PS Culture and Communication
Prof. Manuela Kovalev
SS 2015
“Tintin in the Congo”- a critical analysis Lena Turek 1307748
Source: Tintin in the Congo. 1962 [1930]. Scanned by “Chicken Run” 2003.
Introduction
In 1929, Georges Remi (best known as Hergé) published “Tintin in the Land of the Soviets” (Tintin au pays des Soviets), the first comic strip that followed the adventures of Tintin and his loyal dog, Snowy. Hergé did not anticipate the success his series would have, both amongst adult and young readers. One year later he wrote “Tintin in the Congo” (Tintin au Congo) without ever having set foot in the central-African country. Depicting the Congolese in a rather stereotypical way, he revised the comic
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Since books for children transmit images, principles and values, I find this a particularly interesting field.
In the first part of the paper I will give an overview on colonialism, focusing on the Congo and its colonial past. I will then look into Hergé´s work and its criticism. My main question will be answered in the second part: How is colonialism reproduced in the comic “Tintin” by Hergé and what legal actions were taken against
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Patrice Émery Lumumba was the first democratically elected president of the “Democratic Republic of the Congo” (Curtis, 2002, p.37). The years after the “DCR” was established, the country was shaped by political instability, corruption and the fight to build up a nation with the ability to sustain itself. Since 2006, Joseph Kabila rules as the president of the DCR, but after he was re-elected in 2011, riots broke out in Kinshasa and official observers described that the election “lacked credibility” (Kara 2011: Online). Even though the DCR is a country with rich resources and a strong labour force, the country is still strongly determined by the colonial rule and the effect it had on the Congolese people, the countries´ economy and its social and political stability. Hergé with his depiction of the Belgian colonialism, willingly or not, reproduced many of the stereotypes embodied in the Belgian
Congo was an astounding bestseller novel. It was a great fictional novel that took place in the depths of the Congo rainforest. The novel was later made into a movie. Both the novel and the movie were good, however, I prefer the novel. It just seemed like a more entertaining piece than the movie. This movie was based much upon the novel, but had many alternatives and a completely different ending than the novel.
The book mainly chronicles the efforts of King Leopold II of Belgium which is to make the Congo into a colonial empire. During the period that the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized for himself the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River.
The film sends several clear messages to viewers. First, the Belgian colonialism significantly impacted on the fate of the nation. As the film indicates that when Rwanda became a protectorate of Belgium in 1919,
McLaughlin, Kathleen. ?U.N. Jobs Easing Plight in Congo? New York Times 22 Jan. 1961: 8.
The land Leopold had obtained was about eighty times larger than that of Belgium itself. Plus, Leopold was proclaimed the “sovereign” ruler of all the Congo Free Sta...
It is obvious that it was not the forced labor in Congo that caused massive uproar among Europeans and Americans, as forced labor was part of their history for centuries, but the extreme brutality that occurred there. However, the blatant disregard for human life was not unique to the Congo, and was found in many other European and American colonies. Characters such as E.D. Morel and Roger Casement publicized the horrors of the Congo, and it was spread throughout various countries. This was the first time that the “common” people were aware of the extent of the brutality and exploitation endured by
One can easily note the physical and sexual violence brought upon the people (black and white) of Congo after independence, but we must locate the other forms of violence in order to bring the entire story of Patrice Lumumba to light. The director’s attempt at bringing the story of Patrice Lumumba to the “silver screen” had political intentions.
...teristic disparity of prestige between the two nations contrast greatly since the Belgian Congo was strictly a slave-state used for resources, the Belgians did not provide Western education to their subordinates. As light was shed on the abomination that was the Belgian Congo, historians and explorers flocked to see the inhumane treatment of the devastated colony. Joseph Conrad, a Polish novelist, narrates the character Charlie Marlow, a sailor at the time of imperialism, who had personally witnessed the treatment of the Congolese and said this," After all, that was only a savage sight, while I seemed at one bound to have been transported into some lightless region of subtle horrors, where pure, uncomplicated savagery was a positive relief, being something that had a right to exist—obviously—in the sunshine." (Marlow) Marlow refers sympathetically to the Congolese
Alas, in 1961 Patrice Lumumba was assassinated by a US- sponsored plot 7 months after independence, and replaced him with a “puppet dictator named Mobutu” (Kingsolver). In her book, Barbara Kingsolver surfaces a forgotten part of our nation’s history in the exploitation of the Congo through her main characters, the Price family, who are missionaries sent to the Kilanga village. Through characters’ narratives that “double as allegories for the uneasy colonial marriage between the West and Africa” (Hamilton, Jones), Kingsolver creates a relatable way for her readers to understand the theme she is trying to convey, which is “‘what did we do to Africa, and how do we feel about it?’” (Snyder). Kingsolver began with this theme and developed the rest of the novel around it, just as she does with her other works, and sticking with her trademark technique, she utilizes her book as a vessel for “political activism, an extension of the anti-Vietnam protests” she participated in college (Snyder).
Patrice Lumumba was born in the Kasai Province of the Belgian Congo on July 2, 1925 as a member of the Batetela tribe, and received his primary education from a Catholic mission school. At age 18, Lumumba moved to Kindu and became a corporate clerk. After moving to Leopoldville for vocational school, he moved to Stanleyville to work as a postal clerk (Lemarchand 199). It was in Stanleyville that Lumumba began his political career, and according to Crawford Young, he had become “president or secretary of no less than seven associations in Stanleyville in 1953” (295). Lumumba’s involvement in these organizations also had a strong impact, he increased membership in the Association des Evolués de Stanleyville from 162 to over 1,000 members in four years, and was “regarded as the most eminent spokesman of Liberal ideas” by 1959 (Lemarchand 202). Lumumba’s public presence was not limited to his political organizations, he was also the editor of L’Echo Postal, and often wrote about the “problems of racial, social, and economic discrimination” in three other newspapers (Lemarchand 199)...
narrator of a journey up the Congo River into the heart of Africa, into the
Over the course of human history, many believe that the “Congo Free State”, which lasted from the 1880s to the early 1900s, was one of the worst colonial states in the age of Imperialism and was one of the worst humanitarian disasters over time. Brutal methods of collecting rubber, which led to the deaths of countless Africans along with Europeans, as well as a lack of concern from the Belgian government aside from the King, combined to create the most potent example of the evils of colonialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s. The Congo colonial experience, first as the Congo Free State then later as Belgian Congo, was harmful to that region of Africa both then and now because of the lack of Belgian and International attention on the colony except for short times, the widespread economic exploitation of the rubber resources of the region, and the brutal mistreatment and near-genocide of the Congolese by those in charge of rubber collecting.
Zins, Henryk S. "Joseph Conrad and the Early British Critics of Colonialism in the Congo." Lubelskie Materiały Neofilologiczne 22.(1998): 155-169. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Sun. 08 May 2011.
In a period leading up to the eventual Independence from Belgium in 1960, several political parties were formed. The populous argued for independence from Belgium due to many decades of brutality and corruption under Belgian colonization. There were many protests and riots fighti...
At the height of the conflict, about one third of the country's people were displaced. The chronic financial crisis became severe and the economy was close to collapsing. Poverty has become deeper in the rural areas of the Congo where poor people are now powerless, vulnerable and isolated. This is a big contributor to the poverty Congo is experiencing today, because little has improved and won’t improve until these problems are fixed. Overall, Central Africa’s dependence on agriculture could improve the wellbeing of the people but a long history of corruption, violence, and prevalent transportation issues have hindered an improvement in the economy resulting in poverty in the region.