According to Farr, Herges stated that Tintin was for people in all of their age(Farr, 1991), "In fact the appeal has proved much wider: from children first learning to read to aged Tintinophiles. Each finds their own level of understanding and appreciation."(Farr, 1991) I cannot agree more than that. Personally, I think it really depends on what kind of genres the comics are, to decide whether they are suitable for what age group. Nowadays, there is a wide variation of types of comics. Take an example of Japan, as most of you would know, has a lot famed comic artists. Mainly there are comics about adventures, romance, scientific, horror etc. A majority of people might think comics are for children, but indeed, like the examples I've just listed targeted on young adults. The world has changed, so as human. Looking back to the old days, most comics are for fun, for humour, many aimed on children as targets, but recently more and more of different genres of comics poped up. It seems like contemporary people have found drawing comics is a good way of expressing different opinions and ideas.
References
Herge. (2005). The Adventures of Tintin: The Blue Lotus. London: Methuen.
Farr, Michael. (1991). Tintin: the complete companion. London: John Murray.
Hay Winny!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that the genre plays an important role in whether the comic is for children or adults. I haven’t read any Tintin comics in the past but I have heard of them and I had always assumed they were for children but after reading The Blue Lotus in class and watching the movie, I can understand why it would appeal to adults. In my opinion, I actually think that they weren’t really suitable for children because they refer to drugs and have racist remarks also (e.g. the scene where Tintin saves Chang and also at one stage a Japanese man calls Chang a “filthy Chinese”). Not to mention all the violence! But it’s entirely possible that I’m just so used to children’s books and shows that are very censored and sheltered that I find Tintin unsuitable for young kids. I guess that just shows you how much things have changed since the 30s and 40s!
Hi Winny,
ReplyDeleteWell done on being the first to post! And thanks also to Nazia for the excellent comment.
I think you make some excellent points wWinny, but I would have liked to see a bit more reference to primary texts - perhaps spme further examples of featrues in comics that appeal to certain agegroups.
Also, please remember to use APA correctly and give page references for direct quotes.
Esther :)