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Tintin: Common misconceptions

harishankar
Member
#1 · Posted: 31 Aug 2007 12:50
What, in your opinion are common misconceptions about Tintin?

In my opinion the biggest mistake many people make is thinking that Tintin is British. Even I though for a long time that Tintin was British until I learned more about his origins.

What are the other misconceptions?
number1fan
Member
#2 · Posted: 31 Aug 2007 15:36
It can be thought sometimes, but in a way he can be every nationality, even though he is Belgian.
Thinking Tintin is British doesn't really do any harm to the character.
The English-langiage books localize him to Britain, that might be why.
SakuraT5
Member
#3 · Posted: 31 Aug 2007 16:29
I think the biggest misconception about Tintin is that Tintin and the Captain have a gay relationship, which I think is ridiculous.
Karaboudjan
Member
#4 · Posted: 12 Oct 2008 16:23
That Tintin (and Hergé, more damnably) had pro-Nazi sympathies.
It's repeated time and time again, with elittle effort at correction, and makes me absolutely furious.

Also (though I'm not sure if this counts as a misconception), first-time readers are often surprised when they come across Snowy's thought bubbles.
It's tricky explaining to these first-timers he doesn't actually talk, but this is an integral part of the stories.
The BBC radio version carried this off triumphantly.
ZGDK
Member
#5 · Posted: 19 Oct 2008 22:31
Sometimes when I first tell people about the series the ask "Tin-Tin? Isn't there a dog named Rin Tin Tin...?"

When I first started reading Tintin I thought he was English and also in Unicorn the address on the envelope for Marlinspike says Marlinshire, England.
cigee
Member
#6 · Posted: 20 Oct 2008 02:26
The biggest misconception, as far as I'm concerned, is that Tintin is only for kids!
tuhatkauno
Member
#7 · Posted: 20 Oct 2008 08:26
Two week ago I suggested Hergé should be given the Nobel Prize in literature (if it is possible to give it to someone who is dead).
Very educated people around me looked at me, thinking I must be kidding. Yes I was and no I wasn't.
The most irritating thing in that situation was everybody's attitude towards Tintin albums: they are cheap fun for kids. So I definitely agree, cigee!
Karaboudjan
Member
#8 · Posted: 20 Oct 2008 10:23
We mustn't forget what really must be the commonest misconception of all - that the Thom(p)sons are twins.
It is at least is understandable, because of them being doppelgangers.
But they are not Cockneys! (I cringe whenever I hear their accents in the cartoon.)
William
Member
#9 · Posted: 12 May 2009 20:48
number1fan:
The English-langiage books localize him to Britain, that might be why.

When I was younger, I did think Tintin was English, written as so, as in the translated version names of places are given English equivalents (see The Seven Crystal Balls with its references to Bristol).
Then on reading The Black Island, seeing how he took a boat to get to Britain, I realized that he was properly European.
But given that the placenames were changed, that's more a point for a discussion on translation inconsistencies than misconceptions.

This topic is closed.