Tintin Forums

Tintin, the boy reporter, the great hero who even got to the extent of landing on moon is not so clean after all. He does have a negative side which shows that even the greatest of greatest heroes are humans. Why I assess this point? -

· Tintin has manipulated Captain Haddock loads of times convincing him to come along with him on his adventure trips. And he always carries a bottle or a flask of whisky knowing it might be handy after all. He even tries to trick Haddock a lot of times.

Like in Shooting Star page 37, when Captain gives up hope of reaching the meteorite before the Peary, Tintin asks Captain if he would drink some whisky and then uses the reverse psychology trick saying "It'd be far better to give up the struggle...".
You see similar instances in "The Red Sea Sharks", "Tintin in Tibet" and maybe in some more albums I am not able to remember.

· Tintin abandons Captain Haddock and Professor Calculus at the first place in "Picaros" though later realizes his folly.

There might be more points but currently these are two which came in my mind.

Sorry my friend but there is no negative side of Tintin - Tintin is practically Jesus, Ghandi and Mother Theresa all rolled up into one - actually - now that I think about - he is probably even holier than those three.. his character is not that complex vs Haddock for example - maybe if had some dark secret from the past - that would be very interesting - like his family...maybe he butchered them all - that is why dont know anything about them - and he has to make up for his dark deeds by saving the world - now THAT would be negative...hmmm...something to think about - maybe someone should do Tintin the childhood years...

I meant "negative" not in the sense of 'evil', 'villian' or 'cruel' but lesser means of negative side. Example, the constant habit of snooping or suspecting is an annoying or, say, a negative habit of Tintin. He suspects everyone even in normal or practical situations. I hope I am making myself clear (dunno how to put it correctly).

I understand - the curiosity could be annoying - but hey, if he wasn't so curious - we wouldnt have all these adventures...!
but coming back to the family thing - is there any mention of Tintin's background anywhere? His childhood, etc...

No way is Tintin holier than Jesus, Tintin is fictional (although he is the best fictional character ever). Mother Theresa helped heaps of sick and poor people.

At the risk of being drummed out of the International Brotherhood of Tintin Fans, I have to admit, as a kid, I sometimes found Tintin's worthiness and unassailable good-egg nature a little one-note in comparison with Asterix and Obelix, my two other great comic heroes of the time. In terms of characterisation, both the Gauls were often seen to be devious, vain, sulky, and showing just about every point on the emotional scale (such as hysterical laughter or bursting into tears), and in Asterix the Legionary, unrequieted love! On the other hand, Tintin was rarely given to such extreme displays of emotion (except where Chang and Snowy were concerned), and could often seem priggish, such as his disapproval of the Captain's Loch Lomond habit (obviously, at such a young age, I was ignorant of the perils of alcoholism!), and, dare I say it, bland at times.

Before you all ask me why, in that case, I don't clear off to some Asterixologist forum, I don't think that way now! My view now is that one of the great things about Tintin's character is that we really, even after all those decades and albums, don't know much about him as a person; age, background, and so on! That way, generations of children have been able to project their own personalities onto Tintin. Despite what I said above, I was always imagining myself wandering through deserts, learning to speak elephant language or voyaging off in search of treasure! There was something very attractive about the idea of a boy (and I did think of him as a boy, not much older than myself), who was able to travel all over the World and have all those exciting adventures without apparently having any family ties to hold him back!

I've reassessed my view of Tintin's characterisation too, in more, er, mature years - I suppose at the age of six or seven, the more broadly comic characterisations in Asterix were easier to understand! Superficially, there's a world of difference between the imperialist, wildlife-slaughtering Tintin of Congo and the CND-supporting, bloodless revolution organiser of Picaros, but again, the lack of backstory makes it easier to reconcile them into the same person. Overall, he's loyal to his friends and causes (albeit the greater glory of Belgium in the first couple of B&W books!), and tenacious in his investigations, right up to Alph-Art - there's no real reason for him to suspect foul play there, but he keeps plugging away until he uncovers something. The Captain even remarks that Tintin's always seeing mysteries everywhere, and he makes an almost identical comment about his suspicious nature in Picaros. Maybe that suggests that in later years, Herge himself was willing to poke fun, via the Captain, at one of Tintin's few defining characteristics. I also wonder if it was a deliberate ploy on his part not to reveal too much about Tintin, making him a sort of "everyman" for the reasons I mentioned above?

ne of the great things about Tintin's character is that we really, even after all those decades and albums, don't know much about him as a person; age, background, and so on!

Unfortunately, if this movie ever gets made, this aspect of the series will be at least partially tarnished. In addition to seeing a real human portray Tintin, you can imagine that Hollywood won't let him slip through a two-hour film without doing a little character development.

Heres a negative side to Tintin - what about when he shoots an inoccent monkey, then makes a suit out of him. (facsimile Tintin in the congo)

I'm not condoning poaching animals at all, but I thought Congo was hilarious and topical for European view of the country back iin 1930s and earlier.

i thought it was rather rude of tintin to, in the black island, scold snowy rather harshly about the incident of the goat and snowy getting his head bonked: (tintin looking quite sternly at poor him) You have some brilliant ideas Snowy. But don't let the run away with you! also in the black island again,when snowy kinda ruins tintin's disguise of an old man w/pipe by chasing a cat he says: It's your own fault. If you'd kept quiet, none of this would have happened. (of course looking at snowy sternly again)