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"Tintingate": French philosopher declares, "Tintin is a girl...!"

jock123
Moderator
#1 · Posted: 22 Sep 2017 10:39
After seeing the story bubbling over in the French-language press (but not being able to get the exact details), what the Francophone world has been calling "Tintingate" has now hit the British press...
As reported in The Times today, a French philosopher, Vincent Cespedes, has opined that Tintin is a girl, was always intended to be a girl, and that Hergé saw it as a joke that people thought Tintin a boy/ male...
I'm not sure that, other than opinion, M. Cespedes has any actual evidence for his theory - such cases are much better made if they can be supported by documentary evidence; so while there are always as many ideas about a book or series of books as there are readers, and each is entitled to their opinion, I suspect that this is mainly a mind exercise, and perhaps a bit of attention seeking by the person making the proposition...

Update: And the story in The Independent...
mct16
Member
#2 · Posted: 22 Sep 2017 21:14
He makes a pretty poor case. His examples include:

Tintin wearing a kilt in "Black Island";

his telling Haddock to promise to stop drinking when they first meet in "Golden Claws" and how Haddock breaks down thinking about his mother (as if Tintin's supposed femininity has reminded him of her);

the unicorn of "Secret of the Unicorn" is a "feminine and phallic symbol";

the way Tintin apologises rather than gloats when the bully smashes his fist into a wall in "Prisoners of the Sun";

on the cover of "Castafiore Emerald", when Tintin puts his finger to his lips, Cespedes interprets that as a reference to the "family jewels": Castafiore is a Castrato - a man who was castrated in order to preserve the soprano or contralto range of his voice;

and in "Picaros" we have soldiers dressing up as carnival transvestites. Curiously he states that it is Haddock who encourages this idea, whereas it is in fact Tintin who puts it to Alcazar.

I imagine that if I, an Englishman, were to tell the Scots that kilts were an example of their femininity it would be the best case ever for independence! I wore one at a wedding last year and quite enjoyed it - and, before you ask, I did wear underwear as well!

I tend to agree with some of the comments on the Independent page that Cespedes is simply after his 15 minutes of fame. For a self-proclaimed philosopher he could come up with something more constructive.
jock123
Moderator
#3 · Posted: 25 Sep 2017 22:19
Well, after the brief media brouhaha, everyone can now stand down: Vincent Cespedes has confirmed that his article was a "thought piece", intended to stimulate converstion and debate, and not to be taken literally.

So, back to where we were, everyone!
snowybella
Member
#4 · Posted: 26 Sep 2017 03:18
The Guardian also has an article about the theory being fake news. I must admit that the theory itself was rather silly, or maybe "spatiotempral faults"* can be found in the references to "British Isles"* and "Indian"*s to connect with the theory in the albums?






(sorry yamilah, I couldn't help it!)
jock123
Moderator
#5 · Posted: 26 Sep 2017 09:33
snowybella:
maybe "spatiotempral faults"* can be found in the references to "British Isles"* and "Indian"*s to connect with the theory in the albums?

Oh no!! Don't *you* start too...!!! ;-) :-D :-) :-D

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