Tintin and Snowy

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Tintin and Snowy (Tintin et Milou)
Tintin and Snowy (Tintin et Milou)

Tintin and Snowy (original French language names: Tintin et Milou), a journalist and his canine companion, are a pair of adventurers who travel around the world in The Adventures of Tintin, a series of comic books drawn and written by the Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, better known as Hergé. The series is one of the most popular comic book series in Europe, especially in Belgium, France, and Germany.

Contents

[edit] Tintin

[edit] Background

Tintin is a comic book made January 10, 1929, and his 75th birthday was widely celebrated in 2004.[1] Tintin was largely based on Hergé's earlier fat character, the boy-scout Totor. The comics starring Totor, Les aventures de Totor, chef de patrouille des Hannetons, appeared in the magazine Le Boy-Scout Belge between 1926 and 1929.

In the later comic book series, Tintin is a young Belgian reporter who becomes involved in dangerous cases in which he takes heroic action to save the day. Almost every adventure features Tintin engaging in some kind of investigation, but rarely does he actually turn in a story.[2]

Tintin's age is never accurately revealed, with the character described as an 'adolescent' in the character description within the special DVD features, and referred to as 'kid' several times within the television shows. In the cartoon series based on the books, a frame in the episode The Secret of the Unicorn showing Tintin's passport states his birth year as 1929. Various newspaper articles on the series have recounted his age as being 15[2], Time refers to him as a teenager,[3] whilst the official site Tintin.com lists his age as somewhere between 16 and 18. The comics however treat him more as a worldly young adult, as shown by the absence of concerns like parents or school, as well as by his wide solo travels all over the globe. Tintin's age is static, even though he's been through the Japanese invasion of China (The Blue Lotus, 1931) and has flown in a Boeing 707 (Flight 714, 1962).

[edit] Character

Tintin has been cited as representing an everyman character, commentators noting his neutral manner, which is sometimes criticised as bland, as allowing balanced reflection of the evil, folly and foolhardiness which surrounds him. His boy-scout ideals, which represent Hergé's own, are never compromised by the character, and his everyman status allows the reader to assume his position within the story, rather than merely following the adventures of a strong protagonist.[4] Tintin's iconic representation enhances this aspect, with Scott McCloud noting that it "allows readers to mask themselves in a character and safely enter a sensually stimulating world".[5]

Tintin's character changes in the last albums, starting with The Castafiore Emerald. Tintin no longer actively seeks out adventure but rather gets taken along with what happens around him, this being especially evident in Flight 714 and Tintin and the Picaros. These final three adventures are held in contrasting opinions by readers and critics, representing either a late period of eccentricity, or puzzling disappointments. Hergé commented on this change in the works: "Tintin has lost control, he is not on top of events anymore, he is subjected to them."[6]

Shortly before his death, former Belgian Nazi collaborator Léon Degrelle created controversy by stating that the Tintin character was originally based on himself. Degrelle had indeed known Hergé during his early career as a journalist, but this allegation is generally considered a fabrication of the notorious self-booster Degrelle.[2]

The earlier version of Tintin was apparently inspired, at least in part, by Hergé's brother, Paul Remi, a career soldier. Tired of being referred to as "Major Tintin" by his colleagues, Paul later shaved his hair and adopted a more Erich von Stroheim look. Hergé subsequently used Paul as the villainous Colonel Sponsz in The Calculus Affair. Tintin and Sponsz, although physically very different, have actually quite similar hair spikes.[7] However, the inspiration for the clothing Hergé dressed Tintin in lay elsewhere. A fellow student of Hergé's from St Boniface, named Charles, had adopted a similar style of plus fours and Argyll socks, which caused him to be the subject of no little ridicule. Harry Thompson notes the inspiration may be tinged slightly, opining the possibility that if "Hergé had been one of the laughers, an element of guilt was involved."[8]

Hergé himself has noted that Tintin existed as his personal expression, and although he recorded in 1947 that that he knew "Tintin is no longer me, that, if he is to go on living, it will be by a sort of artificial respiration that I will have to practise constantly and which exhausts me, and will exhaust me more and more"[9], he was also fond of stating "Tintin, c'est moi!" ("Tintin, that's me!").[10]

A severely inebriated Snowy (Milou).
A severely inebriated Snowy (Milou).

[edit] Snowy (Milou)

Snowy, an exceptionally white wire fox terrier, is Tintin's four-legged companion, who travels everywhere with him. The bond between the dog and Tintin is deeper than life, and they have saved each other from perilous situations many times.

With a few exceptions, Snowy never speaks (although he is regularly seen thinking in human words), since he is "only a dog". However, he always manages to communicate well with Tintin despite this. Snowy often adds to the story in many interesting ways. For instance, Snowy is the only character in Flight 714 to remember that he was abducted by aliens.

Like Captain Haddock, Snowy is fond of Whisky of the Loch Lomond brand, and his occasional bouts of drinking tend to get him into trouble, as does his raging arachnophobia.

The character of Snowy evolved through the course of the Tintin series, and was most dramatically affected by the introduction of Captain Haddock into the series in The Crab with the Golden Claws. Before Haddock's entry into the series, Snowy was the source of dry and cynical side-commentary, which balanced out Tintin's constantly positive, optimistic perspective. When Haddock entered the series, the Captain took over the role of the cynic, and Snowy gradually shifted into a more comical role, serving to create comic relief by chasing the Marlinspike cat, drinking the Captain's Whisky, etc.

Milou was named after Hergé's first girlfriend, a contraction of the name Marie-Louise ("Malou"), although the character is referred to as male throughout the books.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Euro coin honours Tintin and Snowy - BBC News, Thursday 08 January 2004
  2. ^ a b c Tintin in the dock - The Guardian, Manchester; Saturday 30 January 1999; page T.008
  3. ^ Sweetness & Blight - Time Magazine, Monday 24 November 1958
  4. ^ Faces of the week - BBC News, Friday 16 December 2005
  5. ^ McCloud, Scott (1993). Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. Kitchen Sink Press. ISBN 0-87816-243-7. 
  6. ^ Sadoul, Numa; translated by Michel Didier (February 2003). "The Hergé Interview". The Comics Journal 1 (250): 180 - 205. 
  7. ^ The World of Tintin Conference 2004 - Doyle, Simon, Saturday 15 May 2004
  8. ^ Thompson, Harry (1991). Tintin: Hergé and his creation, First, Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-52393-X. 
  9. ^ Hergé & Tintin: Discover a world of Tintinology - Gravett, Paul, originally from The Comics Journal, 2003
  10. ^ Farr, Michael (March 2004). "Thundering Typhoons". History Today 54 (3): 62. 
The Adventures of Tintin
Creation of Tintin · Books, films, and media · Ideology of Tintin
Characters: Supporting · Minor · Complete list
Miscellany: Hergé · Marlinspike · Captain Haddock's exclamations


[edit] External links

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