Tintin Forums

Where does Tintin make a jokey comment that links Captain Haddock's unusual temporary headwear to a tragic event of 1816 (portrayed by Géricault) that resembles their own situation?

Was it the Red Sea Sharks when he was wearing a jelly fish for headwear? Page... away from books... about 46?

Can't remember teh comment, but it was to do with "Raft of the Medusa".

Yes, toydreamer's right. (I know Balthazar hasn't confirmed that yet, but I looked it up myself and am sure that's the answer)

Just to clarify, after Haddock comes up with the Jellyfish on his head Tintin says; "That does it. Now this really is the Raft of the Medusa!"

Cheers!

Yep, you're right, toydreamer. (Thanks for confirming the exact quote, Borschtisov.)

The Medusa was a French ship that became wrecked off the coast of Senegal in 1816, some of whose passengers and crew ended up on a flimsy, hastily-built raft with inadequate water and not enough food (apart from each other). This horrendous tale of incompetence, desertion, brawling, needless loss of life, starvation, cannabalism, suicide etc (the details of which can be found on Wikipedia) was portrayed in Théodore Géricault's most famous painting, The Raft of the Medusa.

(Interestingly, this painting of the floundering raft is also pastiched in an Asterix book - Asterix the Legionary - with Goscinny's original French version making a pun on the word Medusa, and the English translation making a pun on the painter Géricault's name.)

A medusa is a type of jellyfish. In fact, I think it may be a general term for all jellyfish in French (unless I'm misremembering that). It's named after the Greek mythological character, of course, because the jellyfish's tentacles resemble Medusa's multi-snaked hairstyle. And Captain Haddock looks even more like the mythological Medusa than the jellyfish itself, when wearing the jellyfish on his head.

In the Greek myth, Medusa was one of a trio of Gorgon sisters, and she could turn anyone to stone simply by looking at them. As someone noted on this forum recently (was it Waveofplague?), Hergé seems to have been very into Greek names and references to Greek mythology.

In the Medusa myth, the hero Perseus manages to behead her, by turning his shield into a mirror, so that he can see her without looking at her directly. In The Red Sea Sharks, our hero Tintin also uses a mirror, but to attract the attention of a different kind of Greek 'Gorgon", namely Gorgonzola (the Marquis of), aka Rastapoplulous. (I'm not really suggesting that this latter, rather far-stretched connection to the myth was intended by Hergé, though, nor that he intended the name Gorgonzola to be a pun on the mythological Gorgons. As Ranko suggested in a posting a few months back, "the Marquis of Gorgonzola" simply seems a suitably cheesy fake title for Rastapopoulos to have invented for himself.)

Anyway, that's enough rambling. A point and the next question-setting duties to toydreamer.

Just to slightly extend our ramble on the raft, here is another piece of highly pertinent information... :-)

Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash is the second album by The Pogues, released in 1985. The title for the album is a quote often attributed to Winston Churchill ("Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.")

The cover artwork is based on The Raft of the Medusa, a painting by Théodore Géricault, with the band members' faces replacing those of the men on the raft. Shane MacGowan claimed that the title was suggested by drummer Andrew Ranken.

Thanks for that interesting stuff, Ranko. I guess it's one of those iconic paintings that lends itself to pastiche.

Re the phrase Rum, Sodomy and the Lash, the jazz singer George Melly adapted it to the rather less brutal Rum, Bum and Concertina for the title of one volume of his autobiography, which covered his time in the navy. I haven't read it, but I'd imagine he enjoyed all three. (Or maybe the concertina was a worse instrument of punishment than the lash. Depends how it's played, I suppose.)

Very good, and just like Mr. Melly I think!

"Master at Arms? Secure this man to the yardarm and fetch the concertina. It's to be six verses for you, my lad!"