Difference between revisions 1300941 and 1457374 on enwiki

Comments about '''Hergé and ideology'''.

[[Herge|Hergé]] started making the comic strip series [[Tintin]] in 1929 for the children's section of the [[Belgium|Belgian]] newspaper ''[[Le Vingtieème Sieècle]]'', aligned with the [[Rexism|Rexist]] right-wing movement. He continued on other media until his death in 1983. 

As a young artist Hergé was influenced by his mentors, specifically the [[Abbé Wallez]]. This shows in his most important works, the Tintin series. As the artist develops ideologically, so does the series.

=== First albums === 

Tintin first albums, written and drawn during the [[1920s]], were anti-[[Soviet Union|Soviet]], pro-[[colonialism|colonialist]], and anti-[[USA|American]]. This is obvious from the first three albums, which mock the Soviets, the indigenous people of [[Belgian Congo]] and the white inhabitants of the US respectively. Hergé was young, Belgian and [[Catholic church|Catholic]] and published in a Catholic newspaper. He was naïve and under influence ''(of ???)'' and his comics were reflecting the dominant ideology in Belgium at that time.

=== Turn-around with ''The Blue Lotus'' ===

Things began to change with ''[[The Blue Lotus]]'' (his encounter with [[Tchang Tchong-Jen]] may have changed his mind): his vision of China is more subtle and the album can be read as anti-[[imperialism|imperialist]]. ''(Some more about the political row this album caused)''

=== The Second World War ===

Things got more complicated later. ''King Ottokar's Sceptre'' was obviously anti-[[nazi]]  : Musstler (MUSSolini-hiTLER) the dictator of [[Borduria]] tried to oust king of [[Syldavia]] Muskar XII. The Ssituation was very similar that of [[Anschluss]] in [[Austria]] in 1938. But some albums were more controversial. The early and unfinished version of ''Land of Black Gold'' is generally considered as pro-[[Arab]], anti-[[Zionist]] and anti-[[Britain|British]].

(contracted; show full)um is ''Tintin and the Picaros''; it has been seen both as left-wing and right-wing. In it, Tintin goes through profound changes. Where the fans were originally put off by cosmetic changes, this is the first album in which Tintin changes from a faceless hero to somebody of flesh and blood. Where in all earlier stories the reporter was able to change his environment for the better, here he is able to change the environment too, through [[revolution]], no less. Or so it seems. For in the 
  very last panel of his very last finished album, Hergé shows how the new order still has the military keeping order in the slums, of which the inhabitants are off no better and no worse.


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* Hergé got arrested: his working during the war was seen as collaboration.
* Hergé rewrote and redrew an enormous amount of his stories. For instance, Captain Haddock's heavy drinking got edited severely, and ''The Black Island'' was almost entirely redrawn, because the British publisher felt the depiction of [[England]] and [[Scotland]] in that album was outdated. Yet, possible [[racist]] and [[anti-semitic]] parts of the story were maintained. See http://www.cwi.nl/ftp/dik/strips/KUIFJE/ for examples.
*''The Red Sea Sharks'' is of course a statement against the modern day [[slave trade]], although it is not clear if it is ideological in nature.