Why Are There Calls for Tintin's Congo Adventure to Be Banned?

After Tintin and Snowy returned from the Soviet Union in their first adventure, they were greeted by what we now call a media event, with quite a celebration in the comic strip and in real life (a savvy magazine editor saw a chance for publicity and took it). From June 1930 until June 1931, Tintin and Snowy were on their second adventure, in the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), with the adventure reprinted as Tintin in the Congo, the second of twenty-four adventures-written and illustrated by Hergé, the pen name of Georges Remi-for Tintin and Snowy

Hergé did later provide a color version of Tintin in the Congo (as he did for all the Tintin adventures except Tintin in the Land of the Soviets), but it was not printed in English until 2006. In fact, Tintin in the Congo was the last of the adventures to be translated into English, and it was not included in the 1991 Ellipse/Nelvana animated television series.

Tintin in the Congo

Wikipedia article here | Tintinologist article here.

In the second adventure, Tintin au Congo in the original French, the Belgian Tintin lectures a classroom full of African children about "their country," Belgium. Africans literally worship the dog Snowy (there was an identical scene with native Polynesians worshipping the dog Jack in the 1982 ABC series, Tales of the Gold Monkey).

In the original, the natives speak bad French, and they speak bad English in the eventually translated English version. In the original black and white panels as well as in the later color panels, the natives are drawn with oversized lips, and they act with all the stereotypes of Africans that many of us find shocking today.

When Hergé re-drew the book with color, he dropped references to the Congo being a Belgian colony, but the book still causes trouble. The BBC reports (here) that the government's Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) is calling for a ban on Tintin in the Congo, and the book narrowly missed being banned in Sweden (here).

Ironically, a blogger from Malawi, recently writing to defend Tintin in yet another controversy (here), stated, "Tintin is beloved by many Africans from Malawi, South Africa and all over the world." According to Michael Farr, in his authoritative, Tintin, the Complete Companion (p. 27), Tintin in the Congo is "today the one [of Tintin's adventures] most likely to be encountered in Africa, particularly French-speaking countries where it enjoys special favor."

To give this controversy a context for readers in the United States, we can consider the 1946 Disney film Song of the South. You'll see the film commemorated in rides at Disney parks, but you will have a hard time seeing the film, at least, a legal copy of it (more about the film) because of its portrayal of life in the southern United States after the Civil War (more about the controversy).

We also have the "Censored Eleven" Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons (more), including--the title says it all--Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943). (You can find it on Youtube.)

Then, there is the violence of Tintin's big-game hunting. He kills fifteen antelope in one outing and dispatches a rhinoceros with dynamite, a scene so unnerving that Hergé was requested to re-draw it, and he did.

Looking backward, looking forward with Tintin and Snowy

Yes, the first two adventures of Tintin and Snowy reflect the culture of Belgium before World War II, but they do pose a problem, especially Tintin in the Congo, in terms of sharing the stories with children. The Hergé Foundation says that the books should be read in their historical context (more), and they should. Having taught high school English for twenty years (and somehow never being assigned the course in which Huckleberry Finn was taught), I wonder if children and teenagers have the sophistication to read in that way.

Hergé's first two books were the beginning of the story of Tintin and Snowy, a story which (according to the previously linked article) has sold over two hundred million copies worldwide. The Dalai Lama presented an award to Tintin (not to Hergé, although his widow received the award) in a ceremony at which he also presented an award to Archbishop Desmond Tutu (more).

One of the greatest friendships in Hergé's life was with a Chinese artist. In The Castafiore Emerald (1963) Tintin's friend, Captain Haddock, shocked that a group of gypsies have been forced to camp in a trash dump, invites them to camp on his lawn, and he and Tintin speak out against the townspeople's prejudice against the gypsies.

Was Hergé a racist? I do not believe so. Was he influenced by the racism of his culture? Of course. Can we ever put racism completely behind us? That is a question that a humble historian of a comic book character will not presume to answer.

You can find my ongoing blog about Tintin here. You can also "Keep Up with Tintin News, Books, and Films" here.