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Tintin: his sexuality

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William
Member
#101 · Posted: 13 Jan 2009 00:15
NikkiRoux:
I've always assumed that Tintin was hardly more than a boy.

I'd have always thought that Tintin was roughly somewhere between 19 and 28, and probably in the middle of that range, based on the fact that he is obviously a young man, but if was 16, as some people think, I doubt he could really do a lot of the things he did.

He doesn't seem to me to be drawn as a teenager, whereas Chang does look around 15.
One of Matthew Parris's first points was that there's no mention of Tintin's parents. That would be relevant if he was 16, but not if he's in his mid-twenties.

Think of the way he interacts with people, that he has his own apartment in the early books, the fact that he moves in to Marlinspike, that when he runs onto some plane or train or stops someone looking for crucial information, they don't just laugh and say, "Well, arent you some precocious teenager?" (even if he is occasionally remarked on for his age, but even at 25 I could see someone making such a remark), that Alcazar took him on as aide-de-camp, etc. suggests that he's not in his teens.
I still think he's a little older than me, and I'm 22.

Anyway, I'm veering off-topic. I do think Tintin could well be gay, but I don't particularly want to get into a discussion about it because of the vitriol from those who strongly think that he's not.

I seriously doubt that if someone wrote on the forum that the relationship between Tintin and some girl, if there was one, was romantic, that there would be such a reaction against the suggestion.

There'd be a quiet agreement or dismissal of the argument.

Tintin isn't just a cartoon character, as some comic strips are, there's a little more depth than that. About the level of a John Buchan story or James Bond, nothing too deep, but still a character we know a bit about. There's no reason to think that Tintin would lack the hormones of someone his age.
danberenson
Member
#102 · Posted: 13 Jan 2009 00:25
I've always seen him as gay (because I am) and yet I've always seen him at protestant (which I am not).
It doesn't matter, or even exist, as, like any literary character, we readers get to imbue him with whatever we want to.
It's to Hergé's credit that he has created a world wherein none are either limited to, or restricted from anything.
Tintin and the rest of the Tintin world are as open to speculation (to sexual orientation, political affiliation, other motivations) as we want them to be.
separtedTINTIN
Member
#103 · Posted: 14 Jan 2009 10:44
Please don't relate Tintin with this bogus topic.
If Hergé was here, he would be insulted to see the kind of Tintin topics you are discussing like this.
If Hergé was here, I would apologies to him for you all.
Moderator Note: That's one opinion among many - but it's still only opnion; there's no way to judge what Hergé would make of it.
Amilah
Member
#104 · Posted: 14 Jan 2009 13:53
Well, I'm of the "doesn't matter" school, and I'm not certain it's a knee-jerk reaction (or if it is, second thoughts don't contradict it much).

I tend to have the same reaction to people's sexuality, I'm not extremely interested in what happens in their trousers. "You know what, he is gay" sounds a bit similar to "you know what, he is Jewish" to my ears - it makes me wonder why it should be relevant, and to what, to the eyes of the person who triumphantly conveys the info.

I believe by default that Tintin is heterosexual(ly asexual), because fiction a domain where I gladly accept Occam/ Akham's razor to cut out what the author didn't specifically hint at.
Heterosexual was default, I doubt Hergé had the intention to make Tintin particularly homosexual.
That said, Tintin is hardly more than a smiley (as I claimed elsewhere, comparing him to his more defined, fleshed-out and ultimately likeable companions).

He is, like most comics heroes of that era, some Rorschach blot, allowing anyone to project his/her identity onto him - hence his huge success from leftists to Nazis, and the distrust that it sometimes leads to.

So, projecting one's homosexuality on Tintin's undefined sexuality is as legitimate as projecting one's own voice.
Tintin is a blank piece of paper. I just believe that in our current culture (and in particular in that of Hergé), blank papers are heterosexual, white, Christian and male, before you start drawing on them. And the unpainted bits tend to remain so.

That said, I disagree a bit with :

William:
There's no reason to think that Tintin would lack the hormones of someone his age.

as I think there's no specific reason to believe in hormones in the universe of old French/ Belgian comics. Puritanism excluded boy/girl matters from these books, generally producing worlds where girls were rare (blank page default=male), and characters de-sexualized.

Means, intercourses, hormones, procreation, women, didn't exist in that universe (unless some Gargamel builds up a Smurfette). All these questions about Tintin or Spirou's sexuality seem out of place, to my eyes.

Their world is not exactly ours, it's more similar to the world of childhood and all the things that just didn't exist yet. So these questions always seem to me to be bringing "outside questions" into their universes ("How does Spirou earns his living?"; "How many taxes does Tintin pay?").
Which is an adult pass-time I'm not too much a fan of.

To my eyes, wondering about Tintin's sexuality makes as much sense as wondering why Wile E. Coyote wants that particular Road Runner so much, and where that Road Runner is going.

Also, just found this in the Sadoul book. They're talking about the lack of women in Tintin books

Numa Sadoul asks if it could be due to some latent homosexuality in Hergé himself. Hergé answers :

"I don't know. One never knows, does one? But I don't think so. If I had homosexual tendencies, I don't see why I'd hide them."

Hardly the answer of someone who'd feel "insulted" by the question, right? And even less, I suppose, if asked about his characters. I think the answer can be applied to Tintin pretty directly (except that, in Tintin's context of publication, one could see why he'd hide it).
Chuckles_Merrily
Member
#105 · Posted: 4 Feb 2009 09:13
It's strange how Tintin has no actual age but has always been portrayed as a Young man or sometimes young boy. I always thought of his being 25-28... Old enough to drink and smoke, which of course he does neither but gets offered quite a few times.

Although I find it stupid how people would automatically assume him gay just because he hasn't shown any interest in any women. I don't think Tintin is about that at all, it's about mystery, crime solving, fantasy and friendship and romance has nothing to do with it.

Although I think Tintin would most probably be straight, but he has no sexuality.
Voluma
Member
#106 · Posted: 4 Feb 2009 11:08
I think it would be interesting if he were gay. Isn't it all in how you read it? After all, if you approach Tintin with the idea that he's gay, there's nothing in the comics to stop you thinking that. Then again, if you want to see him as straight, the comics make perfect sense also. There's no evidence either way, so in my opinion it's totally up to the reader.
Rianna Lauren
Member
#107 · Posted: 21 Jun 2010 10:49
Wasn't it confirmed by Hergé's spokesperson or something that Tintin isn't gay? O_o
Besides - it doesn't really matter. Romance is one thing that's not meant for Tintin.
I'd prefer it if he was straight, though, but like I said, it doesn't really matter.
laloga
Member
#108 · Posted: 21 Jun 2010 21:58
I'm not sure that anyone's ever spoken about it in an official capacity... Jock123, do you know?
jock123
Moderator
#109 · Posted: 21 Jun 2010 22:17
laloga:
I'm not sure that anyone's ever spoken about it in an official capacity... Jock123, do you know?

Sadly, I think that the discussion has gone on long enough to show that there isn't a definitive answer on this - if there was, it would have been brought up a long time ago... ;-)
Rianna Lauren
Member
#110 · Posted: 24 Jun 2010 03:30
*sheepish laugh* guilty. I can't imagine a Tintin story with romance, though. Hahah. So no matter.

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