Discussion threads:

1. Do you think comics are a children’s or adult genre/media?

2. How does Farr (1991) justify
Tintin’s appeal to adults?

3. According to the second Farr extract (p.50-59), how did Hergé
research China for The Blue Lotus? How might Hergé’s The Blue Lotus address or relate to the issue of what Said (1977)terms ‘orientalism’?

4.Does Varnum (2001) define the difference between a cartoon, comics, and graphic novel?

5. According to Varnum, what distinguishes
comics from other media?

6. How and why are comics becoming more accepted as an art
form? Can/should they be regarded as a literary genre?

7. What do you think of McCarthy's(2006) ideas about Tintin?

Hi Saja and Binna,

I am excited about our little blog, we are going to make an awesome group and i know we can get some great discussion going.

Having not bought the critical reader yet, it is hard to comment on questions 2-7 however i think that in regards to number one i have to be honest i have always thought that comics were for kids. My husband is a huge fan of comics especially Astrix, and i always give him grief for it (he read the blue lotus within an hour of my buying it for this course).
After actually reading the story i was suprised at the amount of material that appeals on an adult level. There was a lot of political commentary and also ideological commentary that i don't think a kid would pick up on.
I guess it is a clasic case of don't judge a book by its cover.

I wish we do well in this paper as we did in the language in literaturem, and I wish some other students who were absent last session will join our small blog in the nexet session.

I agree with you Rachel that Tintin is both children and adults’ genre because of the reasons you already mentioned. In my opinion adults are in need to comic’s genres more than children, especially in our days as they need some relief from the pressure of our complex life, in particular when these kind of comics represent some serious issues in an funny way and that exactly what Herge did when he represents the issue of the Japanese occupation of a great part of Manchuria in China in The Blue Lotus. This also what I think Farr (1991) means when he says “The child will be gripped by the excitement of Tintin, the comedy, even farce. The adult will additionally find political satire and parody, puns and prescience.”

Regarding the question three I think Herge researched China through his new Chinese friend Chang Chong-chen who was sculpture student at the Brussels Academe and introduced to him in the spring of 1934 by father Gosset. According to Farr (1991) “Chang gave Herge a true taste of China ... its complex history, its extraordinary geography, language, literature, philosophy and religion…”, so Herge learned about Chinese art and the techniques of traditional painting all through his friend Chang. According to Farr (1991), Herge said about his friend “He made me discover and love Chinese poetry, Chinese writing.. the wind and the bone, that is to say the wind of inspiration and the bone of a firm drawing line. For me it was a revelation. I owe to him too a better understanding of the sense of things: friendship, poetry and nature.” “It was at the time of The Blue Lotus that I discovered a new world”.

I only want to add something about the part two of question 3,
Edward W. Said (1977, p:88) says “Anyone who teaches, writes about, or researches the Orient-and this applies whether the person is an anthropologist, sociologist, historian, or philologist- either in its specific or its general aspects, is an Orientalist, and what he or she does is Orientalism. So According to this saying Herge’ is Orientalist and his work Tintin , “the Blue Lotus” is Orientalism, because in this work he researched China and produced a written discourse about it attached with drawing which represent historical, political, ideological facts about China.

I totally agree with you Saja, i think that due to the fact that Herge met Chang Chong-Chen his whole style of writting changed. In previous Tintin stories Herge wrote very sterotypical accounts of places Tintin would visit, as mentioned in class such as Tintin in the Congo. Here the indigeous people were portrayed in a less than positive light and due to pressure from the readership Herge started to look at cultures in a less ethno-centric way "out of a sense of honesty to my readers" (CR,51).
HOwever i also think it is important to note that due to Herge's friendship with Chang Herge was able to include into his stories events that were politically relevant to China at the time "actual events were skilfully fictionalised and camouflaged often by substituting inventive names" (CR, 54). Farr goes on further to say that "Herge well informed thanks to Chang was taking a radical view later justified by historical events" (CR, 58).

I just have to add though that i disagree with your second post Saja about orientalism. I got the feeling that Said offered several definitions of Orientalism. The quote you mentioned being one of these, this one was a academic definition offered by those in the west "...it connotes the high-handed executive attitude of nineteenth century and early twentieth-century European colonialism" (Said, p88). Said goes on further to mention several other definitions then shares his own opinion "I myself believe that Orientalism is more particularly valuable as a sign of European-Atlantic power over the orient than it is a veridic discourse about the orient" (Said, 90).
Taking this into account I don't think that Herge is practising the theory of Orientalism. Herge was writing in the west however his work was heavily influenced by someone from the east, even down to the street signs and ideologies. The only way the Blue Lotus could remotely be referred to as orientalist is in the way it refers to Japan.

Hello, Rachel and Saja =)
Sorry for the late comment. I’ve been working even on the last weekend (for the Co-Op). Come to the “Taste of Japan” event on 23 August!!
I'm also happy to see you guys again and believe we can do this as well as literature^-^

Like Rachel said, I think comics often seem to be kid stuff maybe it is because the comics are much easier to read than the books. But have you ever seen or read the Simsons? It is sometimes violent and aggressive which could effect on children badly and it also included political satires. I have seen an animation called “Happy Tree Friends” on C4 channel. There are really cute animals come out, I justly though it was for children. But when the CUTE animals killed them each other cruelly, I really got a shock even I’m a grown up since I ever thought that kind of animation or situation. (I think it was kind of Beauty and Terror that we’ve learned. In this case it comes like Cute and Cruel Lol or it was just to deviate from the life throughout indirect experiences). Due to the comics has really huge range, are not only for children depend on its contents. So we usually classify the grades such as PG or AO. According to Farr (1991), “Tintin was aimed at all young people aged from seven to seventy-seven." As you all mentioned, i also agree with what Farr said. Children can enjoy the new world with its drawings and adults can enjoy more than children since it contains many ideological stuffs.

I agree with you Binna, some of the annimation, comics etc can be really violent. I know that in my co-op placement a reading extension program at my kids school, the kids are 10-11 years old and a lot of them watch and read some really violent stuff. I asked one of the boys who is obsessed with death and cruelty and he said his mum just thinks its cartoons, and like you said C4 is the worst culprit. I think parents need to realise that just because it looks like cartoons doesn't mean it is approiate.

Hi, I think the cartoon you mentioned in C4 is classified as AO, it is really the most terrible one I ever seen. About your comments about the Orientalism Rachel, you might be right, however, in my previous study in my country I had studied many book about orient and written by western people who never visit our area just they were interested in our literature and they researched it and wrote about it, although they are called Orientalists. In relation to, after reading his introduction I understood one difference that Varnum (2001) explains between a cartoon, comics, and graphic novel, I think he says that in cartoon and a graphic novel neither the caption nor the picture makes complete sense without the other. So if we looked at the graphic without the written words we can’t understand the message correctly. However in the comics each of them can make sense and deliver the message, although MaCloud says in comics “words and pictures are like partners in a dance and each one takes turns leading” CR22