Week 1

How does Farr (1991) justify Tintin's appeal to adults?

Farr (1991) explains that Tintin is aimed at people of all ages, and that everyone can appreciate the comic in different ways. As both a child and an adult you can enjoy the thrill of the adventure, but as an adult you can appreciate the compelling storyline, the quality of the drawings and the more mature references (Farr, 1991). I used to love Tintin comics as a kid, and upon reading it again recently, I discovered that I could enjoy it on a whole new level. Because when you are younger, you are unable to notice the beautiful intricacies of the comic, and instead are caught up in the excitement of the story. Farr (1991) also mentions that people who loved Tintin when they were young would later pass on the tradition to their children, thus allowing those children to pass it on to their children and so it goes on ad infinitum.

According to the second Farr extract (p.50-59), how did Hergé research China for The Blue Lotus?

In 1934, Hergé met Chang Chong-chen, a Chinese sculpture student living in Belgium. This was to become a very important meeting, as it was Chang who exposed Herge to the rich Chinese culture, which resulted in the accurate depiction of the China that appears in The Blue Lotus (Farr, 1991). From Chang, he learned about Chinese history, language, literature, religion and art, whilst also debunking the myths and clichés that are usually associated with China and the Chinese people (Farr, 1991). Herge even incorporated traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting techniques which, along with a new understanding of the culture, gave The Blue Lotus a high degree of accuracy that surpassed all of his previous work (Farr, 1991).

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

I think that in the past, comics were viewed as a second-rate kind of literature, if it was viewed as literature at all. The reason for this is that comics place a big emphasis on pictures, and because of this, it was viewed that comics encouraged laziness (Varnum & Gibbons, 2001). However, according to Varnum & Gibbons (2001), images can carry a lot of impact, being able to portray scenes more vividly than can be described in words alone. Indeed in comics, words are secondary to images, though the two share an amiable partnership.

I do think that comics should be regarded as a literary genre because they possess a lot of the same qualities that define literature, for example, there is a narrative, scenes, dialogue, themes and so on. Whether it ever will be considered literature, I am skeptical, because people will always think of comics as primarily pictures, which isn’t compatible with their definition of literature.

References

Farr, Michael. (1991). Tintin: the complete companion. London: John Murray.

Varnum, R. & Gibbons, C. (Ed.). (2001). The Language of Comics: word and image. Jackson: U Press of Mississippi.