Tintin in the Congo (Tintin)

I am not quite sure why people are up in arms about this book. It is no different to the old Tom and Jerry cartoons with the servant who kicks old Tom out all the time.

Yes it wouldn't be written today but, this is how things where perceived at the time it was written.

I have been a life long Tintin fan and was surprised on a holiday to France when I noticed 2 books that I had never seen before I was about 13. The other being Tin Tin in Moscow. My French is poor so I never bought (or got my parents to anyway) copies.

Years later I bought both while in Belgium in English Print.

The Story is typical Tintin but, in my opinion is the weakest after his Moscow adventure. Herge was still creating the character and finally hit gold with the next in the series Tintin in America. Funny how people don't think this is racist with the Native Indians?

The book deserves 3 stars and can the PC Brigade please lighten up its Tintin for heavens sake.

Thouroughly racist and problematic (1/4 people found this helpful)

Reading these reviews of Tintin au Congo reminds me of the words of social analyst Jason Edward Black, "the scariest of racial stereotypes and prejudices arise when the public cannot recognize such ills." Frankly I'm concerned by some of the responses: "there is nothing here that I would personally regard as outrageous" and "It preaches the true story of colonialism and Africa. However there is absolutely nothing racist about it..."
As a child I read both Tintin and Asterix comic books, adored them and was delighted to study them in a course on la bande dessinée at uni. This is when I read Tintin au Congo which provoked pretty strong feelings of repulsion.
This is emphatically not an ideal read for young Tintin fans. It is however a thought provoking text that allows older and more aware readers to tackle issues such as cultural and political imperialism, `Orientalism', the depiction of the cultural other etc.
When my 8 year old nephew kick off his shoes jumps on his bed and settles down to another few pages of Tintin I do not want him to read this, nor do I want his best friend who is black to pick up this book and be confronted with highly racist depictions of Africans who are stereotyped as ugly, lazy, childish, inferior and stupid.

Enjoyable (3/3 people found this helpful)

Enjoyable, but lacking the psychological complexity, and narrative sophisitcation of later works.

It is worth getting, moreover, just to spite the prigs who would have it banned.

Nothing to see here (1/4 people found this helpful)

Not really as racist as every made out. I only read it for the controversy and was sadly disappointed. It shows an old fashioned view that the "white men" had of the "Africans". Interesting from a historical perspective, though hardly a lesson a racial superiority. As for the comic itself, well Tintin was hardly the most exciting of characters and his racism whilst perhaps adding to the entertainment still makes me wonder what sort of deprived minds enjoyed this in their youth.

Great Reading material for your children.... (3/6 people found this helpful)

If like me you're desperate to get your children to read more then The adventures of Tin-Tin are a good way to do this. My son's 11 and is a big fan. There's a huge base of these great books and I would thoroughly recommend them. They are totally innocuous, so there's no worries about inappropriate language or situations, not that I'm being unrealistic as 5 mins on an xbox360 seems to give children more exposure to societies less pleasant side than anyone really needs, but strangely enough children seem to enjoy a simplistic fantasy story of one boy and his dog.

Tintin in the Congo (Tintin)

Herge

Reader Reviews:

Can the PC Brigade lighten up it's Tintin (0/0 people found this helpful)

Thouroughly racist and problematic (1/4 people found this helpful)

Enjoyable (3/3 people found this helpful)

Nothing to see here (1/4 people found this helpful)

Great Reading material for your children.... (3/6 people found this helpful)

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