Tintin Forums

The new Tintin film is currently causing a lot of excitement on this forum.

But what will the non-fan American audience think about it? Will they decide to see the film when it comes out?

To answer this question, I will ask what was everybody's first thought when they had heard about Tintin.

Alternatively, you can just explain why the typical American might watch/not watch it.

The typical American has terrible taste so I don't see it going over well since there's no vampires.

This just shows the problems of such questions; apart from being borderline flame-bait, and having no adequate means of support (there is no baseline for taste, so how would you measure it? And why should a vampire movie not be tasteful? It may not be to your taste, but each to their own…), you can’t identify a “typical” American any more than you could a typical North European.

Belgians are mad for BD, the Britsh less so, but we are closer geographically than a Alaskan and a Texan, or someone in New York is to someone in L.A.

If the movie is good, and more importantly if it is well marketed, it will succeed. The character doesn’t have to be well known - nobody had to know who Luke Skywalker was for Star Wars to work, people didn’t turn away from Raiders of the Lost Ark because Indy was new to them…

Jeez, I AM an American, so I can speak on it.

As for mentioning vampires, I thought that everyone would know that I was mentioning Twilight. It's insanely popular over here and the books are total rubbish; even adult females like it! Want to know why? Experts say it's because they're hungry for romance in their lives.

I my opinion, Stephanie Meyer (the author of the Twilight books) merely created an adolescent girl's ideal male, and then wrote stories about him, causing adolescent girls and their bored mothers to go into a frenzy.

About the Tintin film, I don't see it being a real crowd pleaser, even with the star power that's behind it. Unfortunately, Tintin might be too noble for today's audiences (in my humble opinion). However, I've been surprised before, and I would really like to see an accurate adaptation do well in theaters.

CC

P.S. It's good to be back...

^ Yeah, you've got a good point. I've been worried that the books might be a little to outdated for today's audience and I agree about Tintin coming off as "Too noble". I don't think critics will like that because they like to see a character with flaws; not just a straightforward "Good guy".

I hope the film won't be modernized at all... Could you imagine seeing Tintin pull out a cellphone?

No, that doesn’t excuse making inflammatory remarks; sweeping statements which put down an entire country at a stroke (regardless that you are including yourself) without any foundation, are not really what we deal in round here. Let’s keep things within reason, please, okay?


Again, that comes down to personal preference, and doesn’t measure taste; nor does it mean that a film of the book Twilight can’t be better than the source.

I can’t get into Harry Potter (books bad, films worse) but the consensus is against me, and it isn’t for me to belittle anyone else for having enjoyed it. Most likely I am wrong. I could never get into Lord of the Rings as a series of books, but the films I loved; I know from discussion on here that several people who loved the books didn’t like the films.

So as I said, until there is at least something to see, I can’t see how it’s possible to predict how any of the world will react to it. We could end up with a situation where the people who actually know the character at the moment don’t think it is close enough to source (like the LOTR readers I mentioned), while people who have nothing invested in the series might just love them.

I'm not American myself, but as to the general point...

There's certainly been a slight underestimation about how many people know of Tintin in the US. People tend to trot out the line that Tintin is completely unknown in America, but that's not quite true. There's an older generation that remember the 1960s cartoons, the initial run of books in the '60s sold moderately well and (despite the early hiccups) the books have been in print in America continuously since the early '70s. Tintin is a slow burner and an evergreen, rather than a quick buck-type of product. Also, we have many members who have joined the forums from the United States over the years (even if most of them don't post!)

I think people confuse renown for popularity. Of course, being well known or recognized doesn't equal being popular. But it's not the numbers, it's the solid and passionate fan base which Tintin has which has kept it alive.

I must admit though, my initial feeling when I heard about the film was that if they make a film that's mainly aimed at kids it might fall into difficulty. I think it needs to be aimed at all ages - 7 to 77 - for it to be a real success. I also wonder whether there is something too sedate by modern standards for it to be a really big hit. Of course, I could be completely wrong...

In a word: yes.

Tintin has always been of his time, and even at the cutting edge of his time. In The Black Island, when Tintin walks into a room to find a tv set playing, it's no big deal for today's reader, but at the time, the '30's, televisions were rare. Similarly, the portable radio in Tibet.

Because Hergé was still around in my young days when I started reading Tintin, and did not die until I was a teen, I don't think of Tintin belonging to a time in the past, but in present day. So, I'd have no problem with modern technology in the movies - as long as the overall letter and spirit of the stories are respected.

I get it. I can't speak truthfully of my country but it's fine and dandy to flame me. OK.