Tintin Forums

Why is the Tintin in America DVD edited to exclude the Red Indian elements?

Are these cuts made specifically for the DVD, as opposed to what you have seen on TV, or is it just referring to the way the story has been adapted to the screen?

If the latter, my guess is that the requirements of fitting the story into the allotted time space meant that there would have to be cuts, and that losing the Native American scenes neatly avoided such political issues as calling them “Red Indians”... It took care of two issues simultaneously.

Of course you then are left with the stereotyping of American people of Italian descent being protrayed as gangsters (not unlike the fuss over “Shark Tale” in the States at the moment), but hey ho, to paraphrase Abe Lincoln, you can offend some of the people all of the time, or something...

Fitting story into the time slot is probably the reason, the section was missing on the TV as well. It is easy to cut it out the narrative of the gangster story.

Also it is rather silly, pea shooters and hunting for buried hatchets, it provides good comedy relief in the album, but does little to actually add to the story

Rik

Fitting story into the time slot is probably the reason, the section was missing on the TV as well. It is easy to cut it out the narrative of the gangster story.
G'day, I'm new to the board! I've always wondered about the exclusion of the Red Indian scenes. I actually really enjoy that part of the book, but as you said the bit was missing from TV...but why not make the episode 50 minutes like many of the other episodes originally brought to ABC (in Australia) video? I cannot answer it.

Siyo nigadawu!
Being half Native American myself, let me correct one thing: We never, ever refer to ourselves as "Red Indians." In fact, most of mine are a light olive, like some Italians are. It's offensive to us, as is "Redskin." We tend to prefer "American Indian", "Native American," or we'll identify with our tribal affiliation (in my case, I'm Cherokee and identify myself as Cherokee.)

Also,I think the omission of Native elements is a good idea, as Herge completely screwed that up in the original. I know he meant well, but he wasn't living in the Information Age and couldn't do our people the justice we deserved due to lack of information. If it was there, I would be watching to make SURE it was correct, or Nelvana would be getting letters.

Courtney