According to the second Farr extract (p.50-59), how did Hergé research China for The Blue Lotus?
This was followed by an introduction in 1934 by Father Gosset between a Chinese student, Chang Ching-chen and Herge.
Through his friendship with Chang, Herge learnt about Chinese culture, history, philosophy, art and thus shaped Herge's perception of Chinese and China. No longer did Herge perceive the Chinese to be 'slit-eyed people who were very cruel, who would eat swallows nests, wear pig-tails and throw children into rivers...'(Farr, p51.)
Chang opened Herge's eyes to the distant politics of Asia and Japan's Imperialistic ambitions. Herge used actual political events during the Japanese invasion of China, such as the Moukden Railway.(Farr, p52).
References
Farr, Michael.(1991). In the Blue Lotus. In Tintin: the complete companion (pp50-59). London: John Murray.
Herge uses real life images as part of is research for the Blue Lotus and transcribes them using Tintin, for example the image of the two prisoners in shackles being paraded through the street and then the depiction of Tintin (Herge, p37). Tintin is shown in the same shackles and being paraded wearing a sign that says, 'Condemned to death for opposing the Japanese Army'.
ReplyDeleteThis use of real life imagery is also shown in the additional primary text; Shadow of No Towers. Here the author uses images of the burning Two Towers in New York, he also uses political images of the Jihad and makes reference to the Americans having their heads in the sand with targets in their back.
Reference
Spiegelman, Art. (2004). In the Shadow of No Towers. Retrieved from AUTonline. Blackboard, Week 2 reader. PDF.
Good response Nisha. Thanks for the post. You have engaged with both the primary and secondary texts. The shackles is a good example of Herge's depiction of real-life detail (often more adult-focused). I wonder if this image had any echos in the newspapers of the time? Cheers.
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