John Sewell Member
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#14 · Posted: 17 Jan 2008 17:13
Well, if it's good enough for Steed, it'll do for me! ;)
Wasn't it Herge himself who said that Tintin was for everyone aged 7 to 77 (and later gave someone older than that personal permission to carry on reading the books)? I'm 40 this year, and I'm still getting as much out of Tintin as I did 30 years ago... possibly more, as I've gone from just reading to becoming fascinated with the whole process and stories behind the adventures. How they were put together, the inspiration, the personal factors in Herge's life which led to them, that sort of thing.
In my opinion, the best childrens' literature, cinema and TV is that which can also be enjoyed by adults. I still get a kick out of Tom & Jerry cartoons, Arthur Ransome's Swallows & Amazons books, the Beano, Doctor Who, and any number of others.
I also think it's good to be able to still make that connection with the childhood things I loved - keeps me feeling young in my head, even if looking in the mirror tells me something different! So many of my old friends, in adulthood, have lost that connection, and now it seems that all they're interested in are things like mortgages, soft furnishings, making a deal at work and their new washing machines. I suppose I'm lucky in that the job I've got and the lifestyle I lead means that I can still indulge myself, and more importantly, that I can afford to! (I live in and manage a youth hostel, and all my accommodation and food needs are taken care of, as well as not having to pay any bills or council tax, so I've got less worries in that respect than most others in my age group!)
It's also great to be able to introduce a whole new generation to these things. My nephew's 9, and he's steadily been making his way through the tattered Tintin books me and my brother first read at his age. I got him the boxed set of DVDs for his birthday, and apparently he didn't watch anything else for weeks. his younger brother's only 2, and he can name all of the characters if you point to them on the covers of the books! They're lucky, as their Dad, my brother, still "gets" Tintin - he bought Congo to complete the set, was fascinated by stuff I've got like the B&W facsimiles and Rodier's Alph-Art, and he's even got a copy of Benoit Peeters' book in French! He recently said to me that the thing he liked about Tintin was "he used to go all over the World having adventures in places like Egypt and China, and I wanted to do that!"
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