Reimagining Japan: Tintin, Hergé and the Enemy

TY - CHAP

T1 - Reimagining Japan

T2 - Tintin, Hergé and the Enemy

AU - Ribbens, C R

PY - 2023/6/30

Y1 - 2023/6/30

N2 - Tintin, a famous European comic book character created by the Belgian artist Hergé, travelled around the world fighting various guises of evil from 1929 onwards, reaching an international audience. This article analyses Hergé’s gaze on the Japanese, as expressed between 1933 and 1968, going beyond the frequently studied The Blue Lotus, but always connected to war and crime. A more structural analysis of the role of Japan in Hergé’s oeuvre, his gaze on the Japanese in wartime, with an eye for personal involvement, political context and commercial considerations, will explore how his ideas and representations of the Japanese relate to the political and military events of the 1930s and 1940s, in particular the Japanese occupation of China and its position during World War II. This illustrates how Tintin’s encounters with the Japanese developed over time, from an outspoken portrayal of evil Japanese against a Chinese background in the 1930s to a less engaged and more neutral representation during World War II, resulting in a post-war attempt to transcend wartime contradictions in merchandise.

AB - Tintin, a famous European comic book character created by the Belgian artist Hergé, travelled around the world fighting various guises of evil from 1929 onwards, reaching an international audience. This article analyses Hergé’s gaze on the Japanese, as expressed between 1933 and 1968, going beyond the frequently studied The Blue Lotus, but always connected to war and crime. A more structural analysis of the role of Japan in Hergé’s oeuvre, his gaze on the Japanese in wartime, with an eye for personal involvement, political context and commercial considerations, will explore how his ideas and representations of the Japanese relate to the political and military events of the 1930s and 1940s, in particular the Japanese occupation of China and its position during World War II. This illustrates how Tintin’s encounters with the Japanese developed over time, from an outspoken portrayal of evil Japanese against a Chinese background in the 1930s to a less engaged and more neutral representation during World War II, resulting in a post-war attempt to transcend wartime contradictions in merchandise.

KW - Comics

KW - graphic novels

KW - World War II

KW - memory culture

KW - Japan

KW - Belgium

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-031-23918-2_8

DO - 10.1007/978-3-031-23918-2_8

M3 - Chapter

SN - 978-3-031-23917-5

SN - 978-3-031-23920-5

T3 - Entangled Memories in the Global South

SP - 187

EP - 211

BT - War Memory and East Asian Conflicts, 1930–1945

A2 - Buchheim, Eveline

A2 - Coates, Jennifer

PB - Palgrave Macmillan

ER -