchins Arabs; different times. This Tintin book was written in the 30s no? Very much an era of colonialist racism in general.
Show threadRohini LakshanéMar 22
@BubblegumYeti There is no note in this album contextualising it as a product of its time. It's up for sale and distribution in the present day. It's not an out-of-print copy. It will likely be read by children who will have less discernment than you and me.
Show threadlou.Mar 22

@rohini @BubblegumYeti

Wikipedia also says that the first _english_ Edition of this appeared in 2005

Show threadRohini LakshanéMar 22
@einsiedlerspiel @BubblegumYeti The copy I read today was fairly new. No markings of wear and tear.
Show threadDizzyMar 22
@rohini yes agree, that shouldn’t be the case
Show threadcatchMar 22
@rohini @BubblegumYeti iirc Hergé specifically said he regretted this and some other early TinTin comics due to the racism. Which if anything makes it even worse to reprint it without any contextualisation.
Show threadPareMar 22

@rohini At least Hergé got a bit better. In ’The Castafiore Emerald’, the Roma are not treated completely equitably, but for example Haddock gets scolded for letting them camp on his castle grounds, and in the end even though the Duponds suspect them of theft (ACAB!), in the end they are cleared of the crime.

Of course the suspicion in the first place is very racist,and they could be handled much better, but it’s still a world of difference to ’Tintin in Congo’.

Show threadNemoMar 22

@rohini
that's "Les bijoux de la Castafiore"

Where the gypsies are accused wrongly (but they're still small time thieves...)