"Tintin au Congo" Topic

Just to rub it in, something Belgian for you…

A couple more images and some chatter here…
misterplynkes.blogspot.co.uk

Simply brilliant! Made me chuckle.

Oh Tintin, you imperialist barsteward…

Fantastic!

And I love Tintin… Even if the ones that take place in Africa or China are brutal. Hell, the one that takes place in America is none too kind to the US either!

Well, it must be remembered that the early stories were done under the aegis of Le Petit Vingtième, a publication that was pushing what I think it would be fair to call a conservative agenda. I believe Georges Remi was told what to write about. The first story was a piece of anti-Communist propaganda, and this one had a pro-colonial slant, designed to show young Belgians just how lucky the people of the Congo were to be ruled from Brussels. And as you say, for some reason the folks at Le Petit Vingtième were pretty anti-American too.

Once Remi spread out on his own, though, Tintin was allowed to be a more apolitical hero, who fought all injustice rather than being used to fill Belgian children's heads with the wonky ideas of the grown-ups. And of course that more familiar Tintin is really the one that is so beloved by many (including me).

They do say you get more right-wing as you get older, but in Tintin's case, the opposite was true. :)

Luckily, or sadly for the US, some of those people of the Congo emigrated to Belgium and are now the core of the Beligan football team; i.e., Kompany, Lukaku, etc.

And some stayed behind and its genocide as usual..
You drink your poison and I'll drink mine.

Colonial perceptions are either glaringly magnified or rose tinted.
Truth is unless you lived it you can only make assumptions.

I did so I don't .

As an aside, as a kid I knew a Belgian who had the full sets of original Tintin and Asterex, he wouldn't let me read them, the horrible man, not like you Plynkes , inspirational as always :)