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The popularity of The Adventures of Tintin in Australia

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tintinophile691
Member
#1 · Posted: 15 Dec 2009 06:56
When I ask people at school about the Tintin comics, some of them don't know what it is at all. I am rather confused, some other people say that Tintin is popular in Australia, but two out of five of the staff at school don't seem to know it at all.

So I'd like to learn the truth about Tintin's popularity. Are the fans there truly a minority? How many people have even heard of Tintin? That I would like to know.

Edit:
Actually, I only want to know the truth. I'm confused about this entire popularity thing. And I'm sure others are too.

In fact, I didn't even know the Twilight saga existed until yesterday, despite all the marketing.
jock123
Moderator
#2 · Posted: 15 Dec 2009 10:24
tintinophile691:
two out of five of the staff at school don't seem to know it at all.

Allowing for the fact that “two out of five” is a proportion, and you have actually asked more people for the extent of your survey, it means that “three out of five” members of staff, or 60%, do know who he is - that’s not bad, and is certainly a majority.

Other than that, I wouldn’t expect that you will ever find out accurately. For one thing, the number of people who know about something, and the popularity of that thing are not necessarily the same; I know what football is, for example - but I don’t like football, and I am not a fan.

Personally, I wouldn’t worry about it - what difference does it make, and would you be happy if you found out that Tintin was known by a majority of the population, but not liked, or that they actively disliked him?
Tintinrulz
Member
#3 · Posted: 16 Dec 2009 00:06
It depends on what generation you're from. For example, I'm in my mid-20's and I've always known Tintin to be extremely popular in Australia. At the very least most people recognise the name and many remember the TV adaptation from the early 90's. A large number have read the comics in their childhood but no longer have a fascination with the series. The Tintin comics are almost always unavailable at libraries because they're so popular. I don't think I've ever seen someone buy a Tintin comic (other than myself) but that doesn't mean much. As for finding Aussie fans as dedicated as myself, that hasn't been an easy task. There are plenty of Aussie Tintin fans, they would probably just be more adults than children. When I've become a fully-fledged primary teacher I'm definitely going to share some Tintin adventures with my students.
glendale
Member
#4 · Posted: 16 Dec 2009 00:36
Glad to see some Aussies on the TinTin track here. I am in Australia and I must say that TinTin is known but not to the extend as some other countries. I know TinTin from my childhood in Belgium and passed it on to my children who are now 30. They very much enjoyed reading and watching the movies and still do. I learned about TinTin from my father who used to buy the weekly magazines and every time a book came out he bought it, read it first then us kids passed it on to one an other. Great stories to share and I can confirm it is from ages of 7 to 77. Two month ago I was at the Herge museum. Now that is something to see !!! Anyway Australians know about TinTin but have never been really been exposed to the culture. Even books are not easy to find and certainly no TinTin stores to browse around in.
Tintinrulz
Member
#5 · Posted: 16 Dec 2009 02:06
It's 'Tintin' by the way, not 'TinTin'. Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine. I'd love to visit the Herge Museum one day, I've heard it's great. Maybe Tintin's hey-day in Australia was the 80's/early 90's? We don't have the population to sustain a niche market shop like a Tintin store (which is a real pity since I'd love to see a couple down here).
Lister
Member
#6 · Posted: 16 Dec 2009 03:34
The public libraries in Melbourne are full of Tintin books, it is how I began to read them. I think one of the reasons why Tintin is not as known as it was is that with the internet, movies and television for entertainment, many people ignore comics entirely.

Also there is the fact that the popularity of manga and graphic novels may be overshadowing older comics such as Tintin.
rodney
Member
#7 · Posted: 16 Dec 2009 06:05
I remember when I was in primary school in the late 80's at Cronulla Primary School (suburb in Sydney Australia).
I always loved to read and suddenly came across these library books I could borrow which were comics!! Much more fun to read than a boring novel!
This was great as I could read a comic book for school and not get in trouble, it was allowed!
Eventually I got my whole class onto Tintin and everyone was hooked!

It would be great to see a Tintin shop in Sydney, I'm sure there would be a real market for it here....
I just really hope the upcoming movie is a success and helps to connect more people with Tintin and co...
jock123
Moderator
#8 · Posted: 16 Dec 2009 13:12
I just have to point out that the whole of the Tintinologist.org site is maintained and cared for by Irene, Admin for us all, in Australia, making the Land Downunder the epicentre of the tintinological universe…!
tintinophile691
Member
#9 · Posted: 16 Dec 2009 22:07
I couldn't find Tintin books in Australian bookstores, so I had to buy them on Amazon.com. However, I haven't found a library in Australia that doesn't stock at least one Tintin comic.

So Australia, in my opinion, is in the same position as the United States. (See the USA and Canada = No Tintin thread)
glendale
Member
#10 · Posted: 16 Dec 2009 23:14
Good on ya Irene, keep up the good work and lets keep TinTin alive for all future generations!!!!

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