Do you think comics are a children's or adult genre/media?
In our current society, comics blur the line of the target demographic. Considering that comics are created by adults, I can’t say this is a media solely for children but rather, something that can be picked up in childhood and continued in adulthood. And I believe that Herge aimed to have children as his main audience, as Far (1991) have stated that Herge’s target audience age range from “seven to seventy seven”.
The initial impression that comics gives is a very childish feel. After all, it’s made in a way that can be understood easily by children and have plots that appeal to them. Comics are generally encased in alluring heroic adventures which children enjoy.
This can be seen in Herge’s famous The Adventures of Tintin. The protagonist of this comic, Tintin, is a young adult who travels around the world and gets into various situations that requires him to outsmart and defeat bad guys to save the day. These sorts of adventures are very appealing to children. Herge’s Tintin engages children’s imagination and allows them to place themselves in the position of the protagonist and become the hero themselves.
As a child, I read Tintin and thought how marvelous it would be to travel and be involved in numerous adventures. I’m sure that I am not alone in this fantasy. In this regard, we can argue that comics are indeed a children’s genre. Imagination Soup conveniently gave us 8 reasons to let kids read comics.
However, as I’ve previously stated, comics are made by adults. In adulthood, we realize the stories we loved as children have themes far from being child friendly. An example of this would be racial the stereo-typing ...
... as well as the display of the opium dens in ‘The Blue Lotus
I might be part of the exception now though. I ceased to enjoy Tintin as much as my childhood. Knowing what I know now, I’d say I’m having second thoughts showing Tintin to my future children.
Reference:
Farr, Michael. (1991). Introduction. In Tintin: the complete companion (pp.8-9). London: John Murray.
I both agree and disagree with what you're saying here, based on my experiences haha.
ReplyDeleteI personally don't think that Herge originally intended to have children as his main audience. I think this because he started to write tintin for a newspaper, and newspapers are bought by adults. And because of the themes, settings and events.
I think we have to look back at the time it was written too. We can't necessarily judge it how we would judge a story now. For instance when black and white movies came out without sound, they had to overact everything. If we looked at something like that now, we might find how they act silly and for children. Another example could be Disney's first animation, which was made for adults, not children, but is similar to what is currently made for children. Perhaps back then, adventure was what adults liked to read? :)
But yes I agree that comics can have a very childish feel and appeal. Because often children can't or don't want to read large amounts of text, and with comics they can read via looking at pictures, which is infinitely more interesting for a child, I'm sure.
You might be right on that one Che. Considering that Tintin was originally published in newspapers that typically only parents read, it's not entirely the case that Tintin is aimed mainly at children. Although, newspapers in the past typically published comics aimed at children so their readership wasn't limited to adults.
DeleteAnd it's true that in the past, what was considered adult material can be considered normal for even children now, like the Disney movies you've mentioned. But with Tintin, the visuals and adventure plot were probably targeted towards the children and the underlying social issues were something the adults read Tintin for apart from its obvious novelty.